Creative Co-Opportunity

A couple months ago I started thinking about developing an initiative for delivering creative opportunities to aspiring and emerging filmmakers, photographers, musicians, writers, and other artists in places like Kibera, a slum on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya.

I spent several weeks in Kibera last year, documenting the making of the feature film TOGETHERNESS SUPREME (see prior posts about the doc Producing Pamoja), and I heard a constant refrain from the local youth: we don't lack talent; we lack opportunity. The idea for "Creative Co-Opportunity" is an outgrowth of this experience, but it's not limited to Kibera.

At first, I thought of an online platform like Kiva where people would provide micro-loans to artists and their projects. But creative projects are not always income-generating so these loans would not necessarily be repaid. Instead, contributions could be structured as micro-grants and -- unlike a cow or other micro-enterprise -- the final product could be shared with the community online and/or in the form of a book, print or DVD.

But as the concept evolved, I realized that the biggest incentive would be the opportunity to engage. I imagine Creative Co-Opportunity as a network that connects artists and creators w/ patrons and others who can provide needed resources both locally and globally. Not only to support the making of the work, but also ensuring that it is seen and enjoyed. This means more than simple fundraising. Ideally, the network will promote the exchange of ideas, suggestions, contacts, feedback, expertise, moral support and other essentials for success other than just plain money. It could potentially evolve into something like the Unreasonable Institute or the Sundance Institute Lab programs.

Also, the concept of co-opportunity would mean that each artist that receives support would agree to "reciprocate" (a concept I borrowed from Butterflyworks). After completing their own projects, artists become talent scouts and mentors for the next round of artists.

I'm very much inspired by Butterflyworks and also by the mission of the Prince Claus Fund in The Netherlands which views culture as a basic need. My other sources of inspiration include:

• Africa Knows
  
• Picha Mtaani
• Just a Band
• Kuweni Serious
  
• The Mwelu Foundation
• Hot Sun Foundation
• Film Aid
• Project Diaspora

And I found new inspiration this week. CNN profiled award-winning Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu and NPR produced a story about Kenyan writer Stanley Gazemba who won the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for literature. Both struggle to find the support they need in Kenya.

Now I feel like it's time to get to work.

Luckily, I don't need to design the online platform from scratch. On my recent visit to Holland, I met with the 1% Club and discussed posting a handful of pilot projects to their existing online platform. They also suggested that I could use the iLab as a base to work from in Nairobi. But still, there's a lot of pieces to put together to make the concept work....

Please, share your thoughts and suggestions. I specifically welcome any insights and recommendations for:

- an organizational structure in Kenya
- advisors and partners both locally and globally
- organizations and individuals to act as talent scouts, identifying emerging talent
- funding!!!

Somehow, Someway

I made a promise to myself that I would complete PRODUCING PAMOJA somehow, someway. The path forward is still not clear to me but I'm very gingerly, cautiously returning my attention to the project. I say gingerly and cautiously because the obstacles seem so huge that I can't face the challenge head on. Instead, I'm tiptoeing around and hoping to sneak up on it.

First, I've hammered out a rough outline of the film and figured out how I want to approach the story stylistically. Of course it's subject to change, but at the moment I envision a series of vignettes each focused on a youth trainee who worked as either cast or crew on the production of TOGETHERNESS SUPREME. I imagine each vignette as a separate chapter, strung together like beads on a necklace. Together they will tell a story about the blur between fact and fiction: how the fiction of TOGETHERNESS SUPREME reflects the real lives of youth in Kenya aspiring to a brighter future.

This graphic (designed by Julie Betters) is a good illustration:


I've also been thinking about an outreach strategy for the completed film and how to take audiences from passively watching to actively engaging. Suddenly it struck me: the number one message echoed by every one of the youth trainees in my footage is that what they lack is opportunity -- not talent -- but the resources to exercise their talent. And I think I've come up with a way to deliver opportunity to the youth of Kibera. Strangely, it's possible that the outreach project is my true calling. Certainly something I could happily devote the rest of my life to. When I think about it, I feel the fluttering of butterfly wings...

But, like the film itself, I'm easily overwhelmed by the challenge and I'm trying to figure out how to transcend Mistake #1 on this intriguing list of common blunders:

8 Mistakes that Filmmakers Make

Kitchen demo and more

Sorry for being such an infrequent blogger...

Here's a quick rundown of what I've been doing and thinking about.

1) Home renovations continue. See photos (below) of empty kitchen ready for demolition. Even though I'm not actually swinging the hammer, it is almost a full time job planning, researching and negotiating with contractors. Next up: find the perfect low flow toilet within our budget.

2) Working a freelance gig at Comic Con - a massive gathering of comic book fans and the industry that caters to them. Paid work is good.

3) Wishing I could be working on PRODUCING PAMOJA. Still have not had the chance to look at my footage since returning from Kenya. But even if I found the time, I'd also like to find some money so that I can hire my editor, Pallas Weber, to work with me. Meanwhile, the Financial Times recently published Stirrings in Kenya's Slums an article that describes sentiments similar to those of the cast and crew that I captured during production.

4) While trying to figure out how to move forward with PRODUCING PAMOJA, I'm applying for a grant to make the 3 minute pilot episode for the TRADING FACES series. Also a stand alone mini documentary, the story would follow a soccer ball from the Pakistani woman who stitches it, to the Seattle couple who sells it online, to the striker on a youth soccer team who uses it to score a goal!

5) Thinking about applying to Pixel Pitch at POWER TO THE PIXEL. I'd like to explore the possibility of using the Ushahidi platform to make TRADING FACES into an online, interactive, and participatory project that connects producers and consumers around the world....

6) And, finally, feeling frustrated at American apathy. We will not get the health care overhaul we need if the masses stay silent. We need to manufacture the political will.

Halfway There

I'm at Heathrow airport in the UK, halfway to Nairobi. It has been such a whirlwind getting to this point - just one week ago I decided to throw caution to the wind and embrace this amazing opportunity. A little over two weeks ago, I had never even heard of the Kibera Kids short film or the Hot Sun Foundation, and certainly I had not heard about TOGETHERNESS SUPREME, the feature film I will be documenting.

So why am I doing it? Since I first embraced the medium of documentary film, my mission was to tell stories that are otherwise not shared. Particularly, I wanted to share stories that -- in stark contrast to mainstream media depictions of famine, disease, ethnic war, poverty and endangered wildlife -- showed the creativity, ingenuity, generosity, resourcefulness and proud spirit of the Africans I had encountered during my time on the continent. But I felt an awkwardness about reaping their stories for Western consumption and wanted to find a way to nurture indigenous voices as well. I imagined a hybrid production of a feature film and a documentary shot simultaneously. And somehow, almost two decades later, this vision has become manifest. I hope that this documentary will amplify the voices of the kids and youth of Kibera and help to bring their stories to audiences around the world.

Also, I'm grateful for Shravan Vidyarthi a talented Kenyan filmmaker who is generously helping me to capture this story. We start shooting Monday.

Finally, in addition to being halfway to Nairobi, I'm also halfway toward reaching my fundraising goal of $2K matching funds. These funds are crucial for me to be able to continue working with Shravan, purchase additional tape stock, and cut the footage into a trailer. Please, consider contributing using the link in the previous post.

AND HUGE THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED SO FAR!!!!