Jen Nedbalsky and DIY Media
Jen Nedbalsky is a DIY who loves to crochet. She sells her work on DoingItHerself.com. A community organizer and activist, she manages The NYC Grassroots Media Coalition webpage (nycgrassrootsmedia.org), The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival High School Program site (hrw.org/iff/2007/classroom) and occasionally the NYC Radical Cheerleaders website (nycradicalcheerleaders.org). DIY City talked to Jen about independent media in NYC.
DIY City: I see you are a documentary video maker and media organizer for Human Rights Watch International Film Festival - do you ever get a chance to make documentaries about other folks who make things?
JN: I have a passion for making short video documentaries that can be used in a community or school setting to initiate dialogue and act as a tool for social change. The last video was about the global Radical Cheerleading movement. I went to the March for Women’s Lives in Washington D.C. with my friend and fellow radical cheerleader Mary Christmas and documented all the amazing political cheers, dance moves and D.I.Y. cheerleader outfits of the cheerleaders. The video really highlights the incredible creativity of this movement to take popular culture, spin it and flip it on its head until it becomes something empowering and meaningful. I hope that the video can continue to be used to help inspire folks to start their own Radical Cheerleading squads. At the end of the video, I do a quick tutorial about how to make your own pom-poms using garbage bags and duct tape.
Since my little craft business has happily picked up in the past few years, I got a full time job at Human Rights Watch that I love, and because I got more involved in organizing independent media makers and social justice groups in with the NYC Grassroots Media Coalition, I’ve had to put the video making down for a little while. My next project will be a longer video about the Radical Cheerleading movement - more of a D.I.Y. Dance video to inspire other young folks to get politically (and physically) active.
DIY City: Tell us about your role as co-founder of the NYC Grassroots Media Conference. Is this organization something that indie artists should know more about?
The NYC Grassroots Media Coalition and Conference were born out of the 2003 efforts from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allow further deregulation of corporate media companies which has made it nearly impossible for independent voices and viewpoints out into the public. (For more information on media deregulation visit: stopbigmedia.com)
A few organizers that I worked with at small non-profit community media organizations in New York City realized that in 2003, it was really hard to understand what was going on with Media policy around the FCC decision, and were trying to find out what was going on in New York City to protect independent voices and to stop this legislation. We decided to organize a teach-in where independent media makers, community organizers and organizations could come together to figure out how we can come together as a community to protect the airwaves and create more opportunities for every day people to share their views with the public. We wanted to make sure independent media organizations in NYC were accountable to the most underserved communities in our area, and find a way to share media resources and teach each other how to make and distribute our own media. (Videos, blogs, websites, radio programs, newspapers, art, music and more.) We were hoping 300 people would show up for our 2-day conference and we were shocked when more than 1,000 people showed up. It became clear to the organizers of the conference that NYC activists and media makers needed this space to come together.
The conference has been around for 5 years now and has brought together more than 4,000 independent media makers, youth, artists, teachers, community organizers and activists. The next conference will be taking place at Hunter College on March 2, 2008. Our website is www.nycgrassrootsmedia.org. It’s a great place to come to learn about what independent media is happening in NYC, to learn how and where you can make your own media, and to be aware and active in the fight to protect free speech and to ensure that diverse voices are heard in NYC.
Last year we actually had a knitting for social change workshop with the amazing Cat Mazza of MicroRevolt (microrevolt.org). Each year we have prop-making, animation, music, dance and graffiti workshops to teach people how to utilize their talents for social change. It’s amazing to have so many talented, committed people in one place for the day - you shouldn’t miss it!
