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www.hopedance.org
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| <back | home The Independent Media Film Festival and Panel Discussion (in SLO; Jan. 21&22, 2005) An excerpt from the introductory remarks is reprinted here. Hi and Welcome, The focus for the panel discussion will be on how to strengthen Independent Media in SLO County. One simple way to strengthen indy media is to find out about it. Who is doing indy media in our area? Each of these people on the panel have made a mark in the county [Jack McCurdy, Ron Bearce, Sandra Marshall, Pedro Arroyo, Dorothy Littlejohn]; they created either a publication, a TV show, a radio show, or websites that deal specifically with indy media. The second way to strengthen indy media is to support them by subscribing, listening to their shows, calling them up, advertising in their publications, checking out their websites, joining their listservs, spreading the word about your favorites. Third is to participate: get on their shows, make up your own program, write stories or articles, send photographs, artwork, cartoons, book and film reviews, lists of films you want to see. Create your own radio show. Show films. There are numerous people doing indy media in this county: film makers, artists, reporters, editors. Some find themselves working at it for their livelihood, but all the people on this panel are doing it from a different calling than mere survival. Most are not getting paid. I applaud their efforts and want you to learn about them, find out how to send them press releases or how to volunteer for them to support their activities. Corporate media is always getting bigger, but simultaneously more people are becoming sick of its lies and distortions and are looking for independent views, different perspectives, diverse opinions, rather than the typical white-male-imperialist-foreign-policy-consumer-and-militaristic ideology so prevalent in mainstream media. Many times money determines the slant of news they report, and it appears that a basic rule in today’s corporate media is that fantasy sells, reality disturbs, and the more comfortable your position is, the less likely you are to rock the boat and dissent from the corporate paradigm. We seek independent media on TV, radio, in print and on the internet. It’s imperative in a democracy that many voices are heard, and the people here are but a sampling of the pioneers in our county eager to get their — and your — voices, opinions and evaluations out there in public space. HopeDance has been around for eight years. We publish a bimonthly periodical and just printed a brochure that explains all our activities and a bit of history. One of the sound bites I use to explain HopeDance is radical solutions inspiring hope. Each of those words by themselves are impotent. When joined together, I believe they can show us a way out of this madness we are in. As Jello Biafra said many years ago, stop complaining about the media and become the media. To strengthen the media is to become the media. Pick up the pen, the mike, the TV camera, the paint brush, the digital camera, the keyboard and start expressing yourself and discover people who can help you along. Get to know the real faces, become friends with the growing number of people engaged in indy media. If you are part of an organization that seeks media attention, learn how to write a press release, find out about the due dates. And stop fantasizing that an enthusiastic reporter will come to your door asking you all sorts of questions so your message will be on the tongues of thousands; it doesn’t happen that way. If we want our specific issues to take prominence in the media we will have to take the time and energy to make it work. At this time, I simply want to thank the people who have helped HopeDance and this particular festival: Mark Philips, Monica Vincent, Frank Kahl, Nancy Ferraro, our new intern from Cal Poly Justin Popov, Kristina Bennett, Rosemary Wilvert, Ty Griffin, all the distributors of the mag, Lauren Sullivan, the numerous writers and people who send me shorts like Dennis Keim, the reviewers, the many advertisers and patrons... and thanks again to the Sierra Club, the Green Party and Information Press for cosponsoring this festival. Bob Banner of HopeDance was the presenter at the Festival. He can be reached at info@hopedance.org. <back | top^ |