The Year Ahead & in Review + BKLN Event March 5th (Newsletter)
- From Here Team
- Feb 15, 2016
- 4 min read
Dear Friends, Supporters and Colleagues,
We hope that 2016 is already well on its way to being a great year for you. It is going to be a very big one for With Wings and Roots. The New York team will start it off a community building celebration on March 5th at Mayday Space in Brooklyn from 6–9pm, as well as a youth workshop earlier that day. We hope to see you on the dance floor if you are in New York City! Please RSVP and help us spread the word.
2015 was amazing and set us up for a full 2016. Here short recap of last year's highlights.
Reimaginebelonging.org went live with stories of belonging and immigration history.
We hosted launch events in Berlin and NYC, and presented the website at spaces from Dok Leipzig Film Festival to the Google Headquarters.
We developed curricula to accompany the website, led workshops internationally (US, Germany, Poland, Austria, The Netherlands) and laid the groundwork for our community engagement work to expand in 2016.
We refined the film through a series of feedback screenings and entered the final edit with a filmmaker residency in WA state.
2016 is Going to Be a Great Year
Reimagining Belonging goes further...with some help from new friends!
Our educational work continues to grow. We received support from the German Ministry for Political Education to host public events in Cologne and Leipzig and spark conversations around the topic of how we might Reimagine Belonging. Continued funding from the foundation EVZ will support three workshops for educators in Germany. In Seattle, the office of Arts and Culture has supported a series of workshops and a public event entitled Reimagine Belonging: Northwest Stories. We will release a video & discussion guide on Anti-Roma racism with support from Humanity in Action.
With Wings and Roots (the film)
The film will be released this year, which will kick off a new chapter of screenings and workshops! We will let you know when and where it all begins.
2015 In Review
Launch of Reimaginebelonging.org -- #Rebelong
After years of work and thousands of volunteer hours, we launched reimaginebelonging.org, a bilingual platform and educational tool! At the heart of the website is STORIES, a growing collection of short video interviews with young people from immigrant families in the U.S. and Germany. They share their struggles, successes and new visions of belonging. With 400 videos and counting, we are releasing the videos gradually. Context for these stories is provided by Timelines of Migration, Citizenship and Belonging for Germany and the U.S., which present political events, cultural works and activist movements that have shaped and shifted these debates. Please bring this resource into your community and classroom, and send your feedback and ideas as it continues to grow.
Workshops & Education
In Germany, our project received continued funding to develop educational materials connected to reimaginebelonging.org. The materials focus on three modules:
1) Migration 2) Racism 3) Identity & Belonging
This winter, we conducted workshops using these materials with the Teachers Union in Berlin (GEW) and the Wing Luke Museum of Asian and Pacific American Experience in Seattle.
The Film
2015 was the year of polishing the rough cut into a fine cut. With test screenings in Barcelona, San Francisco, New York, and Berlin we received incredibly constructive and encouraging feedback.
With gratitude, Christina (the director of With Wings and Roots) accepted a fellowship from the Port Townsend Film Festival to concentrate entirely on the final edits of the film. This remote seashore town is the perfect place to focus deeply!
Reimaginebelonging.org on the road...
Reimaginebelonging.de went online in May, followed by a large event at the Heinrich Boell Foundation in Berlin and a similar event in September at the New School in New York. Guests at both events were able to enjoy a panel discussion, film preview, installation of our migration timelines and story collection, and share their own stories.
In late October, we traveled to DOK Leipzig Film festival, Europe's second largest documentary film festival. Reimaginebelonging.org was part of the festival's first interactive exhibition, as well as Parsons School of Design's Alumni show.
Check out some pictures from the New York and Berlin events, and share the site with our hashtag #ReBelong.
Film Score Fun
On December 2nd, Alex Guy, violist, vocalist, composer and mastermind of the chamber pop ensemble Led to Sea, performed selections from the original soundtrack she has composed for our documentary at the Royal Room in Seattle. The event was a roaring success, and we can’t wait to take the film and music together on the road again in 2016, plus we had a super fun Photo Booth!
Stepping away from the project, this last year has been painful when it comes to the discourse on migration, asylum and national identity from divisive presidential campaigning in the U.S to an E.U. struggling with both its identity and policies in the face of the largest influx of refugees since WWII. It seems that the scapegoating has jumped seamlessly between targeting immigrants, Muslims, and refugees. These political debates will rage into the foreseeable future. The challenges ahead sharpen our team's resolve to connect the dots between immigration politics and systemic racism, as well as offer new narratives of belonging that foster more inclusive futures for all. Thank you for being on the journey with us!
Warmest greetings from Port Townsend, New York, Berlin, Seattle, London, Rome, Jena, and Athens (GA)!
The With Wings and Roots team
Stay Connected
Join one of our Reimagine Belonging events or workshops (more info coming soon on Facebook) 2016: Brooklyn (March 5th youth workshop & party), Leipzig (February 27th teacher workshop, May - panel and installation), Köln (April 1-2nd, teacher workshop, panel and installation details tbd) Seattle (fall 2016 workshops, panel and installation details tbd)
Invite us for a screening or workshop
Share the project with your friends, families, teachers and colleagues
Get involved in the project’s education and outreach work: info@withwingsandroots.com
Donate to help our work continue by making a tax-deductible donation
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