Category: Research & Reports

Beyond Access and Representation in Media Making: Case Studies

4/2/2021

How would the shows we watch be different if writer's rooms included our community leaders and organizational members? And how would that change the way we understand the world?

Cultural workers, youth media organizations, filmmakers, public media advocates and organizers have all put in so much work for us to reach this golden age of QT-BIPOC film production, where access and representation are central tenets of equity in entertainment.

Even as we celebrate, many of us hear the cautionary voices of our political elders telling us, “we have been here before!” And still many others hear, “there are still so many other ways and so much more we can attain!”

Movement Matters is pleased to announce our latest report,

Beyond Access
& Representation:
Media Case Studies.

As we gear up for our own productions, we've delved into five case studies of media makers challenging our understanding of how to create stories in partnership with on-the-ground movements.

These case studies provide but a fractal of the path that lies beyond access and representation; they point to radical institutional and systemic transformation, not just surface level change. To ensure our stories are as powerful as our vision for liberation, we must also center conversations around ownership, power, class, and the right to creative experimentation.

Key lessons include:

The importance of building working relationships where there is mutual understanding of each person’s role and contribution to the production process.
Filmmakers need to be mindful of the impact of their productions once they reach the distribution stage and their responsibility to act accordingly alongside directly impacted communities.
Production processes need to open up spaces for “interviewees” to contribute to and shape the story, rather than extracting information and leaving the creative work to the “artists.”
Holistic support, which includes money, but also professional development and network building with other filmmakers of color, is necessary for the success of films that challenge dominant narratives and also work outside production systems derived from the Hollywood system.

Beyond Access & Representation showcases case studies that stretch all aspects of the production process to go beyond access and representation in dominant media and create our own pathways and platforms.

Download: Beyond Access & Representation

For more information or to access our other reports visit our Research and Reports webpage.
Connect with us if you have any questions.

Unpacking Power in Local Politics: A Participatory Action Research Project

9/19/2019

Movement Matters is convening six local organizing groups and their community leaders to investigate key players in local DC politics; research who influences these decision-makers, how they wield this influence, and its impact on efforts to create change.

In our engagement with local organizers over the last year, two key themes emerged:

We all still struggle with a sophisticated understanding of what moves local decision-makers. This is especially true on the Executive/Mayoral side. Our political analysis is limited when it comes to understanding who has influence over our elected officials, why, and how they wield it. This limitation hinders our ability to alter power dynamics in the long term.

Groups would like more opportunities, knowledge, and skills in involving community members in Participatory Action Research (PAR) to make sure that our campaigns are grounded in solid information that is driven by the real life experiences of our members.

In an effort to address both of these themes, we have developed Movement Matters' newest initiative, Unpacking Power in Local Politics: A Participatory Action Research Project.

PAR Project Outline

MM DC PAR Infographic

The PAR project participants (6 local organizations, 1 staff organizer and 2 community leaders) will meet on a monthly basis for 7 months, beginning late Fall of 2019. In between meetings, participants will be tasked with collecting and analyzing information based on the discussions and plans made at the monthly meetings. We anticipate a time commitment to this project of approximately 8 hours per month per participating organization. Community leaders will be offered a stipend for being part of this project; MM will provide funding for one stipend per group while participating organizations will contribute the second stipend.

Movement Matters will facilitate and guide the entire process and project, the specifics will be directed by participants who will:

Share and reflect on existing knowledge and assumptions
Identify key research questions and sources of information
Collect and interpret data
Synthesize information into a framework and conclusions
Apply conclusions to existing work and share results

The project will result in a report that will provide a power analysis of selected officials, with recommendations on how the data and findings can inform future campaigns. MM will also document the PAR process the group used to uncover information, and share it as a roadmap for future Participatory Action Research efforts by local organizations. Lastly, the project will also provide on the ground experience for community members and staff in conducting a local PAR process.

For more information on our Participatory Action Research (PAR) projects,
visit our Research and Reports webpage or connect with us.

Movement Matters is based in Washington, DC.
We work regionally with various communities and with national partners.

Building Youth Voice for Youth Power in the DMV: Lessons from the Field.

6/1/2019

Prepared and Presented by Movement Matters

Movement Matters is pleased to announce our latest report, Building Youth Voice for Youth Power in the DMV: Lessons from the Field.

Building Youth Voice for Youth Power in the DMV: Lessons from the Field informs the growth of youth voice and youth power work in the region and also has lessons for the field that extend beyond the DMV. The report offers a framework for youth work that helps clarify the distinction between approaches while also identifying how these approaches can be networked together as an ecosystem to support the development of youth power.

We thank the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation for their ongoing efforts to change the way philanthropy is supporting work on the ground and for commissioning this report.

We sincerely appreciate the time, trust, and recommendations provided by the groups we interviewed as well as their commitment to youth work in the DMV.

With the support of the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, Movement Matters will also be leading action-oriented conversations (Autumn 2019) around strengthening and deepening youth voice, youth work, and youth power in northern Virginia and regionally.

RESEARCH AND REPORTS PAGE LINK

For more information or to access our other reports, visit our Research and Reports webpage.
Connect with us if you have any questions.

on building movements: what we see, what we hear.

Beyond Access and Representation in Media Making: Case Studies

Beyond Access
& Representation:
Media Case Studies.

Unpacking Power in Local Politics: A Participatory Action Research Project

PAR Project Outline

Building Youth Voice for Youth Power in the DMV: Lessons from the Field.

Authors

Archives

Categories

on building movements: what we see, what we hear.

Beyond Access and Representation in Media Making: Case Studies

Beyond Access& Representation:Media Case Studies. ​​

Unpacking Power in Local Politics: A Participatory Action Research Project

PAR Project Outline

Building Youth Voice for Youth Power in the DMV: Lessons from the Field.

Authors

Archives

Categories

Beyond Access
& Representation:
Media Case Studies.