independent media
"Be The Media!" Visual Journalism: Comics and Graphic Novels
Visual Journalism and Arts Activism: A Panel Discussion and Workshop With World War 3 Illustrated Artists
Please register by clicking here! Scholarships are available!
An arts activism intensive with members of the World War Three Illustrated collective, including a discussion on zines and comix, and a hands-on collaborative workshop to make a digital mini-comic.
1-3 PM-- Small Press and DIY Publishing and Promotion of Activist Comics and Zines (Panel discussion with World War 3 Artists/Editors.) Digital tools make it easier and cheaper than ever for individuals, groups and collectives to publish comics independently. But the most significant challenge remains that of creating work that is relevant and responsive to the community it represents. What are the opportunities for using the comic medium for social change? What strategies and tools are artist activists using to get their work out into the community, and how is that changing?
"Shifting Focus: Filmmaker Ben Selkow"
"Media Sanctuary has an activist vein"
TROY — A handful of people, from teenagers to those old enough to collect Social Security, listen attentively as Branda Miller shows how to edit a digital movie. Assembled in the basement of an old church, the students are not only interested in the process of making movies. They also want to use the skills. Each has a documentary project waiting in the wings.
Places like the Sanctuary for Independent Media wear their politics proudly, and many of the projects featured have a leftist slant and tap an activist vein.
"There is a growing awareness that whatever you are addressing, labor issues, civil rights, media has got to be your second issue," said Miller, a founding member of the Sanctuary, as she showed off the downstairs gallery.
The Sanctuary has presented an array of events such as a documentary on Buddhist nun Robina Courtin, who stuck around afterward for a Q&A; University at Buffalo art professor Steve Kurtz, who was investigated on bioterrorism charges surrounding his Critical Art Ensemble, and Troy filmmaker Jim DeSeve, whoe "Tying the Knot" is about same-sex marriage.
Other recent events have featured Middle Eastern scholar and former Iranian ambassador to the United Nations Mansour Farhoung and a performance of Afro-Cuban music by the Billy Bang Quartet.
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