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AHA MEDIA presents Justice Rocks – fusing pop culture and social change at Strathcona Park, Saturday August 29, 2009
Justice Rocks – fusing pop culture and social change
Strathcona Park, Saturday August 29, 2009
Time: 2 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Description
On-site skate demos, silk screening and of course some of the hottest music on the scene… Featuring Jess Hill, Cris Derksen, BMP (Rup Sidhu, Nadia Chaney, Tarun Nayer), The Living Room, The Beauties, Greenbelt Collective, The Heard and more…
visit www.justicerocks.org
AHA MEDIA is very honored to be featured in “With Glowing Hearts” the movie directed by Andrew Lavigne and produced by Jon Ornoy of Animal Mother Films
A Social Media revolution has been brewing for the past five years on websites from FaceBook, to Wikipedia, to Flickr, and as it spreads throughout the Internet and into popular culture through an increasing number of portals, it is creating a new sense of community and empowerment amongst those who have embraced it.
History has shown that poor and marginalized communities stand to gain the most from leaps forward in the democratization of information, so the excitement in areas like Vancouver’s maligned Downtown Eastside about the possibilities of Web 2.0 and beyond is palpable.
With the Winter Olympics less than a year away, billions have been spent in preparations and many poverty advocates are concerned about how the city’s several thousand homeless and working poor will fit into the equation as Vancouver puts on its best face for the world.
Against this background the film examines Social Media in action as a group named Fearless City embarks on a campaign to empower and protect its neighbours with cellphones, video-streaming, and the World Wide Web.
With great thanks to both our mentors, Andrew Lavigne and Jon Ornoy for a wonderful movie trailer! 🙂
Thanks to all our friends and our colleagues in the film ” With Glowing Hearts” 🙂
AHA MEDIA is very proud to introduce Alvin Clayton, our newest Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES) Community Reporter !
AHA MEDIA is very proud to have Alvin Clayton – a First Nations Nisgaa elder as part of our Vancover Downtown Eastside ( DTES) Community Reporting team.
AHA MEDIA first met Alvin at the Upwords Magazine group http://www.upwordsmagazine.wordpress.com at LifeSkills Centre and after seeing his preparation, dedication and Aboriginal governance skills to his unique style of reporting on homeless and health issues, we were happy to invite Alvin to join AHA MEDIA. 🙂
AHA MEDIA is dedicated to helping all our communities become more informed!
AHA MEDIA and W2 Community Media Art Society are proud to present Tragic Magic featuring Silas Howard and Heather Ács + Vancouver DJs: Dance Mix Ninety-Six, Ugly, OCDJ, Women&Song – Sunday, August 2, 10pm-4am, $5.
TRAGIC MAGIC
featuring Silas Howard and Heather Ács
+ Vancouver DJs: Dance Mix Ninety-Six, Ugly, OCDJ, Women&Song
W2 Flack Block Gallery
click here for W2 website event listing and flyer
157 W Hastings @ Cambie
Sunday, August 2, 10pm-4am, $5.
Silas Howard of Tribe 8 and New York City downtown performance artist Heather Ács present an evening of new solo works, traversing through a multi-media world of string theory, social trespassing & loopholes in the American dream. Through ruminations on desire, shame, and loss these two escape artists invite us into a non-linear landscape scattered with fragmented mothers, renegade chickens, tranny jazzmen, and the mysterious figure of Mr. Hollywood in order to ask what is the price of letting go, selling out, or rewriting the script?
“Tragic Magic was so good it hurt…Thank Goodness I brought moist towelettes!” Justin Bond
Heather Ács’ piece “what the brain forgets and the heart denies, the body remembers…” explores illness, death, grieving and loss refracted through working class Appalachian and Mexican cultural imagery, creating a nonlinear world layered with movement, gesture, storytelling, soundscape, video, and installation. In this multi-media solo performance piece, time and testimonies loop, break apart, burrow, reemerge, and cross over. Breath taking, glass breaking, gifts are bestowed. Sparrows descend, tortillas and tears sizzle on the comal, a river flows with dirt and glitter. Lesley Gore croons cotton candy lyrics laced with razor blades while dust gathers in an empty house. Stitch it all together with string theory and skeleton keys, stuff into a mason jar, shake until your heart might break, check your pulse, make a wish, and see what rises to the surface.
Howard’s Thank you for Being Urgent is a textured tale of a transman coming up in the queer punk world of San Francisco and spilling into the crappy and exalted glitter of Hollywood. He searches for true tales of fierce outsiders and re-imagines the mainstream, never loosening his grip on the underground. Our hero begs sanity from mystery man Mr. Hollywood through playful and plaintive letters, ruminating on desire, shame, and the infinite loopholes in the American Dream. Traversing serendipitous heights and punishing ironies, Thank you for Being Urgent chronicles burlesque dancers with dementia, tranny jazzmen and film executives, using archival photos, monologues and charm.
Bios:
HEATHER M. ÁCS
Heather M. Ács is a multi-media theatre performance artist, activist, educator and high-femme troublemaker. Her gritty, glittery work has been featured at the Culture Project, HERE Arts Center , the Kitchen, the Public Theater, Theater for the New City , and the New York City International Fringe Festival. She performs and facilitates workshops at community spaces, colleges and conferences from coast to coast. Heather has worked with Nao Bustamante, Karen Finley, Claude Michelle-Wampler, J. Ed Araiza of the SITI Company, and Steven Soderbergh. Heather is also a dedicated teaching artist. She uses theatre as a tool for social change with low-income youth in cities throughout the U.S. and has studied with Cornerstone Theatre Company, Sojourn Theatre, and Augusto Boal.
SILAS HOWARD
Silas Howard, (writer, director, and musician), co-directed his first feature, By Hook Or By Crook, with Harry Dodge. The indie classic was a 2002 Sundance Film Festival premiere and five-time Best Feature winner. Silas Howard’s next film, Exactly Like You, (co-written with Nina Landey), is based on the life of Billy Tipton. Howard’s short documentary, What I Love About Dying also premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.
For eight years, Howard toured with his band Tribe 8, the notorious queer punk band (a band boycotted by republicans and women at Michigan womyn’s music festival). The band has been featured in Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, and The Los Angeles Times. You can check out Howard’s music videos, short musical and documentaries which have aired on MTV and LOGO networks and at Disneyland, Anaheim (weird, yet true). Howard’s writing is also featured in the anthologies, “Without a Net: Growing Up WorkingClass” and “Live Through This ,” as well as the artists’ journal, “LTTR.” Currently Silas is working on a novel set in San Francisco’s mid-90’s homocore scene.
W2 Community Media Arts Society
#205 – 163 W. Hastings St. (Flack Block)
Vancouver, BC V6B 1H5
www.creativetechnology.org
Mobile: 604.644.4349 • Fax 604.844.7441
Twitter: @W2Woodwards @FearlessCity
AHA MEDIA is pleased to meet Peter Conway who speaks about his friend Tara McAteer and Truckstop Dining Society who helps feed Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES)
AHA MEDIA is very pleased to hear from Peter Conway who speaks about his friend Tara McAteer and Truckstop Dining Society who helps feed Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES).
Today, Saturday July 25th at Crab Park, there is Free BBQ and Live Music from 12 Noon to 7 PM
This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a Nokia N95 mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making Nokia films by exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter.
For the last three years, Tara McAteer has worked part-time in the film industry in the Craft Service department. Her job is to provide a constant selection of beverages, pastries, healthy snacks and light meals to a crew of 100 non-stop for a 14 hour work day. She works out of a one tonne truck loaded with a full facility kitchen that is parked on set.
Our small, grassroots organization, Truckstop Dining Society, is the byproduct of having access to a film food service truck and looking for ways in which to use it to benefit people who need food. In 2007, Tara decided to do something different for Christmas. On Christmas Eve she placed an ad for help on Craigslist and started preparing food. The next morning she drove the film industry food service truck to the Downtown Eastside, joined by two strangers who answered her ad, and fed hot turkey sandwiches to nearly 200 people.
Despite services already available, there is still a need for wholesome, easily-accessible meals not just at Christmas, but year round. This year, we took the film industry food service truck to Oppenheimer Park and with the help of executive chefs and local dignitaries served Easter dinner to over 1,100 people.
Although there are hundreds of hungry people who appreciate a hot meal, we believe there is a greater need in our city-the need for unity and more inclusive community. We feel that sharing food is an important step to breaking social barriers, creating community and de-mystifying this area of our city. We hope through providing meals to those who are hungry and those who want to learn more, together, we can look more closely at the issues of the DTES.
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