Allied Media Conference 2017
The Allied Media Conference, an annual conference in Detroit, Michigan, had a sense of urgency this year. Resistance was on everyone’s mind.
The conference is “a collaborative laboratory of media based organizing strategies to incite change,” and takes place over four days in mid-June. This year’s theme, “Get Ready, Stay Ready”—essentially a call to sustained action— reverberated throughout the conference’s 15 tracks, 300+ workshops, practice spaces, network gatherings, plenaries, and the opening and closing ceremonies. The sessions focused not only on activist media practices but on healing, nourishment, and creativity and ranged from tracks for Resourcing and Sustaining our Movement to Food Matters to Healing Justice. All the tracks can be seen here.
In its 19th year, the conference is remarkable in its scope, inclusivity, and connection to its host city, Detroit. For example, it offered free on-site daycare and a family activism track; a range of participants of various genders, colors, and abilities in its programming, infrastructure, and among conference goers; and many events, workshops, and presentations by Detroit natives.
The conference started with a rousing opening ceremony introduced by Detroit natives Leah Vernon and Adrienne Maree Brown. International and local artists, activists, and conference organizers made up the rest of the night’s entertainment.
Rather than trying to describe this vast conference, I’ve curated a list of tweets from the #amc17 twitter feed that show the highlights, the general mood, and the conversation that ensued.
The most tweeted presentation from the opening ceremony was a speech from Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, which focused on the need to place power in the hands of the people.
The opening ceremony also included a nod to Grace Lee Boggs, a legendary and much beloved Detroit activist who passed away recently.
…and to local mediamakers.
Artists, both international and local, gave memorable performances.
A new feature in the conference this year, plenary panels, focused on data, story movements, and Detroit’s past, present and future.
To give you a sense of the range and type of workshops, events, and other offerings, here are a few tweets from individual sessions.
The entire schedule is here.
I was also struck by the great care the conference organizers took to accommodate people’s needs over the course of a conference and to be prepared for the situations that might arise.
As a parting gift, conference goers received an emergency preparedness zine, Get Ready, Stay Ready.
The impact of the conference was palpable.
Links to participant conference recaps:
Resilient Communities in Detroit: #AMC2017 For four days last week, visionaries, leaders, doers, technologists, and organizers met in Detroit to dream…www.newamerica.org
#207: Get Ready, Stay Ready This past week I went to the Allied Media Conference. It was my first year attending-it happens every summer here in…mailchi.mp
Immerse is an initiative of Tribeca Film Institute, MIT Open DocLab and The Fledgling Fund. Learn more about our vision for the project here.