IMPACT - Discover and Learn in New Ways
People are hungry to learn about people outside of their communities, or those who've made a great impact within them, and also to discover art-- to find new films, shows, music, books, exhibits, and activists to follow -- and outside of social media. This could be a personal, interesting, and beautiful platform, where people can scroll through the profiles and work at their will, to learn and be inspired.
EDUCATE
The Emmy nominated documentary series, UNLADYLIKE2020 (I included a note on in my "Past Work") that I helped to produce ended up reaching over 8 million viewers, and the unique interactive website I helped to create for it, was utilized by thousands of educators and students, especially throughout the pandemic.
I'd love to use my experience of conducting rigorous research, and then crafting profiles on little-known women on an interactive website - to create a platform (Playbook!) that shares profiles of women in our contemporary culture- that allows for a range of people to access it, and engage with these women's wide body of work.
Like the interactive website for Unladylike2020, this could be a tool that can be used by educators and students to explore- but also could be used by anyone who is curious about artists and activists, or loves portraits or illustrations. As we've all found, having digital ways of learning is especially useful and engaging now, as remote learning becomes more common -- and I hope this could serve as a platform for inspiration and information.
PORTRAITS TO INSPIRE
Learning about the stories of people's lives, who have persevered through great challenges and have created incredible change in the world or art for their communities, can open eyes and inspire. This playbook can bridge the gap between the experience of scrolling social media to follow figures people admire or want to learn more about -- without gaining knowledge or engaging in a meaningful way - and reading a biography, which doesn't allow for engaging with visuals or audio.
This Playbook will draw on many senses and interests; seeing the face of the person in paintings and photographs, hearing their voice, reading their words, watching videos, and more.
CREATING & CAPTURING COMMUNITY
I'd love to eventually have a platform where people can add to a profile, contribute their own portrait or profile, or add in notes or requests for more people to be added
While I love learning more about the work of well-known artists, I love capturing people in my own community and am interested in doing more portraits of neighbors - and with this funding, there is also the potential to use this time to capture community through portraits