Opportunity International, a client of mine over at Storyspark, is celebrating 40 years of serving small-scale entrepreneurs in developing countries. I worked with them to develop the story behind the anniversary, as well as produce this short piece explaining the campaign. Props to Gord for the design and Ryan for the excellent animation.
If you’re in the non-profit sector and are interested in story, you might want to head over to recharity.ca and check out some of the content there. A few of us who spend our days working with charities have teamed together to write about the best of what works in the charitable sector. Our team includes a philanthropist, a web designer, a fundraiser, and myself (a storyteller) so it makes for some interesting dialog.
In 2008, Lyn & Jesse Rosten and I headed to Rwanda to do the last round of filming for Rwanda: Hope Rises. Our hosts were our friends at the Wellspring Foundation for Education, a non-profit working in Rwanda toward quality education. They do the hard, everyday work of training teachers, educating kids and working with headmasters & the ministry of education to deliver the best possible education to Rwandan kids.
My friend and fellow creative Craig Harris just completed editing footage from that trip into a promotional film for Wellspring. The piece is a great example of collaboration at its best. A hard-working non-profit receives the combined efforts of several creative people, melded into a cohesive finished product. Have a look and let me know what you think in the comments!
In August 2008 I travelled to Bulembu, my second trip to this small town in Swaziland, Africa. I had been a few months previously, on a photography assignment (you can see some here and here). This time, I was directing a film of the Canadian Tenors as part of the Voices for Bulembu campaign. The eventual result was this promotional video, and a mini-documentary of the Tenor’s experiences (see it here). Both films were shown as part of a series of gala events to raise money for the work of the Bulembu Foundation. It was a great success, with almost one million dollars raised over a single weekend.
Through my involvement in Bulembu I’ve gained many lifelong friends, and become part of a significant effort to transform this struggling nation. It has been a great privilege.
Many thanks to those involved. Post-production on the videos was by Jon at EXE Productions. Cinematography was by the talented Jonny Beecher. Special thanks to Kelly Walker for producing both trips and to the team at the Bulembu Foundation for their transformative work.