Welcome to the Parallel Lives 10-day programme – each day I will host interviews with documentarians throughout the majority world covering Central & South America, Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia.
I’ll post a blog each day with relevant documentary film, photography, audio, and new media materials included as sources of information.
Several interviews will be pre-recorded but the majority are being live-streamed through the Documentary Media Centre Facebook Page.
Click the logo to go directly there:
Programme: a blog will be posted to cover each day –
Day 1 – Thursday 11th – Fundraising in a Pandemic – Jane Holden from the Andrew Grene Foundation (Haiti) and Ken Dunn from Africa’s Gift (Lesotho)
Day 2 – Friday 12th – Human Trafficking – DMU Communication Arts students online ‘Community Media Cafe’ & Zinthiya Ganeshpanchan (Sri Lanka / Nepal)
Day 3 – Saturday 13th – World Radio Day – Community Radio Showcase in partnership with Rob Watson of DeCentered Media – ‘live’ via YouTube stream
Day 4 – Sunday 14th – Child Trauma & Conflict – Prof. Panos Vostanis (Greece)
Day 6 – Tuesday 16th – Photography from Africa – John Wambugu & Joel Lukhovi (Kenya)
Day 7 – Wednesday 17th – Memories of Home – how do we keep the memories alive when we move away from our home?
Day 8 – Thursday 18th – Students and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – Uchyu Vanara (Cambodia), Steve Graham (Cambodia) and Mark Charlton (UK)
Day 9 – Friday 19th – Focus on South America – Peru / Colombia / Brazil
Day 10 – Saturday 20th – World Day of Social Justice – Pakistan Showcase with co-host Andy Goss
We still find ourselves in rather strange times with no discernable end in sight. When the first lockdown started back in March 2020 we took the necessary steps to keep the dream of a truly independent museum archive and library alive by moving our events online. We wanted to have conversations about the global issues that really matter by focusing on 100+ countries spread across the majority world – they range from Central & South America to Africa, South Asia to South-East Asia – real people, real places, and (probably for the first time) a real event that is affecting us all……an opportunity for documentarians to capture their world, through their eyes, using documentary media – film, photography, audio, and new media.
Conflict shapes the world in which live. From the large global conflagrations of the 20th century, we have become entrenched in localized regional disputes that cause even more damage. And when I say damage, I don’t mean material damage e.g. infrastructure. I’m talking about the systematic targeting of civilians and the state-sponsored acts to drive them out or in some cases, exterminate them. The impact of these conflicts needs to be shared. Not through news outlets or different methods of reportage. But through the education of young people so they get a better understanding of the world they are inheriting. This will be the basis for our new ‘think tank’ project called Conflict Memory and Education.
Please join us for the first 10-day programme as we try to discover the most effective ways to approach this task.
January
Thursday 21st – Saturday 30th
Conflict Reportage Archive – a 10-day programme of interviews covering the theme of conflict memory and how we can discuss this important subject in educational settings – both formal and informal. It will build on the themes covered in the first 24-hour Conflict Reportage Newsroom back in May 2020 throughout World Press Freedom Day.
A blog will be posted each day to support the filmed interview with relevant documentary film, photography, audio, and new media materials.
Parallel Lives – a 10-day programme of interviews covering the theme of social justice across the majority world.
Countries include Bangladesh, Cambodia, Haiti, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Nepal, Pakistan, and Uganda.
A blog will be posted each day with relevant documentary film, photography, audio, and new media materials.
All content will be hosted on this website.
March
Thursday 18th – Saturday 27th
Museum of Community Media – a 10-day programme covering the themes of social movement media, community media, and digital advocacy. I will be joined by issue experts in these areas, Dr. Paul Reilly and Dr. Rob Watson to explore the archiving of the Citizens Eye community news agency (2008-2014). With a collection of 15,000+ images, 1200+ videos, and printed media, the archiving of this slice of Leicester’s social history is supported by the Media Archive of Central England (MACE).
A blog will be posted each day with relevant documentary film, photography, audio, and new media materials.
2.00pm Newsroom Starts – Welcome & Overview to the Wot Box Heritage Project funded by Y Heritage – Tina Barton – Education and Engagement Director, Documentary Media Centre.
2:10pm – Interview with Ros Kerslake, CEO Heritage Lottery – Ros will talk about the importance of youth engagement and what the Heritage Lottery is currently doing to support the creative engagement and involvement of young people within museum and heritage locations.
2:40pm – Amy Christer – Y Heritage Support Coordinator – Listen to our WOTBox Heritage reporters interview Amy about her work on the Kick The Dust project and the impact the projects had locally.
3.00pm – Joanna Fleetwood-Smith – Y Business Development Director – Join our WOTBox Heritage reporter Rochana find out about the impact of Kick The Dust and the projects legacy.
3.20pm – Emma Fay – Artistic Director, Enter Edem – listen to Emma sharing her experience of hosting a young person for a Y Heritage Kick the Dust funded project at Welford Road Cemetery.
3:30pm – Saul Argent – Hope Streets Project Coordinator, Curious Minds – Listen to members of the WOTBox Heritage team interview Saul about their recently successful KickThe Dust project.
4.00pm – Rachel Ayrton – Learning & Interpretation Manager, King Richard III Visitor Centre – Join WOTBox Heritage reporter Carl as he talks to Rachel about the importance of youth engagement with museum and heritage locations.
4:30pm – Zam Zam Yusuf – Heritage Development Officer, Leicestershire Cares – Find out about Leicestershire Cares ‘Kick The Dust’ funded project, the impact and the opportunities created for young people.
5.00pm – Jodie Lees – Creative Programme Manager, Sudbury Hall – Hear our WOTBox Heritage reporters catch up with Jodie to find out the importance of the creative engagement and involvement of young people within heritage.
5:30pm – Paul Brown – CEO, YMCA Leicester – Paul discusses the Kick The Dust project, the impact the projects had and why projects such as this are important for the residents of the YMCA.
5:50pm – Juliet Martin – Y Heritage Project Manager & Tina Barton – Education and Engagement Director, Documentary Media Centre – Join us for a newsroom wrap-up as we review the highlights from the event and thank our WOTBox Heritage reporters and our guests.
An exciting new project aimed at enhancing the visitor experience of both physical and digital visitors to museums and heritage locations across Leicester and Leicestershire is due to launch this September.
Digital Personas will work with seven locations to bring creative engaging personalities to artefacts and visitor attractions, through the meaningful engagement and involvement of young people.
Leicester’s Documentary Media Centre in partnership with The Y Heritage team at Leicester YMCA & Museum Development East Midlands (MDEM) will work with museum staff and young people to creatively enhance and bring to life a number of objects, that will have their own digital platforms to engage with visitors through competitions, facts, updates, insights, educational activities, special events and more.
Claire Brown, Museum Development Manager said, “MDEM is pleased to be part of this project which offers a great opportunity for museums to develop their digital offer, whilst working with young people, creating new ways of working and developing new audiences’.
Juliet Martin, Y Heritage Project Manager said, “We’re so excited to be working on the Digital Personas project with the Documentary Media Centre and Museums Development East Midlands, it’s a fantastic way of engaging young people to work alongside adults to create and enhance the overall digital offer in our museums and heritage locations, whilst providing a good opportunity for young people to gain transferable skills and experience”. Y Heritage is funded by The National Heritage Lottery Fund, without their support projects like Y Heritage wouldn’t be able to engage young people in this sort of activity.
Tina Barton – Digital Engagement and Education Manager said, “The creative engagement of young people to shape and contribute to service delivery is crucial to the future of our museums and heritage locations, working on projects that see young people co-creating activities alongside museum staff to enhance the offer is something that we’re really excited about”.
For interested museum and heritage locations who would like to find out more about the project, please contact a member of the team, details below.
The Parallel Lives 24 hour Newsroom was hosted at the Documentary Media Centre on Wednesday 19th August (00:00-23:59).
Parallel Lives is a project that covers 100+ countries and aims to connect people who create and produce documentary forms of media …. film, photography, audio & new media.
The power of story-living from individuals offers a way to challenge mainstream media bias, social prejudice and enhance social understanding through education of global issues.
The conversation was ‘live’ throughout the newsroom on the DMC social media channels:
The East African country is a former German colony and lived under Belgian rule until gaining independence almost 60 years ago. A report says its leaders plan to ask the two ex-rulers to pay damages — and not just cash.
Pat Kotchapakdee was a recipient of a grant from the National Geographic Society for this project: Kalomese Tribe in Laos: Lost Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them
14:30 Colombia / Mozambique & Brazil / Afghanistan & India
Interview with Andy Salkeld (Cycling Coordinator, Leicester City Council) and Janet Hudson (Transport Development Officer, Leicester City Council) about the upcoming Ride Leicester Festival 2020 programme and the cycling projects across the globe that have inspired their work in the city.
Interview with Sarah J Reilly MA, Disability Rights Advocate and Researcher about the challenges globally for the 1 billion people with disabilities (15% of global population) when it comes to access to information and resources.
18:00 Yemen
Interview with Kulsum Hafeji, Founder of the Colours of Leicester project about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
If you want to find out more, please click the link to a resource list we’ve created on the Conflict Reportage Archive website.
18:30 Guatemala / Mexico
Interview with Thomas Bowers, Archaeologist (University of Leicester MA) about the global trade in trafficked antiquities.
19:00 Peru
Interview with Thilo Boeck, Transitions Project Director at the Amantani NGO.
You can also view the ‘Meet My World‘ films created by the young people involved in the project – click here
20:00 Brazil
Interview with Dr Paul Reilly, Senior Lecturer in Social Media and Digital Society (Information School, The University of Sheffield) about the Parallel Lives project and the countries covered on the 24 hour newsroom.
21:00 Lesotho / Burkina Faso
Interview with Iara Lee, Film Director and Activist about her new Lesotho documentary film and how she identifies the stories that need filming.
John Coster is a freelance Journalist, Educator & Documentarian who established the Documentary Media Centre (a registered independent Museum Archive & Library) in 2014 and organises regular educational pop-up events.
It operates from Northampton Street, Leicester with events (Reportage Club), exhibitions (DocSpace), training programme (DocFolio) and themed newsrooms.
The Documentary Media Centre also hosts the Conflict Reportage Archive and Women’s Research Centre.
Julian Cribb – Science author with a focus on major existential challenges for humanity: food security, climate, extinction and the poisoning of the Planet.
SV Kwai is currently on a voyage to pull ghost nets from the North Pacific gyre chartered by the Ocean Voyages Institute. Please click through to their Facebook Page to donate and support their work in 2020.
