Fundraising Update

So far I have raised roughly $650 dollars to go towards the completion of this project!

This is great! I could not have done it without everyone who helped me along the way. Over the weekend my indiegogo fundraising campaign ended. It was no big deal, I barely noted the occasion. I realized a while ago that I was not going to meet my goal, but I am satisfied with the results of the campaign and the money I have right now.

The original project budget (the dream budget) is about $4,600, however, there will be ways for me to continue if this goal is not met. For one, I have started finding deals on items, such as the projector that was found by technical director, EJ, that only costs $100 instead of the originally projected $300. Additionally I expect that as time unfolds I will find other ways to trim the budget. My current barebones budget lies at $1100 and I believe that goal is easily do-able and I feel confident that I will not only meet it but exceed it.

I have also begun applying for grant funding from sources such as the Social Venture Fund at Hampshire College and Do Something, and organization that donates seed money to many youth produced projects regularly. In the near future I will continue to apply for grants as they come up.

ALSO RIGHT NOW the project is entered in the FACT Social Justice Competition:
http://www.netsquared.org/projects/re-mapping-our-hisstories

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE become a fan of the project and support this work! There are many benefits if my project does well in this contest such as consultations and funding for the project (that could potentially fund the project in full!)

Soon I will move the online fundraising component of my project to LongTail, a crowdfunding site promoting socially minded projects. While the website is still in it's beta form it will be going fully live soon and I am excited to be working with the founders of the site to host and promote the Re-Mapping Our (his)Stories project.

I want to thank everyone for helping/participating in this project so far! There is SO much more to come!

-Helyx

First Day with Teen Leadership Seminar! Introduction to Community History - I Am From

On October 3rd I had the first session of Re-Mapping Our (his)Stories with the youth at the Teen Leadership Seminar at Mishkan Shalom Synagogue in Philadelphia! The session was great. Below is the product of the session, a collaborative 'I am From' Poem:

Re-Mapping Our (his)Stories: The First Weekend, Project into Practice

On October 2nd I held the Philadelphia premier screening of El Trompo, the documentary created through the Midnight Media Coup as part of The Trek Project. The screening was a success, the event served as a promotional event and fundraiser for the Re-Mapping Our (his)Stories Project. During the screening I raised $160 dollars for the project, bringing the grand total up to $650!

After the movie was finished everyone at the screening was given a chance to paint a collaborative world map on the screen where we had just finished watching the movie. Below are pictures of the event:

The Story Box

The storybox is the physical embodiment of the Re-Mapping Our (his)Stories archive. The storybox is being created inside the frame of an old television, with turning channel knobs and plastic wood paneling. They storybox is equipped with a touch screen, camera, microphone, speakers and a projector. Using the storybox people will be able to browse the archive, create/input stories and present stories to large groups.

I believe that the TV represents a form of classic American (in reference to mainstream culture in the US) imagery. The television is a centerpiece of “modern” family life. A central location for information, family gatherings, and entertainment; however, the TV only works one-way, we are told what to watch. There is no choice in the content that comes to us and we have very limited options in relation to input. Everyday the media brings us gradually more consolidated messages. These messages tell us everything from how to look to how to think especially in relation to how we see ourselves.

Summary of the 4 Session Curriculum!

Introducing Community Histories:


Goals:
Establish and understand a sense of community.
Create an audio track
Understand the importance of history
Understand the importance of everyone’s voice

Highlights:
Creating a collaborative audio track!







What is your story?



Goals:
Understand that there are different portrayals of the same history/events
Create a community history timeline
Create some kind of visual media


Highlights:
Timeline of our own histories!
Making short video clips of our stories!






Creating a (his)Story


Goals:
Listen to someone’s history
Collaboratively create a media history.

Highlights:
Creating our own media (his)story based on an in-session interview with a community member!










Sharing (his)Story


Goals:
Reflect on the process of gathering and creating histories
Come up with a plan of action to display history work

Highlights:
Creating displays for our own (his)stories!

Pictures!

Reflections on the first 11 days of fundraising

Fundraising is hard. 11 Days ago I launched the fundraising campaign of my project on indiegogo- which is a crowd-funding website. Since then I have raised $115. Some of it has come from sources that I expected. Most of the donations have come from people who I was pleasantly surprised to see that she donated to me. This I suppose is the ups and downs of crowd funding. As a principle I like the concept, it’s an easy, visible and transparent way for me to put together $3000 and provide incentives for the people who donate. However, generating the interactivity with the website and the actual activity of donating has proved difficult. Many people who I was hoping would donate have not yet and I hope that the pace of fundraising will pick up in the next 49 days.

Any hints/tips out there for engaging folks in fundraising? What would help encourage you to donate???


check out and pass on the link-

http://www.indiegogo.com/Re-Mapping-Our-histories