As part of her Shut It Down book tour, organizer Lisa Fithian will be offering a three hour training to hone our strategies and tactics to impact power holders and create social disruption at increasingly larger scales. This organizing requires attention to how we build collective power that heals and liberates us from our socialization […]
Join us for a Be The Media! Radio Workshop with Senior Producer Renée Feltz, sharing her expertise in the trenches at Democracy Now! during the COVID crisis! Renee will cover: How Democracy Now! has changed in response to COVID; the impact of COVID on other stories; muckraking with a conscience: creative ways to cover stories, […]
In addition to our virtual screening of The Cordillera of Dreams we presented a Be The Media! workshop featuring a talk and Q&A with filmmaker Patricio Guzmán live from Paris on Friday, May 22, 2020. Local filmmaker Daniel Mosquera, professor of Hispanic and Latin American & Caribbean Studies at Union College, provided simultaneous translation. This […]
Join us for a workshop with Deia Schlosberg before the screening of her film, The Story of Plastic, at 6pm! Deia Schlosberg (DIRECTOR/PRODUCER) made national news in October, 2016, when she was arrested and charged with 45 years’ worth of felonies for filming the #ShutItDown pipeline protest in North Dakota. Part of a worrying pattern […]
Join us for an on-demand screening of The Cordillera of Dreams and a workshop featuring master documentary filmmaker Patricio Guzmán with translator Daniel Mosquera. Winner of the Best Documentary award at the Cannes Film Festival, master filmmaker Patricio Guzmán's The Cordillera of Dreams completes his trilogy (Nostalgia for the Light, and The Pearl Button) investigating […]
Emma Willard student Sujin Chung will lead a virtual permaculture workshop and tour of the Sanctuary for Independent Media, from her home in South Korea. In this interview, she talks about how learning about permaculture at the Sanctuary has affected her life, and what inspired this project. Originally scheduled for a physical walk through Media […]
A personal exploration of LGBTQI women’s communities, cultures, and social justice work through the lens of the physical spaces they create, from bars to bookstores to arts and political hubs. This investigation of spaces that have managed to stay open when so many others have closed offers a perspective on why having a place to […]
On March 11th we announced the cancelling of the first FEMeeting Troy and FEMeeting Paris for reasons connected with the COVID-19 pandemic. The two events scheduled for March 20th-21st 2020 marked the start of FEMeeting communities, focusing on the support of research and artistic creation developed locally by individuals who identify as women. Instead, Spring […]
Featuring Taina Asili and free music, food and arts activities outdoors at Freedom Square. Rain site is adjacent at The Sanctuary for Independent Media.
Health Autonomy Clinic workshop on sexual health.
Join us for a Health Autonomy Clinic focused on social disparities and the crisis, ways that POC communities/oppressed/marginalized communities are being affected, and programs and resources caring for essential workers, incarcerated and the detained. The goal of “Addressing Social Disparities and the Crisis” is to counter the narrative that “everyone is in this together” and […]
For decades, Lisa Fithian’s work as an advocate for civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action has put her on the frontlines of change. Described by Mother Jones as “the nation’s best-known protest consultant,” Fithian has supported countless movements including the Battle of Seattle in 1999, rebuilding and defending communities following Hurricane Katrina, Occupy Wall Street, and the […]
The Norlite incinerator in Cohoes has been burning toxic waste for decades. What is the health impact of their operations on the surrounding communities throughout the NY Capital Region, southwestern Vermont, northwestern Massachusetts, and beyond? Join Cohoes Mayor William T. Keeler, longtime Saratoga Sites apartment resident Joe Ritchie, Dr. David Carpenter of the Albany School of […]
Join filmmaker Clément Guerra and Indigenous media makers in an online HD screening of “The Condor and the Eagle,” followed by a Be The Media! workshop: “Indigenous Voices: Media for Environmental Organizing.” During this time of COVID and a health crisis disproportionately impacting Indigenous communities, how can independent media work build solidarity in the pandemic […]
Explore with the filmmakers how media can have impact keeping Indigenous voices front and center. This "Be The Media!" virtual workshop features indigenous filmmakers Jade Begay from NDN Collective; Ecuadorian media maker Leo Cerda from HAKHU Project; and The Condor and the Eagle protagonist Bryan Parras. The presenters were joined by filmmaker Clément Guerra, Director […]
For our second Norlite Town Hall, our panelists will include Jane Williams from the National Sierra Club Clean Air Team; Sean Mahar, chief of staff for NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos; and Joe Ritchie, longtime Cohoes resident in the Saratoga Sites apartment complex. This meeting will focus on Norlite, Senate bill 7880B […]
Black August originated in California prisons in the 1970s as a month of reflection and a time to honor political prisoners, freedom fighters, and martyrs of the Black freedom struggle. In 2020, Black August came in the wake of Black Lives Matters protests against police brutality and racism sparked by the murder of George Jackson. […]
Join us for this virtual Be The Media ! workshop in which you will learn about crafting a narrative through dialogue, and the art of editing with archival footage. Gavin will share his experience as a first time director, and how relying on his instincts were key. Join in a discussion with the filmmaker about […]
The struggle over voting rights is headline news but, as this film shows, the fight goes back generations as strategies to suppress the vote have evolved over the decades. As the election nears, join us for a virtual Town Hall with community leaders and Let the People Decide director Gavin Guerra. The "Let the People […]
Author, activist and dissident Chris Hedges speaks at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy NY on October 16, 2020. In this talk he examines the cultural and social forces that have given rise to extremism in the United States. He explores the myriad of factors that led to the proliferation of neo-fascist militias, extremist […]
We use art and participatory action to promote social and environmental justice and freedom of creative expression.
Learn More