Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself
I left LA's Promise to get a fresh start. The truth is, ed reform burned me out. Totally.
Season 2 of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution was a grand exit to that nearly 10 year run. Head to head with LAUSD, Friday nights on ABC (even nominated for an Emmy). It was a fight worth fighting, but did I win or lose? I don't even know.
I have an untested theory about why that Parent Trigger movie Don't Back Down, despite strong talent, failed so miserably. The public isn't inspired by that battle; we don't know which side to choose in the ed reform war, and we resent having to choose. We aren't idiots. We feel manipulated. And we are angry that adults make helping kids so complicated.
Last summer, I met a local filmmaker, Nirvan Mullick. He made a short film and posted it on YouTube, and within a few days, it totally and unexpectedly rocked the world. It's called, Caine's Arcade. It's about a young boy in Boyle Heights (East LA) who built an elaborate penny arcade out of cardboard boxes. The Christian Science Monitor called it "a great American story."
Many of you probably know the story. The film hit over eight million views online and the world went a little crazy for Caine and cardboard creativity. Justin Timberlake tweeted about it, Jack Black made home videos with his own kids making cardboard games, and dozens of news outlets took notice of Caine. Inspired by the film, in backyards, playgrounds and schools, across 40 countries on six continents, communities started coming together to celebrate the creativity of children. Nirvan made a second film, and it told that story: Caine's Arcade 2: From a Movie to a Movement (HLNTV called it the "happiest sequel ever!").
The message of the film is simple and hopeful, and frankly, for me, it's even a bit redemptive. There isn't an enemy in Caine's Arcade. No red tape to cut. No evil school board or bureaucratic subterfuge. The message is about the promise of children, the value of creativity, and the role adults can play to foster it. I'm not alone; this message resonated with the whole world. And a movement has begun.
During the weekend after the deeply saddening Newtown shooting, views of the Caine's Arcade film increased by the thousands. Some people reached out and commented they had watched the movie five times in row, just so they could feel hope again.
When a really good friend and rather notorious ed reformer heard of my new merger, he commented:
I love the idea. Schools need to learn how to get out of the way. Sometimes the best thing you can do to educate kids is throw some cardboard in front of them and get out of the way.
Nirvan and I met last summer, a few months after he posted Caine's Arcade. He had just created the Imagination Foundation, with a mission to find and foster creativity in children around the globe. It didn't take long for us to decide to work together. What I had been building and hoping to accomplish through REWORK is completely in line with Nirvan's vision; in fact, totally inspired by it. I'm hooked, so I became the founding Executive Director of the Imagination Foundation.
Like Jay-Z says, on to the next one.
