AHA Media

April Smith

http://shebeenclub.com/index.php/2009/03/16/crime-pays-date-auction-april-smith/

An evening in April Smith’s sassy, sexy company is up for grabs tonight as she bravely puts herself on the auction block for Crime Pays, a fundraiser for the Federation of BC Writers.

The date is a dinner for two at Steamworks Brew Pub. As for April, let’s let April speak for herself (not something someone this feisty ever has a problem with!):

Artistic – Activist – Advocate- Athletic- Analytical- Ambitious- Adorable – Alturistic–Amazing!!

I am confident and feisty. I like people with manners, great listening skills and all the usual niceness I am a dominant woman but very much a loveable and adorable lady. I am a social person though very analytical, methodical and intellectual. I have a younger, sillier sense of humor, I have an uninhibited laugh. I have an innocent though haunted sense of worldliness about me… I have been through much in my young life. I am a sparkling and engaging kind of person…but I get bored easily… so I appreciate someone who has alot of good thoughts. I love to be cherished, adored and adulated… If I like you… You will know it

My new career path is exploring new and social media and special event production in conjunction to my community work which helps to revitalize inner city communities. I am proud to say that my mobile multimedia production kit fits in my small purse – I shoot entirely with Nokia Cameraphones as it’s part of my media project.

The geekier of you may already know that April is one of Vancouver’s social media sweethearts, having long since bent Twitter (and much of the Lower Mainland) to her will. But what happens on Twitter stays on Twitter, right?

Bidding is now open on this date: please post your bid in the comments section, in increments of a minimum of $20. Payment is by cash in person tonight or cheque mailed to the Federation of BC Writers, PO Box 3887, Stn Terminal, Vancouver, BC, V6B 3Z3.

AHA MEDIA congrads Mo Simpson ( our mentor ) for winning the The Kodak Image Award at the Spotlight Awards 2009 from Women In Film Festival this Year!!

We wish to honor Mo, as everything we have learned for filming on cameraphones and other new media devices comes from her grace, patience and insightful guidance.  We at AHA MEDIA would NOT be here if not for Mo mentoring us folks from the Vancouver DTES. Thanks for everything MO!!  We are so happy you won the Kodak Image Award 🙂

Moira Simpson, one of Canada’s most respected documentary DOP/directors. As Filmmaker in Residence with Fearless City Mobile, Moira is facilitating the use of mobile phone technology with residents of the Downtown Eastside. Through interactive live streaming and creating short video documentaries they are crossing the digital divide and telling their own stories.

http://www.womeninfilm.ca/_Library/docs/moira_simpson_bio.pdf

Congratulations to all for a truly grand opening of the “W2 launchpad” at 116 West Hastings right in the Vancouver DTES.

W2 will bring together hybrid art forms, community art practices, individual human development and community cultural development in a single environment. It will be home to a diverse grouping of Vancouver arts and community service organizations offering developmental programs in writing, radio and television production, painting, sculpture, photography, mixed media, video and cross-media.

The Centre’s objectives are to produce and present new works of artistic significance and social benefit; to empower individuals and communities (young and old alike); and to engage with technology and interdisciplinary artists as producers rather than consumers. Emphasis will be placed on cross-cultural sharing, artistic and social outcomes, as well as the quality of process.

 www.creativetechnology.org

The opening was very well attended, thanks to good planning of our leaders and the commitment of community operatives.

Above all shone the star of our example of what the interface of New Media and community can look like ‘par example’ through the voice of Favianna Rodriguez and her beautiful works of art and strong voice for making change.

Special thanks to Favianna Rodriguez: your standing ovation is well deserved!
For more information go to: http://favianna.typepad.com/

Event Description

The setting

The downtown eastside neighbourhood of a city, struggling with poverty, drug abuse, violence.Oakland, California.Vancouver.Oakland‘s Eastside Arts Alliance.

This vibrant young woman has just been named one of Utne Reader magazine’s Top 50 Visionaries. Rodriguez is an artist, activist, technologist, and organization builder.Mexico and across America, including at the recent Democratic National Convention. She is currently teaching in an artist residency at the University of Illinois. Rodriguez also leads TUMIS, a flagship of innovative web design for progressive campaigns. This company’s profits are donated back to the Oakland Eastside Arts Alliance.Vancouver in early March, Rodriguez will engage in a number of local projects, including workshops with union members.

See her “Designing for Democracy” show with VJ Reed Rickert, March 5 at District 319 (319 Main Street, $20/$15, sponsored by Web of Change). On March 6 at 9pm, Rodriguez and Rickert are special guests of W2 for their fundraiser “Techforms” (Northern Way Campus, 577 Great Northern Way, $25).www.sistahoodcelebration.com

The story

A young woman grows up in this neighbourhood. She and a group of artists start a successful technology and design collective. They launch a business and help establish a non-profit society. They raise the money to buy an old building and rehabilitate it. It houses their company, a bilingual daycare, a cultural centre, and 16 units of low-income housing. Their efforts are bringing social and economic development, music, art, and their community together. It’s an incredible transformation.

Where is this?

It’s an inspiring vision for what could, and should, be possible here in

On Sunday, March 8, the Sista’hood Celebration presents “Art, Resistance, and Community Transformation,” a public art presentation and community dialogue with Favianna Rodriguez, co-founder of

“Art alone does not transform the world. Mass movements do. It is the unique collaborations between artists, activists, and people that forge true social change,” notes Rodriguez.

Her work on such issues as immigration, racism, war, and globalization has been featured in

During her visit to

Sista’hood Celebration is a festival held every March that highlights women’s arts and issues.

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For all our photos of the day’s celebration, please check out the flickr stream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahamedia/sets/72157615044899688/

To see all our videos of Favianna talking please see our youtube channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/AHAFilm

This video was filmed using a Nokia N95 mobile cameraphone. AHA MEDIA is always exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone!