this format is amazing. first we saw each of the presenters interview each other. here’s some of the wisdom that came out. (i’ll add links in a bit)

“we sold vouchers 9 months ahead of time, letting folks know that we couldn’t put out the album unless we sold enough pre-sale vouchers!”

“my biggest challenge is wishing i could give my films out for free, but i need to be able to produce more films!”

“bootlegging is a good problem! if you’re not getting bootlegged you aren’t doing something right. you’re not create a demand and a desire for your work!”

now we’re in 4 break-out groups where we each get to interview each of the presenters one at a time. i am in the group with joan mandell from new day.

“for me, the most interesting thing about new day is how we formed as a coop, and how we work together.”

“the folks who can afford to make a living off this are professors, folks with trust funds – used to be all white. we hired a facilitator – a hawaiin lesbian of color – who has worked with us to diversify our membership. guess what – our membership is changing!”

“we have a buddy system to show how-to on every single aspect of creating and distributing the work.”

now we have akil houston from cincinatti who is also a filmmaker.

“my mother was into film and theater, and took me with her.”

“growing up – you realize that often you see things like – the way this story is being told IS the story. but then you see different perspectives and realize that the films might only be a PART of the story.”

“see ‘the two towns of jasper’ – took a white crew and a black crew in to make a film on the man dragged behind the truck. vastly different perspectives.”

“i had to walk away from an opportunity to make good money making a music video that was basically soft-porn. i feel good because everything i’ve done, i could basically show my grandmother.”

“you have the green activists interested in green but not race or class; and the hip-hop heads interested in the race and class issues. and we worked together, across big egos, to get a grant….you see organizations with 5-6 women working and a guy sitting there chillin or directing; or an organization where the women or the people of color are supposed to bring up the issues or sexism or race.”

now cornelius from underground resistance is in our group!

“i rely on the ethics and the morality of the artists i work with, instead of locking people into some 360 deal (owning and selling every aspect of what an artist puts out for a period of time)”

“there are gonna be people who hate you or don’t care for your music – so you aren’t trying to reach everyone. you can be too broad. if you start off with – there are these people who go to these events and will be into what i’m doing – you target, that’s the easy route. don’t make your job harder than it needs to be. you know who is going to like what you have – focus that outreach and energy. (in terms of social networking sites) i generally think you’re better off in the streets with the people who like your music, real people. it may be a smaller market, but so what, it’s a deeper market. same as doing stuff in other countries…everyone’s going to europe and ignoring south america – that’s a whole continent.”

this format was deep and brilliant!!