Durham Committee for
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Welcome to the FIRST newsletter from the Durham Ad Hoc Committee for Community Media and Public Access TV

In this issue:
  1. FROM IDEAS TO ACTION - CREATING A DURHAM PUBLIC ACCESS & COMMUNITY MEDIA CENTER FOLLOW UP EVENT, OCTOBER 25th, 1pm, BLUE COFFEE CAFE
  2. PITCH *YOUR* TV SHOW, PODCAST, BLOG OR WHATEVER!
  3. REPORTS FROM THE DURHAM MEDIA CENTER OCTOBER 4th CHARETTE
We wanted to first thank all those who participated with us Saturday, October 4 in the "Imaging Durham Community Media" Charrette!  We kicked off many great discussions about continuing public access in Durham, and looking toward the creation of a community-led and directed media and public access center.  If you missed it, don't worry, there will be many more chances to participate in the planning process, including on October 25th at 1pm at the Blue Coffee Cafe.  See details below, as well as notes and summary of the charrette. 

Also, we are very excited to kick off our new "PITCH YOUR TV SHOW" contest.  We want to know what kind of TV folks in Durham are interested in making -- a cooking show to showcase the yummy culinary delights at local area restaurants?  A Detective Mini-Series with the City of Durham as the backdrop for your capers? A Dating Show for 22-28 year olds?  A local jazz showcase? A capoeira show?  IT'S YOUR CITY and with your own TV station and media center, your imagination is the limit.  Read more below about this exciting new contest and learn how to submit your ideas (no limit on number of entries).
1) FROM IDEAS TO ACTION - CREATING A DURHAM PUBLIC ACCESS & COMMUNITY MEDIA CENTER FOLLOW UP EVENT, OCTOBER 25th

Our next public meeting will be at Blue Coffee Cafe at 202 N Cochoran Street, which is on the CCB Plaza Downtown, on Saturday, October 25, 1-3pm. 
Please come out and bring your friends!

There we will start to bring our ideas to reality.  Learn how to join the fundraising committee, the business plan committee, or the outreach committee.  Then spend some time working with others to pitch and develop TV Show ideas for programs that we would like to see or create for a future Durham Community Access Channel.  
2) PITCH YOUR TV SHOW, PODCAST, BLOG OR WHATEVER! 

Have an idea for a television show? A web site? A podcast? We want to find out what kind of media the members of the Durham Community are interested in creating, so bring any and all ideas to Blue Coffee Cafe at 202 N Cochoran Street on Saturday, October 25, 1-3pm and/or submit your idea(s) on our website.
3) REPORTS FROM THE DURHAM MEDIA CENTER, OCTOBER 4 CHARRETTE

Two Great Articles on the Charrette:

The Independent Weekly's Fiona Morgan covered the event
A Duke Chronicle article by Lindsey Rupp

Charrette overview by Rebecca Cerese

The afternoon kicked off with rousing opening remarks by living Durham legend, elder, and community organizer, Ann Atwater, who gave a brief background about her own experience taking part in a charrette in Durham in 1971.  Ms. Atwater served as the co-facilitator of a charrette, convened to come up with a plan to integrate Durham Public schools.  Her co-facilitator was then Grand Dragon of the Klu Klux Klan, C.P. Ellis. The democratic format of the charrette allowed these community members to find common ground, specifically around the topic of their children, who were all in circumstances more similar than different. She also mentioned that she was excited about the idea of a media center that was created by her Durham community, for the Durham community.

The first part of the charrette was an information session that gave participants a working knowledge of the issues and political changes surrounding public access and community media, both nationally and locally, in Durham.  Speakers were rotated with a producer's showcase, which screened segments the works of several Durham based producers.

The next part of the charrette consisted of participatory breakout sessions; all people were encouraged to lend their voice, perspective, and ideas to the topics covered by their particular group.

The goals for the day were two fold:
  1. To have an inclusive public discussion about what a media center would bring to the Durham community, and what this media center should look like; and,
  2. To get broad input from the community, so that a diversity of ideas are included at the very beginning of the creative process, as we build a truly accountable and community-led and driven public access station and media center.

The MCs of the media charrette were Durham documentary filmmaker Rebecca Cerese (Durham: A Self Portrait) and lifelong Durham resident and community organizer Solomon Burnette (Southern Coalition for Social Justice).

Chad Johnston, Executive Director of the People's Channel, a successful community media center model in Chapel Hill, gave a brief history about the emergence of Public Access, and recent changes in the state laws. He explained that these changes have opened an opportunity for the Durham community to control and run its own public access, which up until now has been run by Time Warner Cable.

Councilman Mike Woodard gave a brief overview of the public access situation in Durham, and reiterated the short term deadline of December 31, which is when public access will disappear if a community-based entity doesn't step in to continue operations and bring in funding.

Rev. James Vaughn, the head of the local Cable Access Association, spoke next of the long tradition of faith based programming on Durham's public access.  He also spoke eloquently about how having access to the public airwaves is a right that we have as Americans as a matter of federal law.

Morgan Diamond, a co-producer of Independent Voices, a public access grassroots news program, spoke next about various community media center models around the country.

Nia Wilson, Executive Director of SpiritHouse, a Durham-based non-profit that uses art and media to elevate the voices of at-risk youth and communities of color, talked about the essential role of young people in creating media and taking advantage of classes and learning opportunities that might be offered by a media center.  She emphasized imagining what their role could be in the creative process, as well as in its operations and peer-learning and teaching. 

Six breakout sessions were held on topics ranging from Media Technology and Youth Media Production, to Community Journalism and We will be posting comprehensive notes from these breakout sessions soon, so please check back here soon!

We are on our way!  Let's keep up the momentum!  Come join us at Blue Coffee Cafe at 202 N Cochoran Street on Saturday, October 25, 1-3pm. Hope to see you there!

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