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Two Days with Dolores Huerta

28/07/2009 | (0) | Soumettre un commentaire

By Sarah Beckett-Hile, outreach volunteer

I.M.O.W. recently hosted a Speaker Series Event featuring Dolores Huerta in conversation with Maria Echaveste. I had the privilege of joining Dolores for a portion of her brief stay in San Francisco, and needless to say, I am still a little starstruck.

For those of you who don’t know much about Dolores, let me try to quickly catch you up: she co-founded the United Farm Workers with César Chávez; co-directed the National table grape boycott; coined the slogan “Si, se puede!” (“Yes, we can!”); created the Dolores Huerta Foundation to empower poor communities; raised her 11 children…the list goes on and on. You can learn more about her background from our event description.

On top of everything, Dolores Huerta is 79 years old and just as busy as ever. Her foundation is currently expanding, but she still finds time to lecture at universities, campaign for politicians, and sit on several boards and councils for foundations and museums (including I.M.O.W.’s Global Council. Her schedule in San Francisco would have exhausted a 25-year-old, yet she was always vibrant, talkative, and eager for the next event!

By the time we picked her up from her hotel early Tuesday afternoon, Dolores had already flown in from Bakersfield and participated in a press conference concerning Iran. Now she was scheduled to speak to the students of Berkeley Scholars to Cal, a Stiles Hall program that helps at-risk minority students the tools pursue a college education by providing them with mentors and academic support from 5th to 12th grade. In the car Dolores chatted casually about her foundation, her family, and--as if it were nothing at all--her recent lunch with the Dalai Lama.

At Stiles Hall, the students listened to her with visible awe--in part, I believe, because she spoke to them as adults. She was frank but funny while discussing racism and sexism in America’s past and present. She relayed stories about farm workers in the same tone of importance that she spoke of Hillary Clinton (whom she knows well), displaying her unaffected respect for all people, poor or powerful. Afterward, the students remained for pictures and autographs, and many even gave her hugs. When we finally tore her away to get back to San Francisco, it was difficult to tell whether Dolores or the students were more disappointed.

In the 16-odd hours that passed until the next time I saw Dolores, she squeezed in a conference call about her foundation, a formal dinner party, a photo shoot at City Hall and an interview for a documentary. But from the lively way she chatted with I.M.O.W.'s Executive Director Clare Winterton during an interview for our upcoming exhibition on women, money and the global economy, you’d have thought she had spent a rejuvenating day in the hotel spa.

That night, Dolores spoke with Maria Echaveste before a room packed with admirers. She was funny, cutting, clever, and hardly needed to pause for breath. She acted no differently before this large audience than she did during the car ride to Berkeley. When she shared her belief that people are responsible to help anyone in need, when she commanded the audience to work harder and get more involved in their communities, never for a second did she seem sanctimonious or holier-than-thou. It was a fantastic event--just ask the 200 audience members who gave her a standing ovation.

Meeting Dolores Huerta and spending time with her was a unique pleasure. More than her accomplishments and famous connections, what struck me most of all was how genuine a person she is--which explains why she has helped thousands of people and how she has inspired millions to do the same.

I.M.O.W. at WAM! 2009

30/04/2009 | (0) | Soumettre un commentaire

By Jo Beaton, Manager of Marketing and Communications

In March, curator Masum Momaya and I had the opportunity to travel to Cambridge, Massachusetts for Women, Action and the Media (WAM! 2009), the sixth annual conference for “Journalists, Activists and Everyone” put on by the Center for New Words, an organization dedicated to using “the power and creativity of words to strengthen the voice of progressive women and women speaking from the margins of society.”

At MIT’s Stata Center we were joined by more than 600 independent as well as corporate journalists, bloggers, artists, producers, scholars, activists, academics and other communications mavens to hear and learn about some of the most innovative and cutting-edge work in using media to bring about feminist social change.

I spent the first day in strategy sessions covering all aspects of alternative media outreach campaigns and learning about how best to utilize “digital social capital” such as Twitter and Facebook. I learned firsthand how feminists must permeate all kinds of internet spaces (such as this blog, part of I.M.O.W.’s own online community) to get their messages across. I then set up I.M.O.W.’s exhibition table where those who stopped by got a chance to learn about I.M.O.W.’s toolkit for activists as well as past (http://www.imow.org/wpp/index), current(http://www.imow.org/community/stories/index) and future (http://www.imow.org/exhibitions/index) I.M.O.W. exhibitions. I was especially inspired by the keynote talk on “Women Reporting from the Global Frontlines” by journalists Huda Ahmed from Iraq, Jenny Manrique Cortes from Columbia and Peta Thornycroft from Zimbabwe. Tools and trends in new media are amazing, but nothing can replace the work of talented, committed journalists reporting first-hand from the field.

The nerd in Masum, who is in the process of curating I.M.O.W.’s next exhibition on women and the economy, was tickled by hearing feminist economist Susan Feiner break down how the current tax system in the United States disadvantages women. It’s made her look at all the lines on her own tax forms differently, and is also informing how we think about framing information in the exhibition so it’s useful for visitors.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the conference, Masum and I convened a strategy session on “Catalyzing Cultural Change with Social Media: Fad or Feminist Fix?” About 70 attended, participated and contributed to a conversation about how to figure out whether Web site platforms and tools are truly contributing to cultural change. Several participants sent tweets from the session and throughout the conference. Experiencing the live blossoming twitter feeds was mind-blowing; many others blogged about the conference, and continue to post and share information on the WAM listserv dedicated to increasing progressive women's influence in the media and the public conversation. Sponsors of WAM! 2009 include Alter-Net, Feministe, Feministing, Bitch, Shameless, Global Fund for Women and many others. Learn more and sign up for info on next year’s conference in Chicago!

10 Tips for Getting Featured in Exhibiting You

22/04/2009 | (0) | Soumettre un commentaire

By Sanja Alajbegovic, Editorial Coordinator, I.M.O.W. Exhibitions and Programs

1. First things first: You have to be an I.M.O.W. community member to submit your work for consideration, so begin by registering for our community.

2. No need to reinvent the wheel. Check out the current Exhibiting You stories to see how other artists, activists, journalists and writers are exhibiting their work. Also, don't forget to reference our call for submissions.

3. Please don't spam us. Uploading random jpgs, wav files and press releases is a recipe for rejection. Think before you submit: If you're submitting photographs, choose 5-6 photographs that make up a series or tell a compelling story. If you're submitting art, consider submitting several pieces from a series, not just one. But don't send us everything you've got.

4. What's in a title? Everything. A title can make or break your story. People will "click" on your story only if your title piques their curiosity. So ask yourself: In a list of a dozen titles, will mine stand out?

5. Introductions are golden. Every submission must have a short introduction. Your first sentence should grab our visitors' attention. However, be brief: try not to exceed 100 words.

6. Captions are a must. Without captions, your photograph, art piece, or video might confuse our visitors instead of communicate to them. For example, if you are submitting a video, describe what it's about. The same goes for photographs, art and audio. Engage our visitors. Tell a story. Make them want to click on the play button.

7. Biographical information belongs in your profile. Although your personal history is very important to us, when submitting to Exhibiting You, please describe your work, not your professional background (unless of course, your work is auto-biographical).

8. Personality is always a plus. You don't have to be stuffy. We will not penalize you for not sounding like your art history teacher. We don't want you to. Exhibit yourself by being yourself. Just make sure we understand what you mean.

9. Keep our audience in mind. Our visitors are interested in women's contributions to art, history and culture worldwide. They speak English, Spanish, French and Arabic. Speak to them in clear and compelling ways. If you don't, they might not pay attention.

10. Build your personal profile. Being featured in Exhibiting You, means your work will be seen by 8,000 of our community members. Make sure your profile is complete with information about yourself and your past and current projects. Include links to your Web sites and blogs. You could end up creating many personal connections and professional collaborations through our robust online community.