Project: Community Engaged Work
Digital Storytelling was integrated into three long-term community engagement projects. The Beyond Borders project is a collaboration between Central Neighbourhood House and Springtide Resources that is working with immigrant women to raise awareness in their cultural communities about violence against women. The first screening of the Philipina women’s digital stories took place on December 6th, Women’s Remembrance Day. They plan to continue sharing their stories to open up conversations about violence in their communities. Creating Caring Communities was a project in Moss Park social housing whose goal was to increase use of the common areas, to build trust among residents, and ultimately increase residents sense of safety. Peer leaders initiated a variety of strategies to engage residents from pop-up smoothie stations in the lobby to dance classes in the green space. They hosted the TIFF in Your Park summer movie series, and not only was a Hollywood movie shown on the big screen in their community, but the digital stories by residents as well! Voices for Change Halton created digital stories to highlight poverty experiences in the suburbs. A common misconception is that poverty does not exist in the suburbs, especially in affluent communities such as Oakville and Burlington. The participants challenged those notions by speaking their own truths, and highlighted the complexity and diversity of experiences of residents living on low-incomes in Halton Region.
Screening “The Good Lie” at the Moss Park Apartments was one of the highlights of TIFF in the Park 2015. It was exciting to come into a neighbourhood that was so clearly engaged with each other and with trying to foster a broad sense of friendship and solidarity within an extremely diverse community. The TIFF crew felt enormously welcomed by the neighbourhood and the festival leading up to the screening was one of the best attended and well organized I have been to. The inclusion of Digital Stories created by residents of the neighbourhood really underscored the power of film to connect and illuminate corners of life often undocumented and made this particular screening a true community partnership.
– TIFF Staff
The platform Jennifer and Emmy created for our members to share their stories and create a meaningful and impactful short movie is nothing short of miraculous. They took two groups, one group who was familiar with each other, and the other who was new to each other, and helped everyone feel seen, heard, valued and validated for their personal history. They made people’s personal stories part of a much larger narrative of what it is like to be a poor person in a society that doesn’t often appreciate their sacrifices.
– Halton Voices for Change Staff
Thank you Emmy and Jennifer for teaching me how to create these marvelous mini-movies – you made it easy and fun! You knew how to draw out the richest parts of each story. It was also an honour to be amongst such a brave and resilient group of people. Seeing all of our stories brought to life on the screen touched me in the deepest way.
– Digital Story Workshop Participant