Tag Archives: featured

Q&A with Liz Belfer and Lea Faminiano: Designing Superheroes for Cities

  A youth development program located in New York City, Guardians of the City, encourages schoolchildren to become involved in their community by combining social issues with public art. The goal of the project is “to empower children to take ownership of their community and raise awareness for positive change.” (Check out our previous post about the program here.) [...]

Capital Canvases for a Cause: Graphic Illustrator Supports YoungLives

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. The latest Capital Canvases event featured the artist known as [...]

Eco Art + Design Depot: Celebrating “Creative Reuse” on Earth Day

  In celebration of Earth Day on Sunday, April 22, 2012, Benevolent Media and SCRAP DC presented an afternoon of eco-conscious art and design, featuring a pop-up marketplace of local vendors and interactive workshops led by teaching artists dedicated to inspiring “creative reuse” and environmentally sustainable behavior. This event was scheduled as part of The Water Street Project, a multidisciplinary [...]

Still Life Projects: Building Community with Wangari Gardens

  This post was originally published by Still Life Projects, a film production company in Washington, D.C. that creates “new media for social good.” Its team of award-winning filmmakers is working on a piece right now that focuses on a community garden being built in the city’s Ward 5. “It’s going to be a touching piece about building [...]

Positive Pictures: Germaine Watkins and the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild

  As a photography instructor at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, Germaine Watkins explains why it’s essential to connect with his students. “It’s important, because that’s what was done with me when I was a student, and I’m trying to replicate that from my experience,” he said. “It helps them out to see that other people [...]

Guardians of the City: Kid-Powered Street Art for Good

  It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a Guardian of the City! A public art project in New York City calls on schoolchildren to design imaginary superheroes to “protect” their communities. The project was created as part of a thesis project by two MFA students, Liz Belfer and Lea Faminiano, at Parsons The New School for [...]

The Benevolent Guide to South by Southwest (#SXSW)

  The annual South by Southwest (“SXSW”) festival kicked off in Austin, Tex. on Friday, March 9. We perused the online schedule to look for sessions that have to do with storytelling or design for social and environmental good. If you’re in town and interested in blogging about one of the events, contact Editor-in-Chief Erica Schlaikjer: erica [...]

International Women’s Day: Making Herstory!

  In honor of International Women’s Day, we bring you a round-up of conversations, projects, profiles and news of women and girls who are shaking up the world of benevolent media. Good timing: Apply by midnight tonight for the chance to win $20,000 to fund your news startup, thanks to the Women Entrepreneurs in the [...]

Q&A with Ryan Hill: New Media for Social Good

  Ryan Hill is the co-founder of Still Life Projects, a film production company in Washington, D.C. that creates “new media for social good.” His growing team of cinematographers, photographers, producers and editors has produced work for clients like National Geographic, HBO and The New York Times. Hill said he got the idea to start his [...]

Capital Canvases for a Cause: “Dream Windows” for Loving Me Girls’ Conference

  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. The monthly “Capital Canvases” event, held on Friday, February [...]

#SMW12: Quotables from #SocialMediaProblems

  Benevolent Media is an official blogging partner of Social Media Week in Washington, D.C. (#SMWWDC). To learn more about social media for social good events worldwide, read our Benevolent Guide to Social Media Week (#SMW12). At Blue State Digital‘s inaugural Social Media Week event, “#socialmediaproblems: Digital Challenges and Opportunities for Real World Movements,” NYU [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]