Benevolent Media was a proud partner of Media That Matters 2012: Change for Good. Follow the conversation on Twitter: #MTMDC. This year’s Media That Matters conference, “Change for Good,” hosted by American University’s Center for Social Media, featured conversations about how independent social change filmmakers can execute integrated campaigns that are strategic, action-oriented, and have [...]
Love Stories: A Day of Generosity and Compassion through Media
Yeah, yeah, Valentine’s Day is over-hyped and hyper-marketed. But no amount of commercialism can undercut the genuine power of love! Here’s a round-up of some of the day’s best love stories… Cowbird’s “First Loves” saga gives people a multimedia platform to remember the first time they fell in love. Read a love letter from the [...]
The Benevolent Guide to Social Media Week (#SMW12)
Social Media Week kicked off on Monday in cities around the world. We’ll be covering a few of the events in Washington, D.C. We combed through the worldwide schedule to highlight sessions that have to do with storytelling or design for social and environmental good. WASHINGTON, D.C. #SocialMediaProblems: Digital Challenges & Opportunities for Real World [...]
Q&A with Phil Hutinet: Illuminating Historic Anacostia
Arch Development Corporation, a not-for-profit community-based organization, put out a call for entries to implement “temporiums” and performances, as well as short videos, to revitalize storefronts and empty lots in Anacostia, a historic neighborhood in the southeast quadrant of Washington, D.C. The 3- to 6-month projects will be launched at the one-day LUMEN8Anacostia festival on April [...]
The Social Media Promise: Community, Conversation, Connection
Last night, the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. hosted the first in a series of “Social Media 4 Social Good” events, featuring interviews of the “strategists and entrepreneurs who are using social media to make positive contributions to the world.” Host Monica Gray interviewed Vice President of Communications and Public Relations Aaron Sherinian of the UN [...]
Q&A with Jonathan Tucker: Poetry as an Agent for Change
Jonathan B. Tucker is a poet, educator, and coach of the DC Youth Slam Team. Two-time winner of the Community Oriented Underground Poet (COUP) Award from the National Underground Spokenword Poetry Awards, “JBT” is passionate about using poetry as a community organizing tool. When not working with students he can be found around D.C. performing and [...]
Call for Entries: Eco-Comedy Video Competition
From American University’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking: The contest is open to anyone who prepares a short, funny video for YouTube, which communicates a clear message about clean energy and/or green jobs. Submissions must: Be humorous! Address the issue of clean energy and/or green jobs Reach a broad audience beyond just environmentalists. Be an [...]
Upcoming Event: Media That Matters 2012
The Media That Matters conference is a two-day festival that brings together professionals, artists and students interested in making an impact through media. As a joint project of the Center for Social Media and Arts Engine, Inc., the conference provides a platform to showcase a year’s accomplishments in using media for social good, and it also encourages conversation and experience sharing to make things even better. [...]
Games for Girls: Social or Sexist?
Of all demographics, women over age 30 consistently show more interest in mobile gaming than any others. Of course, there are some companies that specifically target younger users. Crowdstar, the fourth largest social gaming company in the world, focuses on the “younger female demographic,” according to its CEO Peter Relan. One of its latest [...]
Q&A with Patrick Timony: From Library Stacks to Coding Hacks
Gone are the days when librarians merely helped customers find books among the stacks. Nowadays, some of these information professionals specialize in helping to build tools that meet the needs of their community, including the “print-disabled,” or people who are unable to read print material, whether due to blindness, dyslexia or another disability. Patrick Timony [...]
Congratulations to Critical Exposure for Winning PhotoPhilanthropy Award!
We’re pleased to share this good news on behalf of PhotoPhilanthropy and Critical Exposure, two community partners that participated in our “Photography for Good” panel discussion and slideshow at the 2011 Benevolent Media Festival. Here’s the announcement from PhotoPhilanthropy: PhotoPhilanthropy is thrilled to announce the recipient of the 2011 PhotoPhilanthropy Activist Award for Community-Based Organizations (CBO): Critical Exposure [...]
Hip-Hop as Transnational Protest in “Furious Force of Rhymes”
Hip-hop has always been breaking down barriers. American hip-hop artists were among the first to have videos shown on MTV, with shows like Yo! MTV Raps, which brought them national notoriety, intertwining their music with the dawn of a new global era in music. The evolution of hip-hop has not been confined to [...]
Artist Duo Champions Message of Change at “Capital Canvases”
Capital Canvases for a Cause is a monthly event in Washington, D.C., organized by Long & Foster on Capitol Hill, that supports local artists and community-based organizations with wine, hors d’oeuvres and networking. Art sales are split evenly between the featured artists and the nonprofit. Last Friday, the art-focused happy hour continued bringing notoriety to [...]
Q&A with Greg Jacobs: Louder Than a Bomb
The uplifting and inspiring documentary film Louder Than a Bomb follows four Chicago high school teams in their journey to compete in the world’s largest teen poetry slam, created by local nonprofit Young Chicago Authors that empowers youth through writing, publication and performance education. The feature film begins at the start of the school year, six months prior [...]
Q&A with Karl Grobl: Come Along for the Ride
To ring in the new year, Karl Grobl, a self-described “humanitarian photojournalist,” launched a new video journal, “Come Along for the Ride,” to provide insights into his work as a visual storyteller for NGOs worldwide. For the past 10 years, the photographer has been documenting the relief efforts and development work of clients like World Vision, World [...]
