Welcome to our Summer eBulletin. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, summer is “the season between fall and winter: a period of maturing powers…”  

This summer, our Summer of Storytelling, the Alliance XR Culture Gallery went live in Oculus and I hope everyone with a headset can go and explore the incredible works of art + spirit. Works by Lola Flash, Catherine Blackburn, Valentina Vargas, Jessi Ujazi, and Karo Duro are waiting for you there, larger than life. In our period of maturing powers with this project, we are exploring partnerships with community groups, local museums, cultural institutions, theater makers, musicians, and youth media organizations to expand resources and capacity around live performance, VR world-building and economic resilience. We hope you’ll join us for an exciting presentation and roundtable discussion this fall.

Also, this summer, the Alliance for Media Arts + Culture was named an Apprenticeship Ambassador by the US Department of Labor. As a national program sponsor of Arts2Work, we have been breaking through barriers that have excluded creative media careers from federal and state workforce investments, and marginalized BIPOC, non-binary, LGBTQ+, women, disabled and non-college-educated creatives from opportunity and advancement in the industry. This is an acknowledgment of our work promoting, expanding, and diversifying Registered Apprenticeship and our support strengthening the nation’s creative workforce. We couldn’t do this without the partnership of the Alliance network – our team of artist mentors, and the media training centers and production companies across this country who have envisioned, planned, adapted, and/or launched programs with us and supported their local youth and communities with powerful storytelling training, new work-based learning opportunities, advanced labs, and state-of-the-art pre-apprenticeship models for creative tech careers. Thank you to BAVC, Better Youth, BRIC Foundation, Community Cultural Collective, Creators Collab, New Orleans Video Access Center (NOVAC), Panoramic Dreams, Pegasus Media Project, PhillyCAM, Portland Open Signal, Reel Works, re-imagine/ATL, RYSE, Terrain, The Last Mile, Urgent, Inc, Visionary Media Productions, Wide Angle Youth Media, Youth Beat, Youth FX…and so many more.  Thank you to ALL!

Enjoy the rest of the summer, and come see us this fall at the Fast Company Innovation Festival in NYC and the International Documentary Association Getting Real Conference in Los Angeles (and virtual!)

Join the Alliance, it’s easy.

As always, please be in touch.

wendy@thealliance.media

Notes from the Field

UnionDocs Break Out Artistic Differences Event Starting
Two weeks ago, the first virtual event for UnionDocs’ Break Out Artistic Differences project started and continues through this Tuesday, August 9th. The event consists of an online film program that features study groups along with physical screenings and public dialogues. In-person events will be occurring internationally, from Open City Documentary Festival in London to TIDF in Taiwan. Each month will offer the opportunity for those interested to attend a Film Program, Study Group, and Dialogue. The films screened were chosen because they are “singular films that open questions about the possibility of collective transformation, about forms and practices of togetherness.” 

Pegasus Arts2work Pre-Apprenticeship Applications Open
Young people looking for an entry into the creative workforce are invited to apply to the PAA program in Dallas. The program will be working with local companies and leaders in the media industry to provide paid training to participants to ready them for a career in digital media. Participants will receive professional mentorship, develop a portfolio, produce videos for local companies, and have the opportunity to complete an Adobe certification exam.