Last month, we gathered with a cross section of organizations from across Tennessee to make plans for using documentaries to advance social, economic and environmental justice and sustainability in the state. A day long summit held at the United Steel Workers Union Hall in Nashville, was aimed at better connecting progressive groups in Tennessee to each other, and at increasing their skills and capacity to use media, popular education, and creative actions to reach their goals.
The summit included a training component on best practices for leveraging documentary film and creative action to advance grassroots organizing. A case study of MORAL MOVIES and discussion of how individual film and interactive projects like Inequality for All, Freedom Summer, and Hollow could be used in the state helped lead us into planning for the fall and next year.
Since the summit we’ve been solidifying parterships with participants, including the Tennessee NAACP, Tennesseans for Fair Taxation, the Tennessee Education Association, Common Cause, and the Coalition for the Organizational Protection of People and Equal Rights. We now have an initial statewide series in the works that will engage communities on economic issues impacting Tennessee, in particular the threat of a permanent ban on income tax in the state’s constitution.
We’ll continue to work with leaders over the next 1 – 2 years to position documentaries within their work and throughout the state to raise awareness, strengthen connections, and advance progress towards a Tennessee that serves all!
