The Art + Media House and the Visions to Peace Project are collaborating to bring a delegation of DC youth media makers to the Allied Media Conference in Detroit, Michigan this July. The Allied Media Conference is an amazing 3-day conference that brings together media-makers (in the most holistic sense of the word) and social justice activists.

We need your support to help get us there! Please come out to our All-You-Can-Eat Pancake Breakfast.

Sunday June 28th, 11am-3pm, at the Art + Media House, 3035 15th Street NW, Washington, DC (one block from the Columbia Heights metro station on the Green line).

$10-20 suggested donation (help us out however you can).

Eat pancakes and sip coffee and juice. There will also be a screening of youth-produced media projects.

More info: 202.319.2294

Help us promote the AMC. Please contact us if you want some flyers to distribute in your community.

More resources to help you promote the AMC.

People's Production House (PPH) and other groups in NYC are organizing a low-cost, wheelchair-accessible NYC.to.AMC Media Justice Bus. We still have seats left for you, but it's filling up.

The bus is a great opportunity to get to the AMC and network with some of New York's fun-loving social justice activists. Past and present bus riders include Queers for Economic Justice, Arab Women Active in Arts and Media, Palestine Education Project, People's Production House, Regeneración Childcare Collective, UPROSE, and more.

The bus will leave Thursday night and arrive in Detroit Friday morning. It will depart Sunday after the closing remarks, and arrive back in NYC late Sunday night. Anyone who wants to travel at a different time should still get in touch with PPH, who can act as a clearinghouse for other group travel arrangements.

Seats on the bus cost $100 per person for the round trip and we are fundraising to bring the cost down. Email nyc@alliedmediaconference.org to reserve your spot.

Speaking of bring that cost down, here is a fundraising event aiming to do just that:

NYC 2 AMC Happy Hour!

Friday, June 19, 6:00pm - 10:00pm @ DCTV, 87 Lafayette Street, between White and Walker. Food, drink, raffle, hot multimedia, music - $10 donation.

Hosted by Peoples Production House, Downtown Community Television, The Palestine Education Project and many others. Facebook listing for this event. More info: nyc@alliedmediaconference.org.

Punk vs. Funk! Saturday June 20th (FIRST DAY OF SUMMER) at the Trumbullplex, 4210 Trumbull Ave., DETROIT.

BBQ @ 6pm. Punk vs Funk Dance Battle @ 10pm. Live set from Montreal's Swamp Sex Robots. Surprise DJ's (Sterling! and Jhone! shhhhhhhh) spinning 'til we are no longer human...

Benefit for the Allied Media Conference. Suggested donation $10- $20.

a glimpse into the future:

we arrived with the beer...Ghetto Blaster, of course. the grill was going and the freaks had arrived. none of us knew, how insane it was going to get, but we should have. we should have known, i'm sorry. at that time the music was just fun music coming out of the space, from our new system, while we goofed off talkin tough about the battle, but only a few short hours later...
it was not just music, it was a frenzied mashup groove wailing on our soul. no i can't even speak of it now. the way the dance floor divided itself naturally and became so sweat soaked, punks with their clothes falling off in face paint and a too serious look in their eyes while on the other, the children of Funkadelic had risen-with rearranging body parts and flags, don't ask! it was just too strange. “we are here to win” each side said. the best songs to really get down to are raw and rebellious and they are punk! no they are funk! and the dance battle was on. maybe it was those little veggie bombs, they melted our insides and we were no longer ourselves.
i don't even know who won. DJ FUnk destrucTO was certainly pleased with his set, I didn't know he was so tattooed? and Buried Glory was impossibly cool in a situation that was so unspeakably hot. HOT I said! Like that freakin' grill, we were cooking ourselves into life in there.

Long Beach, CA Speak CD Listening Party
Sunday June 14th 2pm to 5pm
FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

Have you heard about that awesome SPEAK CD that’s out right now? The spoken word collection that features the work of BFP, Black Amazon, Little Light, and so many others? The one that combines personal history and movement making in truly inspiring ways? If you live in or around Long Beach, CA and haven’t heard it yet, now’s your chance!

On Sunday, June 14th, Petit Poussin, Christine, and Julie will be hosting a listening party from 2-5. As we listen to the CD, you’ll be able to participate in discussion and respond by making your own media, whether it’s visual art, handwritten text, a zine, blogging or twittering, or whatever combination of the above you can come up with. Afterwards, we’ll sit down to a potluck dinner. CDs will be available for sale. All proceeds go towards getting single mothers to the Allied Media Conference next month.

Address available upon RSVP. A quick warning for people with allergies: a friendly medium-haired cat will be present.

Donations always welcome at www.speakmediacollective.com

Please join us for a community meal (and more!) to benefit local activists and independent media makers. We'll be providing food, fun, raffles,and space to talk about the connections between grassroots action and media. All proceeds will go into a travel fund to help L.A.-based activists and media makers get to the 2009 Allied Media Conference in Detroit this summer.

Sunday, May 31, 3:00PM - 7:30PM. Please RSVP to get the address: 626.354.8297 or email jess@makeshiftmag.com

Suggested donation of $10. If you can, bring some extra cash in case you feel inspired to donate more after you've heard about our vision for connecting L.A. to the AMC. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Facebook listing for this event.

Learn about more grassroots fundraising strategies through the Allied Resource Initiative.

Help promote the AMC! Download this 8.5" x 11" flyer (pdf), print it out and post it around town. Check out more tools for promoting the AMC here.

It Is Better to SPEAK! Listening Party in Brooklyn

Featuring live readings by contributors Mamita Mala and Black Amazon.

Saturday, May 16, 2009 - 7:00pm – 9:00pm. This party will take place in Brooklyn. For the address, please RSVP to katie@alliedmediaconfernce.org

All are welcome. Bring a friend and spread the word!

SPEAK! is a group of women of color media makers. In the summer and fall of 2008, they created this CD compilation of spoken word, poetry, and song. With contributors from all over the U.S., these recordings are testimonials of struggle, hope, and love.

Proceeds of this album will go towards funding single mothers of SPEAK! in coming to the 2009 Allied Media Conference in Detroit, MI.

CD/Zine/Curriculum = $16 CD only = $10

Donations always welcome at www.speakmediacollective.com

The AMC has opened its doors to organizations and networks that want to use the conference as a convergence point. In addition to the caucuses, meet-ups and strategy sessions that happen throughout Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the AMC, we are also inviting groups to hold longer meetings on Thursday, July 16, and on Monday, July 20, the day after the close of the AMC. There are still rooms available for your meeting on these days. To reserve your space, please contact us.

The Women's Media Equity Collaborative (WMEC) is one such group using the AMC as an opportunity to converge their network. On Thursday, July 16, the WMEC will host a summit in the home of the AMC, the McGregor Conference Center at Wayne State University.

More info:

ATTENTION Feminist Media Advocates, Grassroots Activists & Producers of Women Centered Media:

Register online now for this summit of Women's Social Justice Media Organizations, Groups & Outlets. Join sister media makers for this long overdue national strategy session. Summit registration covers your three meals for the day of the gathering.

Help us:

• Assess data from the first nation-wide survey of 350 women's media groups.

• Build collaborations among affinity groups.
• Explore ways to fund our needs.

Women's Media Equity Collaborative, sponsor of the Summit, is hard at work to find travel support to get you to Detroit in July. For further information contact Ariel Dougherty: ArielCamera@gmail.com

"BUILD TRUST + COLLABORATE + PRIORITIZE = SUSTAINABILITY"