Before directing Disney big-budget fantasy A Wrinkle in Time, Ava DuVernay would finance her own films “on two pennies in a paper clip.”

The acclaimed director hopes to smooth the path for the next woman or person of color with a $500,000 filmmaking grant offered in partnership with Google. The grant is designed to finance the recipient’s first feature-length film, and, in the process, help foster a diverse community of storytellers.

“It’s squarely in our mission, in our goal, to amplify the voices of black artists, people of color, women of all kinds,” said DuVernay. “It’s a full-circle moment to have started with a $50,000 budget film as a filmmaker myself and, 10 years later … to be able to give a half million dollars to a filmmaker to make something.”