Today I had the opportunity to present at Internews 30th Anniversary event. Internews is kicking off this anniversary year by launching a project called InternewsNext that will highlight and support 30 under-30 led media projects around the world to showcase the future of media. The first presenter was a producer from M@trix, a youth-oriented TV program focusing on the latest developments in Internet and technology, reported by young journalists and reaching an audience of 13-25-year-olds across Central Asia. The second was a representative of the Internews Afghan media festival and the amazing creative projects of young Afghan women.
I spoke about the absence of voices and images representing & inspiring “unconventional changemakers” – women, Gen Y, working class, etc. – and the work that I want to do to change that with Foolish Life Media. Talking about my project pre-launch gave me goosebumps – it made it feel so real. It also gives me a level of increased accountability, which never hurts.
But the best part of the event was getting to meet 4 confident (and oh so cute) kids who bum rushed me when I got off stage to talk about their photography project at www.criticalexposure.org. Critical Exposure is a photography and multimedia advocacy project that trains youth in the creative arts and then empowers them to run issue campaigns (like, for example, the DC school dropout rate). They have an event here in DC on May 23rd and I’m definitely going to go check it out!
How ironic? A panel of experienced speakers sharing about the amazing next generation media projects happening all over the world while in their midst sits a group of kids who are demonstrating every single principle that we spoke about (multimedia +images + voice + advocacy = power for social change) right here at home. I was humbled and inspired.
