Allied Media Conference

Q & A following the film with members of the Palestine Education Project

Slingshot Hip Hop braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and Separation Walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people crossing the borders that separate them. There will be a discussion with the director and producers following the film.

Presenter: Una Aya Osato

This workshop will begin with a live performance of a multi-media one-woman show Recess. Recess is a play created from the experience of the author, Una Aya Osato, attending and teaching in NYC public schools. It confronts the state of today's public school system where struggles for power, criminalization of the youth and the effects of a suffocating bureaucracy are an every day reality. Through Recess, participants will experience how performance can be used to make abstract ideas real and personal in the classroom. We will discuss other ways of incorporating theater and performance into classrooms and together begin to generate solutions to the larger questions of how education can become humane and liberatory for all.

Presenters: Capital D, All Natural INC.; Invincible, Emergence Music; Bec Young and Pete Yahnke, Just Seeds Visual Resistance Artist Cooperative; Jessica Care Moore, Moore Black Press

This interactive session will move from a multimedia process of envisioning the type of interdependent economies we as independent artists need in order to thrive and evolve, then to a dialog around the specific challenges we face in creating what we envision. Participants will take an up close look at the ins and outs of 4 organizations working to develop alternative economies for independent media makers--Just Seeds, a national collective of visual artists; Moore Black Press, the independent publishing company of Detroit poet Jessica Care Moore; the Chicago-based All Natural, Founders of the label All Natural, Inc.,and Emergence Media a brand new label currently 'emerging' from Detroit.

A film screening followed by a discussion with members of the Visions To Peace Project, Washington D.C.

In this daring and thoughtful documentary, youth and youth justice workers reveal the many faces of violence against youth. They share personal stories, art and honest dialog with hope of sparking new visions for safety that do not depend on policing and prisons. Vision Is Our Power was created by youth and young adults of the Visions to Peace Project, a youth leadership and movement-building project located in Washington, DC. We are committed to building a broad vision and movement for safety, justice and freedom - the building blocks of peace - through the use of arts, media and community education. Following the screening, members of the Visions to Peace Project will facilitate a discussion and exercises in which participants will work together to create analysis, visions and strategies for ending multiple forms of violence against youth.

Presenters: The Beehive Collective

The purpose of this workshop is to build connections between activists that use words, and those that speak in pictures, to help create more accessible, powerful campaigns for the important issues of our time. The Beehive Collective has been creating and distributing anti-copyright, educational artwork for the past 7 years about social and environmental issues from biotechnology to the FTAA. In this workshop, we will use 'mind-mapping' as a tool to collect, organize and share the ideas generated by the whole group.

Presenters: Mona Eldahry, Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media; Steve Pierce, Hudson Mohawk Indymedia Center; Nada Elia, INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence

What does the future of "free speech," censorship and political repression look like through an Arab/Muslim lens? While mainstream media demonizes Arabs and Muslims, independent media and art made by Arabs/Muslims is deemed terrorist propaganda. Even the expression of solidarity can be criminal. This panel will draw lessons from the experience of AWAAM (Arab Women Active in Arts and Media) whose "INTIFADA NYC" t-shirts became the basis for a racist smear campaign against The Khalil Gibran International Academy and its founding principal, Debbie Almontaser. We'll hear from the Hudson-Mohawk Indymedia center, who's willingness to host Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal's "Virtual Jihada" exhibit caused the city to shut down their community space. We'll also hear the story of why the Ford Foundation revoked $100,000 from INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence moments before their Color of Violence III conference in 2005. From each of these stories we'll build our collective knowledge of how to prepare for and respond to a future of increased censorship and political repression in all targeted communities.

Presenters: Robin Hewlett, Mary Tremonte, Shaun Slifer, The Howling Mob Society;
Sandra de la Loza , Pocho Research Society
Moderator: Nicolas Lampert

This panel examines the work of two radical art collectives that use signage to explain a historical event that has been marginalized. For The Howling Mob Society's inaugural project they created a historical sign project that would draw attention to the Railroad Strike of 1877, one of the most significant and violent labor strike’s in US history. The Pocho Research Society is best known for installing their own plaques on the surface of monuments and buildings (often next to the “official” plaque) that offers a counter perspective and a critique of not only the monument in question, but the form of the monument itself. This presentation is ideal for ideas for artists, activists and organizers interested in creating similar projects in their communities.

Presenters: Mary Dee and Aiko Shirakawa, 5th Element

More and more people are reclaiming party and music spaces to nurture a transformative music movement. What are the sustainable economic models of party promotion and event production that support positive and progressive agendas? How can we create more of these transformed spaces across the country? How do organizers improve their skill in putting events together? Can organizations pair with promoters to create these kinds of spaces?

This workshop will highlight the experiences of 5th Element,a collective of women who use hip hop to challenge sexism and misogyny by producing shows and workshops highlighting positive artists. Participants will leave with practical, innovative approaches to throwing parties and booking shows that will apply within any music scene.