Allied Media Conference

Followed by discussion with Mabel Williams

NEGROES WITH GUNS tells the dramatic story of the often-forgotten civil rights leader who urged African Americans to arm themselves against violent racists. For eight years, Williams and his family lived in exile, first in Cuba and then in China. In Havana, Williams began to broadcast a 50,000-watt radio program called "Radio Free Dixie." The radio show fused cutting-edge music with news of the black freedom movement and Williams’ editorials, which, among other things, urged blacks not to fight in Vietnam. According to the filmmakers, NEGROES WITH GUNS helps to “restore Rob and Mabel Williams to their rightful place as important civil rights figures who defied the white power structure without the protection of large numbers or the attention of television cameras.

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.

Participants: Aurora Harris, Broadside Press; Ron Scott, For My People; Khary Frazier, The Michigan Citizen; Shea Howell, The Michigan Citizen; Zak Rosen, Detroit Today; Oya Amakisi, Amakisi Unlimited; Arvell Jones and Desmond Jones, Encode Media; Nkenge Zola, U of D Mercy Digital Media Studies Department
Facilitator: Lottie Spady, Free D Media

Jennifer Granholm has earmarked millions of dollars for her "21st century jobs" initiative. Detroit is home to hundreds of independent recording studios based out of peoples basements, garages and bathrooms. Free D media (In Our Own Backyard) has instituted a program to offer media-based cooperative economics skills to displaced workers in Detroit. Motown Records was started with an $800 loan from the Gordy family "co-op"in a house on W. Grand Blvd! What kind of economic future for Detroit can we advance through independent media?

Presenters: Victoria Law; Kameelah Rasheed; Dannette Hoarde, Women and Prison: A Site for Resistance; Anthony Rayson, South Chicago ABC Zine Distro

While working towards the long-term goal of prison abolition, we must also take on more immediate efforts to support those silenced by incarceration. Those dedicated to independent media should consider reaching out to and collaborating with those lacking media access as a way to amplify marginalized voices and to make the movement for participatory media more inclusive. This session will include a discussion with independent media makers and prison activists on current initiatives, barriers and possibilities of media access for prisoners, sustainability and growth of prisoner-focused media.

Presenters: Laura Hadden, Center for Digital Storytelling; Tracy Gallardo, Adrianna Gallardo, Denise Guadiana & Nicole Tysvaer, Real Media

Digital storytelling provides a vital outlet for marginalized voices to build solidarity and incite change, regardless of the storyteller's technical background. The Center for Digital Storytelling will share powerful examples of this, as well as their workshop model itself, which allows participants to complete digital stories in three days. You will get to plant the seed for your own digital story and explore the importance of personal narrative first hand through two interactive writing exercises. The session will conclude with examples of digital storytelling projects from the Real Media Leadership Literacy Training project, an afterschool program based at a Western International High School in Southwest Detroit. The youth from Real Media will break down their process and share everything you need to know to get this kind of program started at your school, community center or wherever!

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: Jordan Flaherty, Left Turn magazine; Clinton Young III and Stephen Lewis, 2-cent Entertainment

The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival presents a powerful selection of New Orleans grassroots media. From the high-quality films of 2-Cent Entertainment, to pieces by New Orleans high school students, to short films about post-Katrina organizing by established New Orleans filmmakers, this film program will present vital first-hand perspectives from New Orleans. Many of the films shown have not been seen outside of New Orleans.

Presenters: Puck Lo, Critical Resistance-Oakland, National Radio Project, Free Speech Radio News; Jaggi Singh, No One Is Illegal-Montreal and Solidarity Across Borders; Rachel Herzing, Creative Interventions, "Left Turn," "The Abolitionist"; Alan Grieg, Generation 5

Moderator: Sahee Kil

Business and corporate media inundate us with sensational tales of "crime." These stories consistently side with police and the State, heavily relying upon stereotypes that pathologize poor people and those who work in informal and illegal sectors. In this panel, we'll hear from independent journalists who are telling the "real" story behind crime and the ever-expanding prison, punishment and surveillance industries. But how can media go beyond truth-telling? What role can our media play in building a world without prisons? We'll hear from people who make media to create justice in their communities and share ideas to take home.

How can we use media to build coalitions among black and Arab communities? What could black/Arab solidarity mean? Organizers from Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), Arab American Action Network, Palestine/Israel Education Project, Arab Women Active in Arts and Media (AWAAM), and Detroit's black/Arab solidarity group will come together in this caucus to share their work and collectively answer these questions. Everyone interested in black/Arab coalition building is welcome.

Presenters: Gary Wise, New Media Artist and Appropriation Connaisseur; Leslie Raymond, Professor of New Media Program, UTSA and Live VJ/Video Artist; Sterling Toles, Detroit audio/visual artist

If artists have historically copied from other artists, why are contemporary artists criminalized for sampling sounds and images? The artists on this panel appropriate sounds, music, and moving and still images in their work. They will offer different perspectives on how artists can relate to copyright restrictions in the 21st Century, from navigating current copyright laws, to working with fair use and creative commons licenses, to saying f* intellectual property!

Presenters: Aiko Shirakawa, 5th Element; Mary Dee, 5th Element; B-Girl Tara, Anomolies Crew

Dance is one of the oldest forms of communication. And Breaking/Locking crews have communicated the resistance of the hip hop generation since its beginning! What's a movement without movement? Come learn the foundation elements of breaking from two of the flyest in the game, B-girl Aiko, original Pop/Locker from San Jose, CA, and B-girl Tara, instructor from NYC. These two b-girls from Anomolies and 5th Element will teach you the foundation; locking, top roks, and floorwork, where you take it is up to you...

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: Ryan Pinion, Stacy Milbern, Isabel Macdonald

When was the last time you heard or saw people with disabilities represented in the media? Part 1 of this session will break down the most common frames of discussion when it comes to disability in the media: sickness, medicine and charity. We will then present alternative representations of disability not commonly portrayed in the media and share current and historical information about the Disability Rights Movement in this country. During Part 2 of this session, the group FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) will share concrete tools for monitoring the media, documenting unfair and inaccurate coverage, and using this documentation as part of campaigns to achieve more accountable coverage. Participants will have the chance to practice these tools on recent media reports involving harmful representations of disability in the media, and ultimately will walk away with tools that they can apply to any campaign for social justice. You will also receive concrete tools for addressing ableism and inaccessibility issues within your own organization!

Presenters:Abayomi Azikiwe, Ron Scott and Sandra Hines of the Fighting for Justice Radio Show, Jeanette Monsalve, Kellee Coleman and Paula Rojas of Mamis of Color Rising Radio Collective, Eric Yates and Dan Jones of the Philadelphia Student Union
Moderator: Desi Burnette, Prometheus Radio Project

This panel will examine different models of radio projects that were developed by and for specific communities--The Fighting for Justice Radio Show, a project of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, Mamis of Color Rising, an Austin-based radio show for poor and working class mothers of color, and the Phildelphia Student Union radio show. It will survey different formats for radio shows-- from call-in shows to investigative reporting. It will also address the question: how can community radio go beyond a "service" model of providing information to the community, towards something that will be an instrument for community organizing?

Facilitators: Jessamyn Sabbag; Future 5000 and Aliza Dichter; Center for International Media Action

This session will bring the conference around full-circle from the Friday night Keynote. We will look at all the ideas that have been posted on the wall map of the future throughout the weekend, and distill strategies for strengthening and evolving all of our work through the challenges and opportunities of the next ten years.

Presenter: Hotep, President of HustleUniversity.org

The Unbought and Unbossed presentation provides proven strategies for success for all independent media producers; particularly those struggling with financing and distributing their works. This presentation is highly popular because of its practical, solution-based methodology. The audience will go home with: 1) 10 power principles to improve their professional and personal lives. 2) Practical strategies for how they can apply the principles. 3) A list of FREE websites that they can easily use to get started 4) Powerful (yet inexpensive) Marketing and Promotional strategies 5) Amazing new distribution methods 6) An empowered mind state, which will no longer allow them to wait for opportunity, but help them consistently find ways to create opportunity for themselves.

Presenters: Leah Sapin of Arts Engine, Ivettza Sanchez, Leslie Stewart and Brittany Shoot

What happens after a film or video has been made? In a previous era,cementing mainstream dispensation was a primary concern. But in a world filled with YouTube and MySpace, many people are left wondering how to make sense of the myriad of ways to get your video not just on the web, but WATCHED. From our diverse backgrounds, we will provide real life examples of innovative grassroots strategies and success stories to use as the basis for an audience-led discussion on the issues educators, organizers, and independent media makers face when
trying to build community outside revenue or ad-based models. We look forward to discussing the best strategies for promoting film and video work online, both in terms of maximum exposure but also in regards to quality community-building around a maker and his/her work's base ideas.

A lot has changed in the media landscape since the inception of the Indymedia network in 1999 and the network has waxed and waned in terms of local involvement and communication between groups. This caucus will be a forum for people who were once or are currently affiliated with Indymedia, or interested in joining Indymedia, to talk about the status of the network and make plans for its future. With the RNC/DNC coming up in a few months and a IMC presence being likely this could also serve as a point to plan collaborations amongst people interested in covering the protests from a IMC open newswire perspective.

Presenters: Ricardo Dominguez, The Electronic Disturbance Theater; DeAnne Cuellar, Texas Media Empowerment Project; Ileana Cortez, Centro Obrero de Detroit
Moderator: Elena Herrada, Centro Obrero de Detroit

From San Antonio to Southwest Detroit, people are utilizing media to advance the movement for immigrant rights. They are transforming everyday tools such as cell phones into GPS navigation devices for people crossing the border. They are using community radio stations to broadcast vital information in indigenous languages, so that in times of disaster, immigrants have equal access to life-saving information. Finally they are creating outlets for the stories of immigrants through the Internet-- expanding the national consciousness about the struggle for immigrant rights. This panel will explore the work of several projects that are creating a safety net for some of the most vulnerable populations in the country-- The Transborder Immigrant Project, The Texas Media Empowerment Project, and Centro Obrero de Detroit.

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.

Grace Lee Boggs has been a part of almost every major movement in the United States in the last 75 years, including: Labor, Civil Rights, Black Power, Women's Rights and Environmental Justice. As she approaches her 93rd year, Grace is a living legend and one of the movement's clearest thinkers and boldest visionaries. The 10th Allied Media Conference will conclude with Grace's remarks.

Facilitators: Paula Rojas (Texas), Josué Guillén (DC) and Julie Rosier (Detroit)

Many people have recognized a parallel yet independent formation of study groups in this recent period throughout the country. Participants of such groups have commented on the exciting nature of this simultaneous phenomenon, as well as a desire to document and articulate the experience in terms of its historical context and current/future potential.

Some ideas surfaced about braiding together study group threads (local clusters) from around the country into a parallel process of study and reflection that is tied to our local social change practice. Some study groups have already brainstormed around collaboration/cross-fertilization and have shared reading lists. There has been some talk of forming a mutual list that would serve as the backbone for simultaneous local study sessions across the country, which could culminate in a concentrated two-day gathering based on a co-created timeline. Detroit (The Boggs Center) has offered to host a future gathering. The upcoming Allied Media Conference in Detroit could provide a forum for participants from national clusters to have an initial face-to-face meeting.

The conversation will take place at the AMC on Saturday, June 21, from 12:20-2:20, during the LUNCH / Caucus break @ Byblos Cafe & Grill (87 W Palmer St Detroit, MI 48202). Josue and Julie committed to facilitating the conversation and developing an agenda (see below). Please let us know if you plan on attending this meeting so we can get a sense how many to expect. (Julie, jrosier06@gmail.com or Josue, josue@thepraxisproject.org)