SBN Networking Meeting: Independent Media

Posted by on June 17, 2005

Join us at SBN?s Monthly Meeting and Networking Event ?

Topic this Month is Independent Media!

Date: Thursday, June 30th, 6PM
Location: Scribe Video Center at 4212 Chestnut Street in West Philadelphia (Enter on Chestnut St.)
Parking and Public Transport: Take the Market-Frankford line to 40th Street stop. On-street, metered and free parking along Chestnut within a few blocks. Free bicycle parking at every sign!

RSVP: Please RSVP by June 24th to Leanne Krueger-Braneky at leanne@sbnphiladelphia.org or 215-386-5211 ext. 104
Cost: Pay at the door – $5 for SBN, IMC and Scribe members;
Sliding scale of $6-$10 for non-members, depending on ability to pay. Includes light refreshments.

On Thursday, June 30th, the Sustainable Business Network and the Independent Media Center of Philadelphia welcome Juana Ponce de Leon, Director of Grassroots Media Programs for the New York Chapter of the Independent Press Association.

Juana will talk about the IPA-NY?s work to support independent media entrepreneurs in the greater metropolitan region of New York City. Following her talk will be a panel discussion with local independent media activists on how we can learn from the IPA-NY’s successes.

About the Speaker:
Juana Ponce de Leon is the Director of Grassroots Media Programs for the IPA-NY and the editor of their acclaimed translation service, Voices That Must Be Heard. A former IPA Ethnic Journalist Fellow, Juana has also been the editor-in-chief of Siete Cuentos Editorial, the Spanish-language imprint at Seven Stories Press. She is the Executive Director of Esta en tus manos, a nonprofit Spanish-language editorial organization, and has served on New York State Council on the Arts (2000-2003). In addition, she is the former editor of LS, the literary supplement for New Mass Media newspapers. She has edited several literary collections, including Our Word is Our Weapon – Selected Writings of Subcomandante Marcos, Dream With No Name – Contemporary Cuban Fiction. She also co-edited an anthology of community testimonies entitled In Search of Common Unity.

Sponsoring Organizations:
~ The Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (http://www.sbnphiladelphia.org) supports, connects and promotes independent businesses in the region that measure success by positive social and environmental impact, in addition to making a profit. SBN is a founding member of the national Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). BALLE is an international alliance of over 20 regional business networks.

~ The Independent Media Center of Philadelphia (http://www.phillyimc.org) is a not-for-profit, volunteer-based collective of independent media makers dedicated to providing progressive, in-depth, and accurate coverage of issues that affect Philadelphians, and by increasing community access to available technologies and information for the production and distribution of news and analysis. IMC-Philly operates in solidarity with an international network of Independent Media Centers (http://www.indymedia.org), which collectively serve to create alternatives to the profit-driven agenda of
the corporate media.

~ The Independent Press Association of New York (http://www.indypressny.org) is building a network of freestanding community and ethnic papers to strengthen each other through cooperative action. Since April of 2000, they have provided technical assistance, training, networking opportunities, and advocacy for a wide range of publications that reflect the cultures and of languages spoken here, including New York City KIP Business Report, Nowy Dziennik, Daily Challenge, Arab Voice, News India-Times, Russian Forward, and Haiti Progres.

~ The Independent Press Association (http://www.indypress.org) is a nonprofit that supports independent publications committed to social justice and a free press. Since its founding in 1997, over 575 magazines and newspapers – large and small – have taken advantage of technical assistance manuals, vendor discounts, newsstand distribution services, and a revolving loan fund. If you publish in the public interest, you need the IPA.

~ Scribe Video Center (http://www.scribe.org) seeks to explore, develop and advance the use of video as an artistic medium and as a tool for progressive social change by providing tools and training for people to work together and gain skills in video making. “Scribe” is a metaphor for the use of video as a modern medium to record significant contemporary concerns and events.