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Revival of weekly Fearless City meetings, Wednesdays at W2 Culture + Media House
Orientation Meeting: Wednesdays 1-3 PM W2 Perel Gallery 112 West Hastings @Abbott
Fearless DTES residents are invited!
http://ow.ly/QM7n
W2’s Fearless City Mobile is recruiting DTES residents and artists for an exciting mobile video streaming showcase of ideas and views from our neighbourhood. VJs (video jockeys) will remix live videos created by participants and project a mashup on giant screens from the large window facade of the new W2 Cafe site inside the Woodward’s Atrium. W2 is slowly opening in stages in the heart of the Woodward’s project with the Cafe opening first.
Fearless City Mobile has a successful track record of empowering local residents with access to technology, and helped launch other projects in the neighbourhood like AHA Media. Funding for this February program is from CODE Live (Cultural Olympiad Digital Edition) and the City of Vancouver’s Bright Lights. For project background, check out these samples of previous test events: showing Fearless participants learning about mobile video and VJing are Vision Division; with mobile streaming from DTES locations and our shopping cart screen; mixing it up with VJs and DJs at Tech Forms; in Ottawa for BC Scene with VJs remixing streaming connections from seven galleries and layered social media together.
Orientation Meeting: Wednesdays 1-3 PM W2 Perel Gallery 112 West Hastings @Abbott. Weekly Fearless City Mobile training and peer support sessions (lunch included) every Wednesday. We will be providing an honorarium for Fearless City Mobile Project participants and we especially encourage our original 2008 Fearless City crew to come and work and create again.
April Smith of AHA MEDIA is a featured storyline in ” With Glowing Hearts” – WGH the Movie
Vodpod videos no longer available.
This storyline is from the Documentary ‘With Glowing Hearts‘. It follows April Smith on her journey building AHA Media as the preeminent news source for Vancouver’s DTES using social media for social justice. Along the way April faces many challenges including homelessness
” April Smith is an incredible young woman facing a boat load of challenges. She has graciously allowed us to follow her for the last 8 months and gather the footage we used to compile this story thread. Hers is a story full of both despair and inspiration. ”
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 Director Andrew Lavigne and Producer Jon Ornoy !
April Smith of AHA MEDIA is very honored to be featured by Gillian Shaw – Digital Life Writer for The Vancouver Sun Newspaper on Christmas Eve 2009
By GILLIAN SHAW
23 DEC 2009 DIGITAL LIFE
As it comes time to wrap up 2009, I wanted to share the story of a journalist who has inspired me this year.
A citizen journalist – April Smith, who is making an impact not only for her work chronicling the news and stories of Vancouver’s inner city but also for giving back to her community by mentoring others.
April didn’t graduate from any journalism program. Hers was truly the school of hard knocks and her background one of hardship.
I first met April at WordCamp Whistler last January. She was a grad of the Downtown Eastside’s Fearless City Mobile project, which helped residents and artists of the neighborhood learn to tell stories through mobile media.
At the time April said the experience had been ‘life-changing.’
“I have moved from one side of the tracks to the other,” she told me.
The other side of the tracks was pretty ugly. It was a life of homelessness and struggling to survive on the streets.
April shares her story with eloquence and honesty that is all the more compelling because it is free of self-pity. Her optimism for the future is what comes through loud and clear.
You can listen to Vancouver’s CBC radio did with April. And you see her at work in an episode of With Glowing Hearts the Movie. She is @AprilFilms on Twitter.
WGHthemovie.ca -April Smith storyline from Andrew Lavigne on Vimeo.
The mentoring April received is being returned to the community many times over with the creation of AHA Media, a fledgling new media company started by April along with Hendrik Beune and Al Tkatch – AHA coming from the first letters of their names.
April is teaching and mentoring others in the Downtown Eastside, sharing her skills and enthusiasm in the hope of offering alternatives that will help improve lives.
April lives in a single room in the DTES and carries out her work and volunteering on a shoestring budget – no shoestring might be too generous to describe it. When I talk to April on the phone, I know that it’s using up precious minutes that she must buy to recharge her cell phone. I recently found out that the Nokia video phone that April was using in her work was borrowed and had to be returned. So I asked her what she needs to carry on.
While it has been a tough year for media organizations, not many list food and warm clothing on their wish list, but those are among the items AHA Media, which does volunteer peer training at the LifeSkills Centre near Oppenheimer Park, is seeking for its DTES neighbors.
The organization also needs: FIDO Pay as You Go Phone Cards for cell phones, digital cameras, SD memory cards, laptop and desktop computers, video cameras and audio equipment.
If you have any of these things kicking around, consider sharing them with others who will pay it forward many times over.
Some of AHA MEDIA status updates on Facebook and Twitter over 2009 in Vancouver + Downtown Eastside ( DTES )
@Ahamedia went and filmed our walkthrough of @Workspace!! Post tomorrow!
Going to film Press Conference at Golden Crown – Illegal Tenant Evictions
NEW POST! @AHAMEDIA filmed at Fight HST Rally at Canada Place on Sat Sept 18 – Over 5,000 ppl! http://tinyurl.com/nf2q3q
Will be helping to present at #BarCamp on @FearlessCity – Moble Media + @W2Woodwards – New Media Arts Centre in Vancouver #BCV09
Will be helping to do a presentation on Mobile Media Strategies at @FreshMediaMe at @W2Woodwards from 1:50pm to 2:40pm TODAY!
Just filmed a short segment of the the Sites of Empowerment tour in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside with Wendy Pedersen and CCAP volunteers. Nice to see Vancouver City Councillor George Chow with our group of 40 interested folks on life in our community! 🙂
Dear Friends, I just started @AHAMEDIA Fan page on Facebook. Please come join me http://tinyurl.com/yzw4sfz Thank you
Today AHA MEDIA will be filming Remembrance Day ceremonies at Victory Square in Vancouver
Clyde Wright of AHA MEDIA speaks of a Wish List for Christmas Holiday Season 2009 in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES)
Many Vancouver Downtown Eastside residents face great challenges including health problems, homelessness, access to good food/water/ warm clothing during the Holiday Season
Since the weather is getting very cold , members of AHA MEDIA as well as LifeSkills Centre in Vancouver Downtown Eastside would dearly appreciate some donations of food items, warm clothes, toiletries
AHA MEDIA would love to continue to build their community capacity to do mobile media reporting in Vancover and Downtown Eastside and would really love some donated electronic gear! 🙂
FIDO Pay as You Go Phone Cards for cell phones,
Digital cameras,
SD memory cards,
Laptops/Desktops,
Video cameras,
Audio equipment
AHA MEDIA volunteers and peer trains others at LifeSkills Centre near Oppenheimer Park in 4 groups
1) Social Justice Support Group, 2) Upwords Writing 3) Computers and basic media literacy 4) Community Engagement
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In this video, Clyde Wright of AHA MEDIA speaks of a wish list for the Holiday Season 2009 in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES)
This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making new media 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 DM April Smith at Twitter.com/AprilFilms or Facebook.com/AprilFilms
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Below is a Wish list compiled by members of AHA MEDIA and members of LifeSkills Centre for Holiday Season 2009
– Gift Certificates for London Drugs, Rexall, Army and Navy, Nester’s Food Market, Tim Horton’s, – Any Fast Food place
– Socks
– Thermal Underwear
– Towels ( Bath and Kitchen )
– Toiletries – Shampoo, Conditioner, Shaving, ToothBrush, Toothpaste, personal grooming kits
– DVDs
– Art Supplies – Paints, Paper,
– Office Supplies
– Media Equipment
– Digital Cameras
– Blank Dvds to record on
– USB Flash Drives
– Radios – big and small
– Extension Cords
– Mini Fridge and Microwaves
– Good Shoes/Boots
– Vitamins, Boost and Ensure Drinks
– Laptops/Desktops
– Cellphones
– FIDO pay as you go phone cards for cellphones
– Digital Cameras
– Video Cameras
– Jackets
– Sleeping Bags/Blankets
– Laundry Soap
– Mp3 players
– Guitars or Instruments
– Green Plants
– Tools
– Garbage Bags
– Cleaning Supplies
– Loose Tobacco
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! 🙂
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Please contact April Smith of AHA MEDIA through Email: Apr@live.ca
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