#namac

[ejscreationsart]

Designing my Planeswalker persona for our Need Alert! Monthly Art Challenge for April. Trying to decide on a pose... . . . . . . . #ejscreationsart #ejscreations #nerdalertmonthlyartchallenge #namac #planeswalker #magicthegathering #magic #wizardsofthecoast #aven #artistsoninstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv7ZQD_FqgM/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1qpc8f58hkona

[ejscreationsart]

Together with @mightytinrobot we created an artist challenge group on Facebook for nerdy artists who want to keep sharpening their skills but can't keep up with daily challenge groups. If you'd like to join, find us on Facebook and send a request! . . . . #nerdalertmonthlyartchallenge #namac #artistsoninstagram #artchallenge https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv5gnTgFRai/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1j0lv5yzrjcyw

[engagenamac-blog-blog-blog]

Check out this interview with filmmaker and media educator Aggie Ebrahimi Bazaz! Aggie was NAMAC's Program and Communications Director from August 2012 through August 2014, she is currently a filmmaker-in-residence at Interlochen Arts Academy.

What have you been up to since leaving NAMAC?

I am currently living in Interlochen, Michigan as Filmmaker-in-Residence at Interlochen Arts Academy.

Interlochen is many wonderful things, including an arts boarding school for advanced and exceptionally dedicated students in music, dance, creative writing, theater, visual arts, and of course film. I’m housed in the Motion Picture Arts Department and am teaching a class in post-production, advising students, working with the stellar faculty to help guide students’ thesis projects, and I also have some time to focus on my own work.  

I’ll be at Interlochen through December. From here, I will move into a Visiting Assistant Professor position for the spring of 2015, teaching Documentary Research & Experiments in Documentary Form. And between now and then, I’ll be applying to full-time academic positions that begin fall semester of 2015.

Now that NAMAC's less on your mind, what kinds of things have you been thinking about?

I wouldn’t say NAMAC is less on my mind. As a documentary filmmaker and educator, what I learned at NAMAC is daily relevant. Through the vantage point I had at NAMAC, through daily conversations with the encyclopedic mind of Jack Walsh, and building upon my education at Temple University and what I learned through membership in the Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association, I am now well aware of emerging trends and leading voices in the documentary landscape across production, distribution, community engagement, funding, policy issues, and more. As an educator, I can share this information with my students so that they understand themselves as not just students, but as media professionals entering an industry. That is, I can share with my students more than just mutable information; I can share with them a methodology for continuing education about their profession: how can they stay abreast of current trends? Why is it important to do so? How will legislative actions continue to influence their work, and what can they do about it? I learned all of this through my work at NAMAC and it will influence my work for as long as I’m in this field.

In addition, much of my focus at NAMAC was in strengthening national ties within the youth media sector and promoting the visibility of this important work. Now that I’m at Interlochen, I am continuing to build my understanding of youth media through my daily work as a teaching artist. I am optimistic that this experience will add great value to what I can contribute to the National Youth Media Network.  

Which reminds me: Every year, Interlochen hosts a youth-centered film festival, the Future of Cinema Film Festival. Young people from all over the country submit and if accepted, many of them attend in person to meet the faculty here and visiting professional filmmakers. I’d love to see a strong youth media voice in the Festival program. It’s free to apply and a good networking opportunity for students who are able to attend in person. Just something for youth media orgs to keep on your radars for next year!

What's different about life where you are now?

It’s certainly much colder. I don’t ride a subway, don’t see anyone with Google Glass, and while the coffee is refreshingly, reasonably priced, I can’t find a good avocado. 

I guess the biggest difference is that I’m here to be a filmmaker and educator. That’s my daily responsibility. And I get to do that among a faculty supportive of my work, a student body immersed in their craft, and an environment carefully designed to encourage reflection, diligence, and production. All of this motivates me to make time daily for my own work, which is something I’ve always had a hard time doing. So I guess the biggest difference is that here, for these few months, I’m honoring my need for creative space and for the nurturing of my voice. 

What are you hoping to accomplish in your new position?

Ideally, I’d like to reinforce my relationship to my voice as a storyteller / writer / filmmaker, while also preparing myself for a full-time teaching position at the college level. At the same time, I know that we are living in an unstable time. Change, in the words of a NAMAC 2013 Regional Gathering attendee, is the new constant, and that applies as much to the academy as anywhere else. While the academy used to be a relatively linear career path—you study for years, make work, and land a job—nothing is very linear anymore for people in the arts and humanities. I’ve been intrigued by the latest issue of Imagining America’s journal, Public, which explores how people are adapting to this shift.The issue asks: What alternatives to single-discipline job trajectories do public scholars, artists, and designers find and generate? What are ways of applying knowledge and skills associated with one arena to something else? 

So that’s all to say, I am hopeful that my residency will be a rich time to reflect on my voice as an artist and educator, preparing me for a full-time academic position. At the same time, I want to stay open and adaptive, seeking the most fruitful way, whatever it may be, to apply my talents, knowledge, and skills towards socially conscious storytelling. 

What will you miss most about NAMAC?

The people. I miss daily the community of media artists, media educators, nonprofit visionaries, advocates and allies with whom I was fortunate enough to intersect. I miss the thirty-minute phone call to work on one paragraph in a grant report. Miss those first few minutes of every conference call where we caught up with each other’s lives and weather conditions. And I miss the joy of developing new partnerships, visioning the field at its best, and taking what steps available to hold space for independent media and media education to flourish. I do hope to stay in touch with many people in the NAMAC family. I can be reached via email at aggie.ebrahimi [at] gmail and on Twitter @agg_star.

[visionmakermedia]

Ten years ago the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC) partnered with media researcher Kathleen Tyner to map the field of youth media. In 2013 we are again asking for your help to learn more about the needs and practices of youth media organizations.

Are you running a youth media program? Please fill out this survey.

[davidcoopermoore]

Great conversation today between NAMLE and three amazing media literacy organizations -- the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC), Look Sharp at Ithaca College, and the LAMP in New York City.

Great points about current work, collaborations, and thoughts about issues like fair use in media literacy education, connections between media literacy and Common Core, and national conversations about youth media and media literacy.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

[davidcoopermoore]

Here's the copyright, fair use, and DMCA conversation from yesterday. Great conversation -- be sure to at least skip to our "final thoughts" (starting at 1:03:35) where everyone shares particularly strong cases for rethinking or reframing understanding copyright and DMCA in policy and education.

[davidcoopermoore]

DMCA discussion today at 3PM EST

Thanks to a cool partnership between NAMAC and Daily Dot, I'll be moderating a discussion about copyright, fair use, and the DMCA today at 3PM -- come hang out! Details here.