Color Congress

Congratulations to our colleagues at ITVS on the release of their groundbreaking study, The Filmmaker-Participant Relationship Unpacked: Ethical Responsibility and Impact in Documentary Filmmaking, and to the many Congress member organizations who helped with the design and dissemination of the report. For a field built on the stories of people and communities it is imperative that we open direct lines of communication with them to understand the impact of our storytelling on their lives, in order to interrogate current practices and create new harm reduction protocols. This study is a fantastic contribution to that effort. You can read the full study here: https://lnkd.in/gq7aqyc9

The work of movement-accountable intermediaries will be more vital in the coming years. Recently, our co-director Sonya Crespo Childress sat down with Foundation for Louisiana president Charmel Gaulden and alicia sanchez gil of Emergent Fund to discuss the principles and power of movement-accountable intermediaries. https://lnkd.in/ezDaicjw

Check out #unseen: Life as a Blind Immigrant, a four-chapter podcast based on the award-winning film @watchunseenfilm. This groundbreaking podcast explores the intersections of disability, immigration, work, and mental health in the U.S. The podcast is available free on-demand across all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Pocket Casts, and Overcast. New episodes are available every Tuesday in October in honor of World Blindness Awareness Month. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: https://lnkd.in/gsc65q8n Set Hernandez, Dorian Gomez

On this election day, California’s philanthropic community stands united in purpose: to continue advancing racial justice, economic opportunity, and environmental sustainability—ensuring a brighter future for all communities and universal access to the American Dream.    Together with the California Black Freedom Fund, California Community Foundation, The California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundation, College Futures Foundation, East Bay Community Foundation, Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, Latino Community Foundation, Liberty Hill Foundation, San Francisco Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Tipping Point Community, and Weingart Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation is committed to continue building a future rooted in justice and equity.     #UnitedForCalifornia #PhilanthropyForChange #StrongerTogether https://irvine.ly/48DFPzV

Election Day may be winding down, but our commitment to change and justice continues. Hear from @NinaTurner and @GabbySidibe as they discuss the fight for reparations and why showing up matters—today and every day. Our voices don’t stop here; they’re powerful all year round. Let’s keep pushing forward, together. #YourVoteMatters #ReparationsNow #VoteBeHeard

The election results have California and the nation grappling with a new reality.     Our goal is a California where all low-income workers have the power to advance economically. “All” is a crucial word in that goal, and achieving it is not possible when immigrants are demonized, scapegoated, and threatened. Sadly, there is a long history of systemic racism in our country and casting blame on immigrants and people of color for society’s ills. It’s why we have proactively supported immigrant rights and power-building organizations to plan for different election scenarios.      Moving forward, we are committing additional resources for rapid-response efforts that will help California families know their rights and have timely, accurate information to protect themselves and their communities. We are also supporting our grantees in strengthening their legal, security, and operational infrastructure in response to the political rhetoric and potential actions targeting nonprofits.      We in philanthropy have the privilege to speak out and a moral imperative to support organizations protecting and organizing working people—and Irvine seeks to do just that. Read our full statement in this blog post from our CEO, Don Howard: https://irvine.ly/4fg8Pjx

As progressive nonprofit leaders braced for fierce policy battles to come, initial responses painted a gloomy picture of the "dark days," "devastation," and "chaos," which they believe will come with a new Trump administration and a GOP-controlled Senate. The Republican election triumph is seen as a game-changer for the environment, reproductive rights, immigration, and other causes. Alex Daniels reports on the sector's response to the election results: https://bit.ly/4fa6V42

We are sharing words from @cinematropical founder Carlos Gutierrez which were written in 2016, but still relevant today. He says: "Cinema is thriving. There’s no doubt about it. There are many signs that testify to its vitality. But we need to elevate the ways we engage with and discuss cinema. Having focused so much during these past years on pitching, crowd-funding, target audiences, and social media, we have let poetry slip out of cinema. It is time to bring lyricism—along with politics—back to the center of the table. We need to create new film allegories for the turbulent times ahead."

"Color Congress feels like an interruption to the current profit driven cycles of documentary; the film industry’s tendency towards capitalist trends have left us beholden to selling our ideas to brands and algorithms in order for audiences to have access to our work. Sometimes there seems to be no way to move beyond this industry standard. Color Congress, for me, seeks a new way of being, providing critical resources to documentary driven organizations that support communities of filmmakers." jazz franklin, a collective member of the New Orleans based PATOIS Film Collective, reflects on the power of the Color Congress in a new Medium blog. A must-read!

In a time when burnout, loneliness and uncertainty of what’s next in our industry is at unprecedented heights, the act of pausing is vital for the sustainability of this work. Pause & Play, co-hosted by by member organizations Brown Girls Doc Mafia (BGDM) and OTV | Open Television begins with the question: what does it mean to center rest and joy in the documentary industry? In this four-part virtual series, they explore the theory and practice of restorative care for four major sections of this ecosystem: filmmakers, participants, audiences, and arts organizations. Our very own Sonya Crespo Childress will join Iyabo Boyd and Elijah McKinnon with JK Nelson for the final session on Nov 7 on Organizational Care. RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/gQ9BAvqt