SF Stories: A Shared Experience – Veterans
With support from the James Irvine Foundation’s Exploring Engagement Fund, BAVC Media is working with local social service agencies to provide a series of digital storytelling workshops: SF Stories: A Shared Experience. Workshop participants learn digital storytelling from start to finish, and completing three-minute digital stories for exhibition on public access television, the Web and in non-traditional exhibition spaces, including at community events and at the social service agencies.
Read more about SF Stories and BAVC Media’s other digital storytelling initiatives here [internal link to DS page].
Round three of SF Stories was a week-long digital storytelling bootcamp that was held at the Independent Living Resource Center in San Francisco. Participants in the workshop were all United States veterans and our partner organization was the San Francisco Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Center (PPRC). PRRC supports veterans who have mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, major depression and bipolar disorder in developing skills, support systems and wellness strategies to help improve their quality of life. Veterans participate in classes aimed at promoting community integration through effective symptom management, communication and coping, as well as learning about computer and expressive arts skills.
For our workshop, the veterans used our mobile lab to combine photographs, video, sketches and personal artifacts to craft their own powerful personal narratives. For many, this was the first time they had used digital media to tell their stories and the experience was moving for all involved. Here are their stories:
The veteran’s group continued on with multi-media training and became active BAVC Media members, going on to participate in SF Commons – San Francisco’s public access channel. Veterans learn how to operate the live studio with training from Andrew Montoya, SF Commons’ [internal link] lab and equipment coordinator.
There are plans to debut a Veterans television show this July. Stay tuned!
