It occurs to us (because we’re not oblivious) that there is a wealth of
cultural and media production in this city that fits with our mandate: Know
the media, be the media, change the media. Our small team want to grow to
provide space for more kinds of work to be included in Media Democracy
Days’ programming in the future, as well as ensure that we’re paying
attention to the excellent and wide-ranging voices of activists, artists,
and creators that work in the lower mainland.
If you’ve taken note over the last few months, we’ve been using this newsletter to promote some of our favourite happenings in the city, reflect on our community’s impact, and understand what it means to participate in democratic media.
In trying to keep true to our word, we’ve been working on changes to our annual conference, Media Democracy Days, that will make it a more community-focused event; but what exactly does that entail?
I attended the Community Arts Council of Vancouver’s Community Arts Unconference last week. Participants included recipients of their Community Arts Fund programming, including Hooker Monologues, Vancouver Moving Theatre, the Chinese Cultural Centre of Vancouver and more, who all shared their experiences from planning community arts projects. The most distinctive thing about being in a room with this group of people was the constant reiteration of values included in all forms of problem solving. It provided a space where help and advice, from hiring technicians to grant writing, was shared freely, with a constant emphasis on active listening, inclusivity, and mutual respect.
The best planning starts with getting together to take an inventory of what a community has, and what people can share. It’s a way to ask what we can do to build capacity and use the skills and experience that already exists to make something better.
Some of our other partners who have taken community development to heart in the form of civic engagement are OpenMedia, who have recently shared their vision and values for crowdsourcing, which you can find here. OpenMedia’s focus have been on ensuring that their work is directed by their community’s needs, and that the opinions and voices of those wanting a more democratic media system are valued and respected.
The program for Media Democracy Days will be a work in progress; it will grow and change with time. We look forward to seeing what works and what doesn’t, and we hope you join us because we’re going to need your input! Look out for more information coming soon.
Join us on March the 6th at the central branch of the Vancouver Public Library for a fundraiser for media reform!
Tickets: https://openmedia.org/en/events March 6, 2016 Main Branch of the Vancouver Public Library
We’re teaming up with the folks at OpenMedia to host a special night with leaders in media reform, Robert McChesney and John Nichols, to help fight for the open internet and democratic media.
The Internet is a revolutionary tool that will shape the type of society we aspire to, but is the digital revolution headed in the right direction? We need to put the our communications systems back into the centre as a tool that connects people to decision-making, and our special guests have suggestions to accomplish this.
Join us for a conversation on how best to steer the open web in the right direction, as McChesney and Nichols present their new book People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy.
Robert McChesney and John Nichols are the co-founders of Free Press, a national media-reform organization, and have written extensively on the impact of corporate ownership on our media system. Their new book is a call to action to fight for Net Neutrality and against a ‘“citizen-less” future for our democracy. On March 6th, we’ll hear an introduction to some of the ideas in their book and we ask that you join us, to help wage the war against corporate interests and restrictive governments.
Tickets are available athttps://openmedia.org/en/event $10 general, and $5 for students and seniors. Be sure to check out our Facebook event page and share with your friends!
We hope to see you there,
Sydney on behalf of The Media Democracy Project
Stories Lost and Stories Found
February 10th 2016 - Posted by Sydney Ball
What happens when a language is decimated?
Last Thursdayevening’s panel “How to Learn an Indigenous Language” was presented byKwi Awt Stelmexw, which is a new initiative to revive and strengthen Squamish culture, and includes aSquamish language immersion program. The panelfeaturedseveral indigenous language students who shared with the audience the languages they’ve been learning,and the struggles they’ve taken on by participating in language revival. It was a privilege to be seated in the audience as a member of the colonizing people on this land and hear so much of the languages that projects of cultural genocide have attempted to stamp out.
It’s an important choice that the panel showcased the work of students rather than teachers, or those who have been raised with the languages they have been studying. We are often prepared to accept how essential it is that language revival plays a part in cultural revival, but it is an immense personal struggle to those who choose to take it on.The program thatKwi Awt Stelmexw will offer is partially based off of a successful Mohawk immersion school called Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa, in Six Nations, Ontario. It’s a rigorous undertaking, andthe speakers at the panel discussed the motivationrequired to learn a language that has been decimated,while also encountering constant scepticism frompeople both inside and outside their communities.
It has to be essential to Canada that these struggles remain visible, and as consumers of media, we have to keep in mind who is given the opportunity for their stories to be told.
A night earlier, I took in the PuSH festival and DOXA’s screening of ‘Sol’, the story of an Inuk performer who died in police custody from directorsMarie-Hélène CousineauandSusan Avingaq.
What was impressive about the film was the directors’ choice to use the backdrop of the mental illness crisis and governmental neglect in Nunavut, while choosing not to pass judgement onSolomon Uyarasuk’sdeath, or turn him into a statistic.The filmmakers spend much of the film interviewing Solomon’s family, friends, and the residents of Igloolik, which provides diverse perspectives on the man that they lost and the suffering of the community. At the end of the film, we don’t know whether or not the inquest that takes place twenty-six months after his death was correct in stating that it was a suicide; but we do know that he was a victim of the system that let a family go without answers about the causeof aloved one’s death for more than two years, and we know that therehas beena profound impact on a people and a community whose stories are usually ignored. Whilethe rest ofCanada remains mostly unaware,the suicide rate in Nunavut iseleven times the national average.
It was a reminder to myself to consider how I offer help as an outsider to a community. That we need to take part in putting pressure on our government to provide aid, services, and attention to Indigenous communities. We also need to pressure our media system, which chronically underreports and underrepresents Indigenous stories. We need to support opportunities for people to tell their stories themselves, and use their own languages.
You are able to donate to Kwi Awt Stelmexw at their website and we encourage you to purchase a ticket toThe We Speak Fundraising GalaonMarch 11th.
Take a look at our ‘Calendar‘ for upcoming events.
Take care,
Sydney on behalf of The Media Democracy Project
Exciting Changes For the Media Democracy Project in 2016
January 27th 2016 - Posted by Sydney Ball
We’re changing things up,
It occurs to us (because we’re not oblivious) that there is a wealth of cultural and media production in this city that fits with our mandate: Know the media, be the media, change the media. Our small team want to grow to
provide space for more kinds of work to be included in Media Democracy Days’ programming in the future, as well as ensure that we’re paying attention to the excellent and wide-ranging voices of activists, artists, and creators that work in the lower mainland.
Over the next few months, we’ll be using this blog and our calendar to promote some of our favourite happenings in the city, reflect on our community’s impact, and hopefully expand our understanding of what it means to participate in democratic media.
Part of this project means focusing on the people and spaces in Vancouver that are leading in community education. And with that, be it’s a pleasure to mention the innovative work done at Groundswell Café in the Downtown East Side. Groundswell is a project that actively provides entrepreneurial training while creating an inclusive community that focuses on economic alternatives. If you haven’t taken a look into them yet, this week is the last week in 2016 to apply to become part of their cohort, which provides the opportunity to expand your knowledge base and connect with a community that launches projects with the common goal of positive social impact.
An incredibly easy way to become involved with this space is to attend their free information sessions, happening on most Tuesday evenings at 566 Powell Street. The last session we attended revolved around platform cooperativism, and how internet based co-ops can replace the capitalist, top-down sharing economy. Platform cooperativism asks “Could the Internet be owned and governed differently? What if Uber drivers could set up their own platform, or if cities could control their own version of Airbnb?”
MDD collaborators and champions Tara Mahoney, Katherine Reilly, and Marianela Ramos Capelo all spoke at the event at Groundswell, after attending a summit in New York in the fall to celebrate ideas and talk about the struggles of platform cooperativism. We encourage you to find out more at platformcoop.net, where you’ll find recordings as well as some fantastic video material created by participants.
Stay tuned to our social media channels and the ‘calendar’ section of this website for more events on the horizon and word on more excellent Vancouver based projects.
Looking forward in 2016,