Saturday, December 30, 2006

Barefoot Workshops

Barefoot Workshops is a media and music based educational organization where adults and youth are taught video, photography, music, and art as a way to document their surroundings, make change in the world and most importantly make change in themselves. With Barefoot, growing and learning as an artist means growing and learning as an individual.

http://www.barefootworkshops.com

A friend of a friend made the video in cape town, its really well done.
Reminds me of this girl Allison I met in Kenya in 2005 who gave public speeches about living with HIV AIDS. I still have her recorded on video. Her story is so powerful, it still echos in my ear.

I think the video movement is our chance to expose the world to media that they deserve to see, not the mainstream stuff that the MNC giants think we should watch. No boardroom discussion can create the epic story or tragedy of life as it unfolds around us on a daily basis.

Happy New Years everyone, May 2007 be YOUR year.

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Posted by Kurt at 12:00 PM | | Comments  

Accelerating Social Change through Video

Accelerating Social Change through Video
In 1999 the World Bank asked 60,000 people living on less than a dollar a day to identify the biggest hurdle to their advancement. It wasn't food, shelter or health care. It was access to a voice. By empowering people to tell their stories, video gives a voice to the voiceless, and to the people who fight for them.

Video Volunteers believes that media can provide marginalized people with a platform for voice and accelerate social change. In collaboration with Drishti Media Collective in Ahmedabad, India, Video Volunteers is working to create a global network of 100s of rural or peri-urban Video Producers who produce and share media across the barriers of illiteracy, poverty and media neglect.

Our core activity is establishing sustainable Community Video Units (CVUs) in partnership with leading NGOs. Each Community Video Unit (CVU) comprises up to 10 community members, primarily women, who produce one "Video News Magazine" each month that is shown back to communities using wide-screen projectors or local cable networks. In 2006, ten CVUs are launching in India. Collectively, these CVUs will produce one hundred videos in their first year alone, on issues of social justice, development and human rights, that will be seen by thousands of people in their communities, providing a local, national and global platform for voice.

Website: http://www.videovolunteers.org/

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Posted by Kurt at 10:46 AM | | Comments  

inspiration, again and again

Inspiration to me is knowing that even in a small capacity DAMU has begun a movement.

Even though we are all scattered all over the world doing our little part to help this planet, to help turn apathy to empathy, our message has touched the lives of thousands of people.

Just today a friend contacted me for advice on screening the "Why Should I Care?" Documentary, and throwing an event with local artists and NGOs.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by someone in Russia that wanted to get a copy of the documentary for the screening.

It's happening people. It's happening.

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Posted by Kurt at 7:25 AM | | Comments  

Sunday, December 03, 2006

The muingi (movement) in us all

By: Neha

Life is filled with happy moments - most of which occur when an unexpected, or chanced event has occurred
those moments that catch us by surprise often give us the greatest joy
by taking a chance towards the unexpected, by submersing our biggest critic, our inner rational hesitation, we open ourselves to other people, societies, ways of thinking, cultures, to life
compassion, one of the greatest and most blessed human emotions, not only enables humans to save lives, but it also enables others to live
this hidden connection that we possess with every human being forms a chain of progression, of development of the human soul
when enough people act intelligently and compassionately, life is formed, sustained, prolonged and developed
you see, there is a mau mau movement in everyday life
we all experience it
when we compare which coffee shops to go to, we mentally calculate the more ethical business - tending to the consciousness, the awareness, the responsibility we feel to the whole
from the moment we wake up, to the time of sleep, and even in our dreams, we are uprising
we demonstrate this muingi when we vote for our leaders, buy newspapers, participate in rallies, pick our inner battles, travel to get more aware, educate ourselves and our children, question the norms of society, interact with others and demonstrate a drive to learn...for it's when the minute particulars are tended to that change for the better occurs.
movement

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Posted by Kurt at 11:22 AM | | Comments