Pinterest good for non-profits and activists --Pinit to Winit

Pinterest provides organizations and nonprofits with creative fundraising methods–pinterest is not just for sharing recipes and product likes anymore. More and more organizations are finding out the Pinterest and Pinit to Winit contests provide the needed audiences to enhance their fundraising campaigns to new levels of success. Pinterest is now the third largest social media network, behind Facebook and Twitter and provides solutions to creative fundraisers that the bigger social media can’t compete with.

For one, Pinterest relies on outstanding images to promote peoples boards. Organizations dealing with the environment, or other visual subjects and concepts have a leg up to begin with. Video have also become a large part of the Pinterest experience and social activist sites as well as online stores can take advantage of video marketing.

By far the best advantage of Pinterest is their Pinit to Winit contest format. Online stores like beentheretees.com not only can showcase their products but can receive valuable marketing data as well. In BeenThereTees.com campaign, for example, they ask the pinners to pin three of their favorite shirts. They additionally ask them to create a board titled “Destination Tee Shirts” under the Travel category, giving them SEO juice for every entry.

Activist and non-profits can benefit from Pinterest contests as well. The National War Tax Coordinating Committee has started to work on social media including Pinterest to increase their program awareness and donation base. Their Pinterest Boards focus primarily on activism and war tax resistance video awareness. Visits to their website are steadily climbing upwards and donations and dvd sales are sure to follow.

This is a great time to experiment with social media especially Pinterest before it becomes so massively popular that it becomes impossible to be found on their site. Check out this great social media opportunity now!

Annual Wellness Visits can provide 25% more income

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Bridge Day is Oct 20th in Fayetteville, West Virginia

 Watch Base Jumping from your raft on Oct 20th this year in the New River Gorge in West Virginia.
More information is available at the-toad.

Elks Making a Come Back in the Smoky Mountains

The Elks Introduced in the Smoky Mountains earlier this decade are doing well. This is a great time of year to view them and get great pictures. Be sure to take along a telephoto lens. Information about when and where to view them can be found at the-toad.

County Commissioner Candidates in Asheville NC Fail to Respond to Artists

Even though the largest turnout of voters so far this election season,  showed up for a Meet the Candidates forum at the Flood Fine Arts Center, few county candidates for commissioner appeared. Worse, the 5 that did show up were unprepared, prompting a response that even though they were given an "open book test" they all failed!  Here are their responses to questions given them weeks before the Meet the Candidates forum.

Flood Gallery Candidates Forum on the Arts Questionnaire
   

All thirteen candidates running for County Commissioner were invited to the Candidate Forum held at the Flood Gallery on October 9^th.  Of the thirteen: Ellen Frost, Carol Peterson and David Gantt sent regrets because of a commitment to another event, but David Gantt sent his Campaign Manager, Carmen Ramos-Kennedy to represent him.  Brownie Newman, Holly Jones, Terry Van Duyn, David King and J.B. Howard attended the event with over 150 concerned citizens present. There was no response at all from the other candidates.  Written responses were requested for publication from all candidates and sent to them two weeks before the event.   Below are the responses sent by David Gantt, Holly Jones, Brownie Newman, Terry Van Duyn and Christina Kelley G. Merrill.  None of the other candidates cared to respond.   

1. As noted in Americans for the Arts, 2012 report of the “Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations and Their Audiences in Buncombe County” the total non-profit arts economic impact on Buncombe County is over $43.7 million a year, provides over 1,400 FTE jobs, and generates almost $2.3 million dollars in local government revenue.  Taking into consideration that Buncombe County’s non-profit arts sectors’ numerical data is nearly double the amount found in other counties with a similar population base, have or would you research policies that have been put into place by other cities around the country that value their art communities, (i.e. Minneapolis, MN as well as other cities such as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia) and if so, have you given any thought to what Buncombe County can do to protect and encourage the arts organizations that are providing these jobs, incomes, and government revenues?

David Gantt:  Buncombe County is blessed with a very strong and vibrant arts community.   I would value and give strong consideration to programs and incentives that nurture our good and economically powerful non-profit arts community.

Holly Jones:  I was one of two elected officials who attended a presentation about this survey this summer and have reviewed its findings. I was not surprised to read the results nor was I surprised that Buncombe County arts organizations outpaced other communities. Clearly, arts organizations play a valuable role in making Asheville the incredible community and destination that it is today. Policymakers should approach support of local arts organizations as it does other investments in local infrastructure, which means determining the return on investment as it relates to community economic viability and quality of life. This support should be determined by merit and ability to document measurable outcomes. I look forward to this conversation and learning more about other communities’ successes.

Brownie Newman: I have looked through the links provided here. I do not have any specific policy proposals at this time for how Buncombe County can protect and strengthen arts organizations, but I am open to hearing ideas, proposals and suggestions.

Terry Van Duyn: Absolutely. For example, The Community Foundation of WNC has chosen “protecting natural and cultural resources” as one of it’s three focus areas. We are partnering with Handmade in America to fund a position that will identify grant sources, provide technical support for grant applications, and track outcomes associated with that work.  We have also set aside some funds for matching dollars to help small, rural communities qualify for grant funding. Buncombe County could do something similar in collaboration with the Asheville Area Arts Council.

Christina Kelley G. Merrill: First of all I want to start by saying that I very strongly support the Arts culture of our County and if elected to the BC Commission, I hope to be a BIG part of shifting support to help grow and nurture our Arts community! I would absolutely be interested in researching policies in other areas of our Country and think it is extremely important to restore the reputation our County and the city of Asheville to an "Arts and Artist Haven" vs what it has become. 

2. A strong arts sector is an economic asset for Buncombe County that stimulates business activity, attracts tourism revenue, and retains a high-quality work force.  For each non-profit arts event attended in Buncombe County an average of $35 additional dollars (not including ticket or admission revenue) per person are put back into the local economy.  The arts have also been shown to be a successful strategy for revitalizing rural areas and inner cities. What impact, in your opinion, does the local arts community have on the quality of life for the citizens of Buncombe County, and how important do you consider that to be?   Do you think there should be policies that minimize the displacement of artists if the greater good of the city and county is served by the services provided by these artists?

David Gantt:  The local arts community has a huge impact on Buncombe County’s quality of life and job offerings.  I would like to review and consider a coordinated policy recommendation customized to our County that minimizes displacement of artists during development and growth cycles.

Holly Jones:  My opinion about art’s contribution to our community’s local quality of life is best answered by a look at our family’s calendar and checkbook for the last two months. Our activities included: shopping excursions for art in the RAD, attendance at NC Stage’s latest performance of Buckminster Fuller; visits to the Artery for a poetry performance and an opportunity to see photographer Ralph Burns’ exhibit; ballet rehearsals for the Nutcracker with Asheville Ballet Conservatory at Diana Wortham Theater as well as tap classes; piano instruction with Asheville Music Center and auditions for the Asheville Children’s Chorus and a week at art camp at the Asheville Art Museum. These activities depict how our family’s quality of life is greatly enhanced by our local art community and I believe this to be the case for thousands of Buncombe County citizens. Furthermore, our daughter, as a student in our community’s public schools, greatly benefits from the many contributions of art through her public education. The richness of this is in large part due to the foundation that has been built by the artists in our community. I am open to a conversation about artist displacement and learning about viable options.  I think the idea of cultural district is an interesting one. Any solution to this problem will clearly need the cooperation of state and city officials.  However, prior to making any decisions I would want to continue conversations with the artists that have made investments (in the RAD for instance) in order to understand all the dimensions of this issue.

Brownie Newman: I think the arts community is very important to Asheville and Buncombe County for the reasons you outline above. I understand that the need for affordable spaces for artists to work. While the County government is not in a position to dictate to private property owners what they charge to lease their space for, if some of the arts organizations have specific policy recommendation for how we can encourage or create affordable space for artists, I am open to considering it. I am not aware of any specific proposals that have been made at this time.

Terry Van Duyn:  When I moved to Buncombe County 20 years ago we had a population of about 120,000, an Art Museum, a Symphony, the Diana Wortham Theatre, ACT, a ballet company, and thriving art galleries, to name just some of our cultural treasures. There is no doubt about the impact the arts have had not only on our economic vitality, but on our quality of life. We need to acknowledge the importance of the arts and recognize the fact that that economic engine is able to move elsewhere.  I am certainly interested in looking at ways to mitigate the ill-effects of artist displacement in creative ways, like collaboration with non-profits that already work to support artists.  

Christina Kelley G. Merrill:  I absolutely agree with the statement above about the benefits of a strong art sector, however I am not sure I understand what is meant by "displacement of artists".

3. "Artists are the advance guard of what's hip and cool," says Bert Sperling, founder and president of Portland (Ore.)-based Sperling's Best Places and compiler of BusinessWeek.com's list of the Best Places for Artists in America, because creativity leads to growth.   A vibrant community of art and culture attract and encourage not only tourists, but also the creative class who are essential to the design innovation that is spurring the tech and eco industries that are and will continue to shape urban centers of the 21^st century.  Artists and designers in the creative class are willing to take risks to achieve success, but they need affordable housing, living wages, and affordable creative spaces to work in.  How would you propose that Buncombe County value, support, advocate and create affordable space for artists and others in the creative sector?

David Gantt:  We must continue to work hard on workforce (affordable) housing for artists and all other residents.  I am very open to consider other targeted policies to create and retain affordable space for artists to live and work in.

Holly Jones:  While I am in complete agreement with the value that the creative class brings to our community, my advocacy for affordable housing and living wage is neither limited to or prioritized for artists. The affordable housing deficit we experience in our community cuts across all economic sectors. All workers in Buncombe County should be able to find safe, attractive affordable housing. The addition of the Glen Rock Depot to the River Arts District has been a recent driver to the area’s vitality.  This successful housing development has contributed to an increased opportunity for artists and their businesses as more people have discovered the area. I have been a long-time advocate for the creation of affordable housing throughout our community and will continue to push hard for this if re-elected. Promoting a living wage is important. However, data tells us that workers making a living wage would still require monthly rents to be between $525-575. Safe, attractive housing stock in that range, in our community at this level is inadequate. My policy ideas for increasing the availability of affordable housing include: identifying a dedicated funding stream for the development of safe, attractive affordable rental units as well as the promotion of inclusionary zoning.

Brownie Newman: I don’t have any additional comments to add beyond my response to question #2. If the arts community has a proposal to address this concern, I am open  to considering it.

Terry Van Duyn: Buncombe County has a long track record of working with non-profits like Habitat for Humanity and Mountain Housing Opportunities that seek to address the issue of affordable housing.  We have a long way to go, but we have good partners to work with.  Identifying the arts community specifically in objectives around affordable housing and workspaces would seem to make a lot of sense.

Christina Kelley G. Merrill:  As far as the Buncombe County board of Commissioners providing affordable housing for just one particular group or industry it is difficult to separate the need verses all who need affordable housing.



 4.  In light of the 8.5 million dollar incentive package the City of Asheville gave to New Belgium Beer to build its brewery in the River Arts District, are there other incentives that can be offered to artists and business owners in general to stay or come to Buncombe County?  

David Gantt:  Our current economic incentive policy involves benchmarks of total investment dollars, job creation numbers, mandatory health insurance benefits for employees, and other easily measurable figures.  Since I have been on the Commission, this policy was amended to include expansions of existing businesses as well as new relocated businesses. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that most artist and other small businesses are unlikely to meet the parameters of our current policy.

Holly Jones:  For the record, Buncombe County provided $8.5 million in tax incentives for New Belgium and the City of Asheville provided $3.5 million. I am not a fan of the tax incentive game. However, it is a necessary evil local policy-makers must engage in if our community is going to be able to compete. The tax incentives that were recently granted to New Belgium were based on: # of jobs created paying a living wage with benefits; the amount of investment in the tax base; and the commitment to revitalize a Brownfield area. Artists and businesses that can bring these benefits to our community are currently encouraged to approach Buncombe County to discuss incentives. I am also open to discussing new ideas that promote such ends.

Brownie Newman: Artists are mostly small business owners or people who work for small businesses. One of the  ways that Asheville provides financial support for small business owners (or people who have an idea to start their own business) has been through funding of Mountain Bizworks, which offers both a small training program as well as start-up capital. The Mountain Bizworks program has helped hundreds of small business owners in Asheville and western North Carolina start successful small businesses. I would like to learn more about how beneficial this type of program has been specifically for artists and the arts industry. Is this a successful model that we can build off of, or are the needs of artists sufficiently different from other types of small businesses that something different is necessary?

Terry Van Duyn:  Gentrification of the River Arts District seems to already be driving artists out of their studios.  Perhaps some kind of tax abatement, possibly around artist co-ops, would make it more attractive to maintain existing studio spaces. 

Christina Kelley G. Merrill:  I have said throughout my campaign that I do not think it is fair and it causes resentment to offer incentives to outside industry and not offer the same to our hard working Entrepreneurs and local businesses already established in the County. If there are going to be incentives for any business than they should be offered across the board.

5. Currently Buncombe County provides little to no support to the local creative sector.  A couple of options for the County to consider in shaping its support for the arts locally, is to initiate a 2 to 1 match for the Grassroots Grant that the N.C. Arts Council gives to Buncombe County for local redistribution, (currently approximately $50K annually), and partnering with the City of Asheville’s Cultural Arts Division to expand programming to the rest of the county.  What are your feelings about this?

David Gantt:  I would consider such an allocation.  I do not recall a specific request or vote on this idea, but would favorably consider it after getting a consensus from the arts community on the desirability of this.  I feel matching Arts Council money would be a good investment in a valuable part of our economy and local employment picture.

Holly Jones:  I am very supportive of the proposed matching approach. I would initially support a 1:1 match requiring accountability through measured outcomes. My understanding is that the current grassroots grants are available to all of Buncombe County, so it should not require an expansion of service area.

Brownie Newman:  I need to be better educated on the program to provide a meaningful response. I would like to sit down with folks from the organizations that are involved in the NC Arts Council funding process to better understand how their funding process works, how the funds are utilized, what funding (if any) Buncombe County is currently providing, and how additional funds would be used if the County  budgeted matching funds  as suggested. One other question is how are these types of decisions are currently made by the County? For example, what staff or department is this run through and is there currently a specific decision making role played by the Commissioners?

Terry Van Duyn:  I would whole-heartedly support working with the Asheville’s Cultural Arts Division around programs like the Grassroots Grants.  We need to look at ways to grow the amount of dollars we have for investments like these.

Christina Kelley G. Merrill:  We need to look at the over 200 non profits already receiving money from the County first,. There needs to be a reduction and redistribution of these funds, we can not put any further burden on our Tax payers.

6.  In what ways can the art community reach out and connect to the greater community beyond financial impact and numbers, and how can we improve/expand on what is already taking place?  How would you like to see the arts bring different communities together?

David Gantt:  I would love to meet with you and discuss programs and offerings tailored to Buncombe County.  I do not have sufficient knowledge of what is available and possible for our goals.  I will make myself available when asked to meet.  We should strategize on the best way to obtain maximum “bang for the buck” on behalf of the arts community.

Holly Jones:  I believe the arts can bring communities together and profound opportunities exist. Our community is experiencing renewed divides as it relates to the newly drawn and unnecessary political boundaries in our county. Helping to reject that false division and find ways of working together would be very important.  I also believe that the arts community would do well to continue to bring itself together and begin determining clear, defined and strategic initiatives.  Continuing the political conversation and advocacy will require a united and committed front.

Brownie Newman: When I was in high school, I was very involved in arts stuff, especially creative writing. I attended Interlochen Arts Academy in the creative writing department in Michigan my Junior year of high school. I attended the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts as a creative writing student. My Senior year of High School, I attended the Greenville Fine Arts Center, also in the writing department. While I did not specifically pursue being a “writer” after school, the things I learned in my writing and art classes had a larger influence on my life and had a more useful impact on my future professional career than any other parts of my educational background.

In terms of how the arts community can be more engaged with the larger community here in Asheville, I certainly do not have all the answers. I think public art is a great investment for the community, and I will support that for our county properties and facilities, including the use of artists from Buncombe County. I also like the idea of connecting the artists in our community with our young people, both in school settings and outside the schools. I am especially interested in ways we can help connect the most disadvantaged kids in our community with arts. In so many ways, these kids need the arts more than anyone. One of my favorite arts groups in Asheville is the Evergreen Charter School Marimba Band.  How do we give more kids in Asheville the chance to be a part of something like this?

Terry Van Duyn:  In an effort to get to know my district even better, I did the Leicester studio stroll and was blown away by the quality of the art that was being produced by that community.  We need a way to identify, link, and market our regional artists in a way that is countywide and celebrates that countywide heritage, much like ASAP does for farmers.  I don’t want to reinvent the Asheville Cultural Arts Division, but I’m wondering if we could work together to brand it so that the Leicester Arts community and the River Arts District, Handmade in America and the Southern Highland Craft Guild can support and promote each other.

Finally, we need more arts education in our early childhood development, K-12 schools, and institutions of higher education, like AB Tech.  Ensuring that the arts are an educational priority in the face of the huge state-wide budget cuts to education will be a challenge, but one that’s worth taking on.  

Christina Kelley G. Merrill:  Buncombe County has it's own TV Channel - Charter Ch 3 BCTV and production budget. This is a huge missed opportunity to have an on going "Artists showcase" style show, where we can promote local Artists and businesses throughout WNC! I would be willing to head up this project.

Running for County Commissioner in November, 2012:

CHAIR:

David Gantt (D)

J.B. Howard (R)

District 1:  (2 seats)

Holly Jones (D)

Brownie Newman (D)

Don Guge (R)

District 2:  (2 seats)

Ellen Frost (D)

Carol Weir Peterson (D)

Mike Fryar (R)

Christina Kelley G. Merrill (R)

District 3: (2 seats)

Terry Van Duyn (D)

Michelle Pace Wood (D)

Joe Belcher (R)

David King (R)

Where can I find out where I vote and what district I am in?

http://gis.buncombecounty.org/Districts/Map.html

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7th Annual Mail Art Show “Anything Goes — Everything Shows”

Call for Entries — Deadline for submissions:  September 1, 2012 (postmark)

Artists and (non-artists!) are invited to submit non-returnable artwork for the 7^th annual Anything Goes, Everything Shows mail art show. There is no submission fee. Our mail art show title says it all! ALL submissions will be exhibited in The Courtyard Gallery, 109 Roberts St. in the River Arts District from September 15 – Oct 27. Opening reception is September 15^th from 6pm-9pm Artists are encouraged to demonstrate or explore imagery of any kind.

Anything Goes—Everything Shows is just that, an uncensored free style mail art show. Mail art is art that uses the postal system as a medium. Mail artists typically exchange ephemera in the form of illustrated letters; zines; rubberstamped, decorated, or illustrated envelopes; artist trading cards; postcards; artistamps; faux postage; mail-interviews; naked mail; friendship books, decos and three-dimensional objects.

Fundamentally, mail art in the context of a Mail Art Network is a form of conceptual art. It is a “movement” with no membership and no leaders. Mail art is art which uses the postal system as a medium. The term “mail art” can refer to an individual message in the form of illustrated letters; zines; rubberstamped, decorated or illustrated envelopes; artist trading cards; postcards; artistamps; faux postage; mail-interviews; naked mail; friendship books, decos and three-dimensional objects.

An amorphous international mail art network, involving thousands of participants in over _50 countries, evolved between the 1950s and the present. It was influenced by other movements including Dada and Fluxus.

Themes could include anti-war, anti-art snobbery, anti-gallery art, love ,sex, dissent, anything goes! Mail artists like to claim that mail art began when Cleopatra had herself delivered to Julius Caesar in a rolled-up carpet. However, perhaps the initial genesis of mail art was in postal stationery, from which mail art is now typically distinguished (if not defined in its broadest sense).

This is a celebration of our creative spirit…

…without gallery snobbery or exclusivity!

All media will be accepted and exhibited, including mixed media, Collage, Montage, Sculpture Digital art, Painting, Printmaking, and Photography. Collage and/or the use of imagery are encouraged. Don't be afraid to experiment with 3-dimensional art. We have exhibited painted shoes, records, fish, sticks, and even hog jowls and coal, to name but a creative oddities. Format is freestyle as well. Submissions of any size or shape will be accepted. If you can get a stamp on it and send it through the mail, it will be accepted and exhibited. Remember - Anything Goes, Everything Shows!

The Courtyard Gallery is located on the top floor of the Phil Mechanic Building in Asheville’s River Arts District. Your art works should be addressed to:

Anything Goes—Everything Shows

Carlos Steward

The Courtyard Gallery

P.O. Box 9907

Asheville, NC 28815

The deadline is September 1, 2012 (postmark).  There is no fee for entry.  All entries will be exhibited at The Courtyard Gallery, located at the Phil Mechanic Building, 109 Roberts Street, Asheville, NC. Anything Goes – Everything Shows mail art exhibit opening is September 15, 2012 from 6pm to 9pm. For more information, contact purplecoca@aol.com and http://www.ashevillecourtyard.com.

Check out these links from past shows!
 

http://www.boldlife.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A19327

http://www.boldlife.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A7530

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=B0&Dato=20090924&Kategori=PHOTO&Lopenr=909240805&Ref=PH&nclick_check=1

  http://www.mountainx.com/article/15742/Signed-sealed-delivered

 

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Check out these cool destination tee shirts from beentheretees  now if you forgot to buy a tee shirt you can do it online!

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Asheville Blue Ridge Mountain T ShirtAsheville Bristol Bears tee shirtAsheville Mountain Paradise t-shirtAsheville-cool as a moose bat design tee shirt

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New Church App Helps Solves Communication and Donation Requests

Oodlesapps have created a new app for mobile devices that helps solve communication for non-profit organization memberships and church groups.

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Twin Rivers Media and Film Festival May 25-27, 2012

19th ANNUAL TWIN RIVERS INTERNATIONAL MEDIA AND FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2012 FESTIVAL LINEUP

check out some of the trailers here:

Siberia Monamour http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcscUgVbdyU
A.L.F.
Animal Liberation Front
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hlLMZ_dMhkU#!
Meherjaan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GgLvH0xhjo
Education Under Fire http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsc-mglel-w
American Veterans: Discarded and Forgotten
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVw49cAbc_w

Animation
Dear Sweet Emma http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTinpL066Gw
Fruitless Efforts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsUbvqcyLKE


The 19th Annual season of The Twin Rivers Media Festival(TRMF) will celebrate this year with the latest in independent feature, documentary, short and animated films.  The festival runs from May 25th – May 27th 2012 in with features films screening each Friday night until June 22, 2012 at the Phil Mechanics Building at 109 Roberts St. in the River Arts District of Asheville, NC.

Carlos Steward, founder and director of the Twin Rivers Media Festival, stated, “we are thrilled to once again bring to our Western North Carolina community an incredibly diverse program with over 40 independent films from around the world.” With an exciting season programmed, the festival will kick off with an opening night party at the historic Flood Fine Arts Center Library and adjoining Courtyard Gallery at 7:30PM with the screening of “Siberia Monamour” from the Russia Federation. 

TRMF has become the festival of choice for filmmakers and film lovers who are seeking a unique River Arts District experience and a place to indulge their passion for film. The Festival connects audiences to compelling documentaries, award-winning international releases with tantalizing discussions with visiting filmmakers.

The selection process was rigorous and exclusive.  Only a small percentage of the
submitted films are chosen to screen in the festival.  The films are placed in
sessions, in both venues allowing audiences to see one genre of film one day and another the next. .  Saturday mornings and afternoon films include a potluck lunch and l Question and Answer period, in which the audience is invited to ask the filmmakers questions.

Photos: “The Boy Who’d Never Seen Rain”, Australia feature film (boy who’d.jpeg)
“Siberia Monamour” Russian feature film (siberiamonamour.jpg)
“Caught” short drama by Elizabeth Page, NY (caught.jpg)
“Brotherly Love” short drama, CA, Brothers try to hold their family together, (brolove.jpg)
“American Veterans, Discarded and Forgotten,”  Doc NYC, (amvets.jpg)

The complete three day line up and Friday night feature films in June follows:

Features on Fridays

May 25th • 8pm (Festival Kickoff 7:30 pm)
Siberia, Monamour  (105 min)
Directed by: Slava Ross  (Moscow, Russian Federation)
Siberian taiga. Late autumn. In a deserted village, there lives an old man & his seven-year-old grandson Leshia. A pack of feral dogs devours everything alive in the neighborhood, but one of these dogs becomes Leshia's best friend. Sometimes Uncle Yuri brings food to them. Once on his way back from the village Uncle Yuri is attacked by dogs & perishes. Ivan & Leshia stay on without any food supplies.

June 1st • 8pm
The Duck Hunter  (90 min)
Directed by: Egidio Veronesi  (Modena, Italy)
A film about memory, memories of the past and memories of the protagonists. Memory gets back, through the images of the film, to those who were its custodians, following new and unexpected paths.

June 8th • 8pm
A.L.F.  (96 min)
Directed by: Lescure Jérôme  (Paris, France)
What happened, that 24th of December? This is what officer Chartier wants to find out. To understand, he will have to go back 48 hours earlier: Franck's Christmas eve.
Franck: insignificant drama-teacher, Franck belongs to a nameless and leaderless commando: the Animal Liberation Front. These characters are bound by a limitless empathy towards mistreated animals, and will have to show courage to complete a mission they have been preparing for months.

June 15th • 8pm
The Boy Who'd Never Seen Rain  (70 min)
Directed by: Kim Ramsay  (Sydney , Australia)
The poignant portrayal of an outback Australian sheep farming family struggling to remain together despite looming bankruptcy. Neil Cobblin tries to defend his pride when it becomes apparent he's losing the battle against years of drought, and the outreach workers have arrived in town to offer a helping hand. His wife Rita begins to lose herself in the nostalgia of teenage dreams of becoming a Beauty Queen whilst their 8 year old son Danny fights to be seen as a man by his father and the school bully. This film examines the effects of depression and suicide risk in the Australian rural sector -- a topic which is too often ignored in the mainstream media.

June 22nd • 8pm
Meherjaan  (119min)
Directed by: Rubaiyat Hossain  (Dhaka, Bangladesh)
Meherjaan is a film about loving the Other. Meherjaan gives away with the unitary masculine narrative in order to usher in emotional multiplicity of feminine emotion and sensibility. This film critiques certain pitfalls of nationalism that create conditions to justify war, killing and violence. Finally, Meherjaan attempts to offer an aesthetic solution to war and violence by taking refuge in love and spiritual submission.


Saturday 5/26
11am
American Veterans: Discarded and Forgotten (2 parts, 1 hour each)
Directed by: Richard Polonetsky; Directed by: Gary Null, Brooklyn NY
Gary Null, PhD, explores the truth about Gulf War Syndrome, a horrific condition affecting thousands of soldiers and their families, and the disturbing secrets being hidden by the government. Hear the truth from doctors, scientists, military analysts and the veterans who are still suffering from the effects of their tours of duty while the government denies any accountability for this illness. Dr. Null also reveals the epidemic of homelessness affecting our American veterans today.

12 - 1pm
Potluck lunch
Bring a favorite dish and join us for an opportunity to sit down with filmmakers and film aficionados for an exchange of ideas and edibles!

1pm
Daytona Flash Mob  (10min)-  Filmmaker Present for discussion
Produced by Lou and Guili Schacht
600 Dancers materialize in a spontaneous dance event at the Daytona 500.

Education Under Fire  (30min)
Directed by Jeff Kaufman
Produced by Single Arrow Productions and co-sponsored by Amnesty International. This revealing documentary profiles the growth, struggle, and inspiring spirit of the Baha´i Institute for Higher Education. The Baha´i people in Iran have been subjected to systematic persecution, including arrests, torture, and execution simply for refusing to recant their beliefs. They are also prohibited from going to college (and blocked from many professions).

Anela en Rouge  (19min)-  Filmmaker Present for discussion
Cara Myers, Kansas City, MO
A touching experimental dance documentary in which Nannette Rogers-Kennedy tells a story of losing her mother, who before death, promises to come back to visit her children as a Cardinal. Two weeks later, her mother keeps her promise, not only to her, but to every other member of her family, proving that our love for one another transcends the boundaries of life or death.

Its a Girl Thing: MKA, Tween Queens and the Commodification of Girlhood  (60min)-  Filmmaker Present for discussion›
Directed by: Shannon Silva, Wilmington, NC
Since the birth of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in 1987, the girls' tween market has evolved from almost non-existent into a $43 billion-dollar-a-year money making machine. Framed by the structure of a faux interactive website, It's A Girl Thing speaks with consumer critics, tween brand marketers, girls, moms, and educators to explore the seemingly benign cultural universe of pastel-colored, hyper-commercialized girl culture (and the tween queen phenomenon) to reveal the complex and contradictory messages directed at today's young girls.

Saturday 5/26 • 4pm-8pm
Courtyard Gallery Screen

Short Drama
Wrigley and King, 9 min
Cornelius Murphy, Lynnfield, MA
A man attends his brother's funeral and reflects on a childhood memory when his brother took revenge against a neighbor for killing the family dog.

Impressions, 20min
Robert Schwartz, Los Angeles. CA
Two people who come from very different backgrounds have inherited the struggles they face in a relationship.

Leak, 29min
beni fredman, Jerusalem, Israel
7 yr old Hadar is behaving strangely and shockingly in order to eliminate an imaginary monster. Her father, a rich and powerful man, covers up her behavior by silencing people with payoffs and refusing to send Hadar to psychiatric treatment. Desperate, her mother secretly takes her to a clinic to undergo a futuristic and risky operation for trauma removal.

1000 grams, 15min
Tom Bewilogua, Hamburg, Germany
A film about Flesh. Flesh in all of its meanings! A story of two tragically colliding Worlds. Poor and Rich! An unadorned view on the current circumstances of our reality, while the audience is flying through society like a ghost.

Astray, 15min
Evan Stroum, Tigard, OR
A man awakens alone in the forest, all memories lost. As he retraces his steps, anxiety builds until the discovery of a dead body pushes his emotions to a boiling point as memories come flooding back.

Workers Leaving the Factory (10min)
Anna Linke, Weimar, Germany
Karin works in a metal factory  performing the same monotonous tasks day after day. When a new worker arrives, it seems to be the end of this drab life.

Brotherly Love, 17min
Choice Skinner, Van Nuys, CA
Isaac, flees home to plead with his brother Elijah to help him hide a terrible secret from Abraham, the eldest brother who is a strict disciplinarian and very religious.

Diana , 15min
Wen-Cheng Yu, Pasadena, AK/Taiwan
Diana is young, attractive, smart, confident and cold. She has an affair with a married man and a fight with her student in class. Everyone makes bad decisions. So does Diana. But this time, she does it with determination.

Advanced Payment, 21min
Heath Jones, New Smyrna Beach, FL
After a drunk driver kills her son and escapes prosecution, a well-to-do woman seeks revenge on her own. She buys an unregistered gun from a back alley thug, who quickly recognizes her as an easy target and teaches her a hard lesson about street justice.

Caught, 20min
Elizabeth Page, Brooklyn, NY
Hannah has spent her life trying to do the right thing, but she can not catch a break, or win the sought after affection of her mother, nor the respect of her brother. Hannah finds solace in baseball from the time she is young. This family strife culminates on the ballfield during the playoffs.

Dog Eat Dog, 7min
Curtis Jensen, Thunder Bay, ON
Tony, a mafia boss, has grown tired of Fluffy, his neighbour’s dog, pooping on his lawn. Instead of dealing with his grievances civilly, Tony hires Chester and Louis take the dog out. The two hit men accept the job, even though Louis feels like the job is an insult to his abilities.

Alienated, 5:30min
Piper Kroeze, North Hollywood, CA—Student Entry
John is an extra-terrestrial living on another planet but decides it's best for him to travel to earth to start a new chapter in his life, against the will of his father. John is still waiting for his slahfle, a body part that grows on the forehead of each alien at a certain age, to come in, in order to regain the respect of his elders as a man.

The Light, 14min
Kajsa Ribbing, Stockholm,Sweden
It's all about love - and life - when an old and dying author writes his last novel about a young couple and the games they play.



Saturday 5/26 • 4pm-7pm
Flood Library Screen

Animation
Tony's Big Score, 12min
David Provost, Emeryville, CA
Tony is just your average everyday robot until the day the entire world starts crashing in on him.

The Eater, 3min
Wally Chung, NY,NY
A man has a strange experience that ends up affecting the people around him.

X-Mess Detritus-2min
Aurelio Voltaire, NY, NY
MTV and SciFi Channel veteran, Voltaire, takes a dark look at gift-giving and the negative effect it has on the Earth in this one-minute Christmas parable.

Dear Sweet Emma, 5:17min
Out of Our Minds Animation Studio, NC
As the search is given up for Emma’s latest husband, Tucker, a private look reveals that Emma has a secret and uncontrollable dark side.

Dinner Table, 3min
Song E Kim, Los Angeles, CA
The dinner table, where we sit everyday to satisfy the basic of needs, can become the most awkward place to be with one simple conversation and mounting emotion.

Fruitless Efforts - Fruit of the Womb, 5min
Oren Robashkin, Minneapolis, MN
Apple is trying to lead a normal life, but is being held back by his friends.

Lunch, 1min
Irina Golina-Sagatelian, Israel
Vlad sits in his chair, looks eagerly at his plate with a juicy fish. Suddenly someone rings the bell. Disappointed, he gets up and wonders when he can get back to his meal.

Oh! Natural, 2min
Becky Bush, NY, NY
An acorn becomes all it can be.

Experimental
Ode, 18min
Dawn Hollison, Arvada, CO
A story of Collector and Collected, Ode examines the human cycle of action and effect, and its reflection in the internal experience of recognition, regret, and remembrance. Three episodes record the phases of a woman's evolution toward a deeper understanding of her own motivations and her relation to others.

Pin, 15min
Mountains Plain, Asheville, NC
An examination of our mountain heritage.

Sixty in 60, 60min.
Ronnie Cramer, Denver CO
Experimental art film featuring sixty one-minute works of many genres, including abstract, animation, documentary, experimental, narrative, stop-motion, time-lapse and video art.

Commercial
Tales from the Hood, 9min
Manny Marquez, Denver, CO
In 2011, Native Eyewear descended upon Hood River, OR asking the natives to show them the ropes. The locals welcomed them, giving the crew a peek into their lives, and acting as tour guides, showed them all over the stunning little mountain town. This documentary captures the stories of the locals, or the Tales from the Hood, as Natives like to call them.

Little Pearls-30sec
Linda McLean, Asheville, NC
Little Pearls are “tiny films” that open hearts and minds, inspiring authentic connection and compassionate action on behalf of al living beings

Doritos: Super Cheesy, 1min
Jen McGowan, Venice, CA
A cheesy Senator's secret obsession is exposed.
Saturday 5/26 • 4pm-7pm
Flood Library Screen



Sunday 5/27
Courtyard Gallery Screen

Documentaries
1pm - 5pm
Co Raz Zostalo Zapisane (Written in Ink), Poland (12min)
Martin Rath
A documentary about hope, this compelling story is about a a man trying to get back in touch with his sister after they haven't had any contact for 14 years. But can one change what has already been written in ink?

Nullification: The Rightful Remedy  (72min)
Jason Rink, Austin, TX
What do we do when the federal government steps outside of its Constitutional boundaries? Do we ”vote the bums out” and hope that the new bums limit their own power? Do we ask federal judges in black robes to limit the federal government's power? This documentary explores the history of state nullification, and how it is being used today to push back against the encroachment of federal power.

Into The Distance  (15min)
Philip Arnold, New Albany, OH
Follow Adriane Blewitt on her quest to become the Women's World Champion in the Scottish Highland Games. A nationally-ranked shot putter in college, Adriane's dream of making the USA Olympic Team in 2004 was sidelined due to a serious illness. While remaining competitive following her recovery, Adriane discovered another field of competition in which she could test her strength and technique with heavy implements.

Meme  (39min)
Paola Oliveras Garcia, Guaynabo, PR
The recently independent Namibia now suffers a different war. The epidemic of AIDS affects everybody. But in a country where sexual matters are considered private, and women's survival depends on men, the women tend to suffer most of the consequences. Yet, for the fist time, the 'Memes' are standing up to their social and cultural carries by using the most powerful weapon they have: Their Voice.

The First 70  (30min)
Jarratt Moody, San Francisco, CA
Last May, California announced plans to close one quarter of their 278 parks, a devastating move that is intended to save the state a mere $22 million per year. The closure list includes thousands of acres of park land, recreation areas, wildlife reserves, and 50% of the state's historic parks. By July 2012 Californians will be bereft of 70 magnificent natural parks.

Not One of Us (different is weird)  (2min)
Cameron MacKenzie, Fargo,ND
”I wanted to do a short film about bullying...a HUGE problem. I know. I'm a 14-yr-old 8th-grader. I live in a small town that likes to think of itself as being 'family friendly' and 'different than the big cities of NY and LA'. But, people are people...and bullying is bullying. What I learned in doing this film is that there are two main forms of bullying--aggressive or active (obvious) and passive. I chose to make this film about passive bullying because not only is passive bullying harder to prove, it may be even more dangerous than obvious bullying.”





Sunday 5/27 • 1-5pm
Flood Library Screen
Animations-- Same as Saturday
Short Drama
Wrigley and King, 9 min
Cornelius Murphy, Lynnfield, MA
A man attends his brother's funeral and reflects on a childhood memory when his brother took revenge against a neighbor for killing the family dog.

Impressions, 20min
Robert Schwartz, Los Angeles. CA
Two people who come from very different backgrounds have inherited the struggles they face in a relationship.

Leak, 29min
beni fredman, Jerusalem, Israel
7 yr old Hadar is behaving strangely and shockingly in order to eliminate an imaginary monster. Her father, a rich and powerful man, covers up her behavior by silencing people with payoffs and refusing to send Hadar to psychiatric treatment. Desperate, her mother secretly takes her to a clinic to undergo a futuristic and risky operation for trauma removal.

1000 grams, 15min
Tom Bewilogua, Hamburg, Germany
A film about Flesh. Flesh in all of its meanings! A story of two tragically colliding Worlds. Poor and Rich! An unadorned view on the current circumstances of our reality, while the audience is flying through society like a ghost.

Astray, 15min
Evan Stroum, Tigard, OR
A man awakens alone in the forest, all memories lost. As he retraces his steps, anxiety builds until the discovery of a dead body pushes his emotions to a boiling point as memories come flooding back.

Workers Leaving the Factory (10min)
Anna Linke, Weimar, Germany
Karin works in a metal factory  performing the same monotonous tasks day after day. When a new worker arrives, it seems to be the end of this drab life.

Brotherly Love, 17min
Choice Skinner, Van Nuys, CA
Isaac, flees home to plead with his brother Elijah to help him hide a terrible secret from Abraham, the eldest brother who is a strict disciplinarian and very religious.

Diana , 15min
Wen-Cheng Yu, Pasadena, AK/Taiwan
Diana is young, attractive, smart, confident and cold. She has an affair with a married man and a fight with her student in class. Everyone makes bad decisions. So does Diana. But this time, she does it with determination.

Advanced Payment, 21min
Heath Jones, New Smyrna Beach, FL
After a drunk driver kills her son and escapes prosecution, a well-to-do woman seeks revenge on her own. She buys an unregistered gun from a back alley thug, who quickly recognizes her as an easy target and teaches her a hard lesson about street justice.

Caught, 20min
Elizabeth Page, Brooklyn, NY
Hannah has spent her life trying to do the right thing, but she can not catch a break, or win the sought after affection of her mother, nor the respect of her brother. Hannah finds solace in baseball from the time she is young. This family strife culminates on the ballfield during the playoffs.

Dog Eat Dog, 7min
Curtis Jensen, Thunder Bay, ON
Tony, a mafia boss, has grown tired of Fluffy, his neighbour’s dog, pooping on his lawn. Instead of dealing with his grievances civilly, Tony hires Chester and Louis take the dog out. The two hit men accept the job, even though Louis feels like the job is an insult to his abilities.

Alienated, 5:30min
Piper Kroeze, North Hollywood, CA—Student Entry
John is an extra-terrestrial living on another planet but decides it's best for him to travel to earth to start a new chapter in his life, against the will of his father. John is still waiting for his slahfle, a body part that grows on the forehead of each alien at a certain age, to come in, in order to regain the respect of his elders as a man.

The Light, 14min
Kajsa Ribbing, Stockholm,Sweden
It's all about love - and life - when an old and dying author writes his last novel about a young couple and the games they play.