| From the Executive Director The Power of Creative Community |
The Power of Creative CommunityThis month, in the middle of my favorite season, work life in the nonprofit world is intense. Current creative programs require careful attention, strategic planning is underway, budgets and grant proposals for next year are still being written, impact data is being collected, videos edited, exhibitions planned. New projects and innovation programs are being envisioned, and producers, researchers, mentors, technologists and affiliate artists will be invited to step into the work. Sometimes it feels like past-present and future every single moment of every day.I’ve been thinking about some of the artists in the Alliance network who have helped me cut through the feeling of overwhelm this month – working on the Brown Girls Mythic + True VR Story Gallery and the Futures We Dream exhibition for Smithsonian FUTURES (opening November 20). Thank you Lola Flash, Catherine Blackburn, Karo Duro, Pamela Yates — you have all brought new vision to these projects and contributed to a model of co-creativity and collaboration that has elevated all of us.
I’ve been thinking about some of the artists in the Alliance network who have helped me cut through the feeling of overwhelm this month – working on the Brown Girls Mythic + True VR Story Gallery and the Futures We Dream exhibition for Smithsonian FUTURES (opening November 20). Thank you Lola Flash, Catherine Blackburn, Karo Duro, Pamela Yates — you have all brought new vision to these projects and contributed to a model of co-creativity and collaboration that has elevated all of us.
If you have a moment in your schedule this week, on Thursday, October 28th join us for Building A Career Like We Build the World, an Arts2Work event for emerging mediamakers. The power of creative community will be all over that zoom. Thank you to Gita Pullapilly and Aron Gaudet, Nicole Go, Bhawin Suchak, Amber Espinosa-Jones, Cassidy Arkin and Ben-Alex Dupris for lighting a path forward for next gen storytellers.
Joining the Alliance is a very hopeful action of community. We’re striving for 100 new individual and organizational members by the end of the year. It’s not about the money; sliding scale from $1 to $1million dollars gets you in the inner circle of programs and partnerships, mentoring, funding and job opportunities, leadership coaching, labs and custom trainings. Join HERE.
As always, feel free to reach out, wendy@thealliance.media
Notes from the Field
Wide Angle Youth Media Featured in Baltimore Magazine
Baltimore Magazine has published a detailed profile of Alliance member Wide Angle Youth Media for their November issue. In this article written by Sheri Brooker on the two-decades-old organization, Wide Angle’s history, social effects, and extensive selection of programing is discussed. One of the people consulted for the piece, twenty-three year old producer and ten year member of Wide Angle, Tahir Juba explains how he is able to utilize his work with the organization to effectively represent his city in such subtle ways as “choosing B-roll in a certain neighborhood verses the Inner Harbor and tourist attractions […] showing what Baltimore really can be through neighborhoods that don’t get much light.”
Arts2Work CONVERSATIONS: Building A Career Like We Build the World
This Thursday, Arts2Work will be hosting a live career building conversation featuring a wide range of creative industry experts. These discussions will delve into the experiences of people working in the arts industry while offering honest insight for those who “dream of telling stories that make a difference.”
| Photographer Lola Flash Appears in NYTIMES Arts2Work Innovation Studio’s affiliated artist Lola Flash had a opinion piece published in New York times last Saturday. In the article Flash featured her portrait series Surmise, discussed her process, and delved into the impetus for her work stating “I wanted to show my subjects in the light of joy and beauty, with images that say: This is who we are and what we look like — can you give us some space?” |
Spotlight on Valentina Vargas:
Alliance Media Producer Valentina Vargas has been BUSY creating trailers for the Smithsonian FUTURES show, (opening November 20) a set of augmented reality postcards, and sizzle reels for the Alliance Open Archive Symposium and Arts2Work CONVERSATIONS. Her storytelling uplifts the contributions of our member organizations, artists, researchers and creative technologists.
Job Bank
Executive Assistant, St Louis Black Repertory Company, St Louis, MO
Bilingual Manager, Mobile Tour Community Partnerships, StoryCorps, Brooklyn, NY
Director of Video Data Bank Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Climate Story Fund Officer, Doc Society, Anywhere
Production Assistant, Custom Services, StoryCorps, Brooklyn, NY
Associate Director Custom Services Operations, StoryCorps, Brooklyn, NY
Fund Officer, The Climate Story Fund @ Doc Society, Remote
Temporary Scheduler, One Small Step StoryCorps, Brooklyn, NY
Assistant Professor, Fiction Directing, School of Cinema, San Francisco, CA
Program Head + Assistant Professor Film & Digital Cinema, Anywhere
Temporary Planner. Outreach Specialist, One Small Step StoryCorps, Brooklyn. NY
Producer, StoryCorps, Brooklyn, NY
Social Media Marketing Coordinator, Manhattan Neighborhood Network, New York, NY
Associate Director of Development, Jewish Story Partners, Los Angeles, CA
Creative Pathways Manger, Venice Arts, Marina Del Rey, CA
Assistant Professor of Film Studies, DePauw University, Greencastle IN
Workshops, Festivals, Convenings
Raindance Film Festival, London, England – October 26-November 5
Tokyo International Film Festival, Tokyo, Japan – October 30-November 8
Denver Film Festival Denver, CO, November, 3rd-14th
St. Louis International Film Festival, St. Louis, MO November 4t -14th
Hawaii International Film Festival Honolulu, HI November 4th-21st
Lone Star Film Festival, Fort Worth, TX, November 4th-7th
New Orleans Film Festival, New Orleans, LA, November 5th -21st
DOC NYC, NYC, NY November 10-18
Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival, Chicago, IL, November 12th-13th
Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival, Colorado Springs, CO November, 13th-15th
Media Policy Watch
In an article published by Vice late last month, climate journalist Geoff Dembicki dug into documents from the Carbon Disclosure Project revealing that Murdoch-owned News Corp, who have been consistently denying the effects of climate change, have internally been taking active measures to reduce their carbon footprint. In 2007, News Corp targeted Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s attempts to create a carbon price, plummeting his public approval rating. Documents show Murdoch News Corporation has kept track of its own carbon footprint since 2006, earning them “A” grades from the CDP. News Corp’s documents also reveal acknowledgments that climate change effected Hurricane Sandy, Australian bushfires, and California wildfires while publicly arguing no correlation.
Last Saturday, NPR Correspondent and Author of Murdoch’s World, David Folkenflik interviewed the climate reporter behind the aforementioned Vice Article Geoff Dembicki. During their conversation, Folkenflik stated that he attempted to get in touch with Murdoch-owned Fox Weather and News to which they told him “they were too busy as they prepare for Monday’s launch” and Dembicki revealed that he also received no responses from what he deemed “the Murdoch empire.”
This Monday, Texas State Representative Matt Krause notified the Texas Education Agency that he was initiating an inquiry into whether school institutions possess any of roughly 850 books he provided, primarily dealing with race and sexuality according to Texas Tribune. In Krause’s letter, he also called for schools to “identify any other books or content” that contain subjects dealing with “human sexuality” as well as HIV and AIDS or that lead students to feel “by virtue of their race or sex, [they are] inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive”. This letter is part of a “strong move to abolish critical race theory” from Texas Governor Greg Abbot, following him establishing a legal precedent to restrict material pertaining to race in Texas Schools
Grants and Calls
Fall 2021 ScreenCraft Film Fund
Screencaft and BondIt Media Capital are offering 1-4 filmmakers grants from $5,000 to $30,000. They are seeking scripts or treatment across a range of formats: Narrative, Documentaries, and Unscripted. In addition to funding, creative development and production guidance from ScreenCraft, BondIt Media Capital and Buffalo 8 Productions will be available to recipients. At least one recipient will be from an underrepresented background and will receive extended consultation.
Deadline: October, 31st
The Miller / Packan Film Fund
Documentary filmmakers working on projects that “Educate, Inspire, and Enrich” specifically focused on the categories Education, the Environment and Civics are encouraged to submit to The Miller / Packan Fund. The fund’s financer the Rogovy Foundation is offering grants totaling $200,000 to be awarded to eight to twelve filmmakers. Available grants will provide up to $15,000 to films in advanced development and up to $25,000 to films in the production and post-production stage.
Deadline: November 15th