01/18/2019
Well, we made it through another successful year of Bent Marble workshops… thanks largely to your generous support! I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted an update, so let me bring y’all up to speed…
After our three wonderful workshops in Morocco, I headed in mid-July to Lebanon to collaborate with a new organizational partner, LOYAC. LOYAC is a multinational NGO, based in the Middle East, which offers programs promoting professional development and personal growth of youth, with strong values in community outreach and social responsibility. I taught one workshop series with a talented group of young adults at LOYAC’s office in Beirut, Lebanon. Their impressive films ranged in topic, from a family of sheep herders, to promoting women’s rights and empowerment, to the many merits of being a video-gamer! Here is a link to a playlist of the films they made:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6FWElbG7gqA-EabVt7UmBwDSplFmBevl
LOYAC also runs an amazing program, called MobArt, in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon near the Syrian border. MobArt offers arts education to Syrian refugee children, in an effort to help them overcome their traumas as well as to integrate them into the Lebanese community where they now reside. While MobArt typically offer classes in the areas of drama, music, dance, painting, and crafts, Bent Marble was honored to offer their first filmmaking workshops. I taught two groups of amazing kids (one ages 8-10, and the other ages 11-14). Each group worked together, as a team, to produce a short film on a topic of their choice. Have a look now at the powerful works they created:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6FWElbG7gqAtrdvFTHh_aybUxugzLeA7
Unfortunately, during my last week in Lebanon, I got very sick… and was actually bedridden for a couple weeks in Beirut, before being well enough to fly home… to rest for a few more weeks! But by the end of September, I was back on my feet again, and ready and rearing to get down to Medellín, Colombia to continue Bent Marble’s programs.
Of note, Bent Marble had been in Medellín three years earlier. And this time we again collaborated with Medellin’s amazing system of public libraries. This time library coordinator, Eliana Maldonado Cano, arranged for us to teach FOUR workshop series… taught at three different library parks, in various at-risk neighborhoods of the city. One workshop was with an eclectic group of youth, adults, and seniors at Parque Biblioteca Manuel Mejía Vallejo, in the neighborhood of Guayabal (an area known for high levels of drugs and drug abuse). We simultaneously taught two workshops (one to youth and one to seniors) at Parque Biblioteca Fernando Botero, in the neighborhood of San Cristobal (a rather rural area situated high on the valley slope above the city). And a final workshop was taught in conjunction with Soccer Smart (an organization that uses soccer as a platform to teach youth life and leadership skills) at Parque Biblioteca Picacho Con Futuro, in the violence-plagued neighborhood of 12 de Octubre. The films these groups produced ranged in topics from an organization that helps individuals with disabilities, to the history of tango in Medellín, to a famous tree! Please take a look now at the varied works produced by these wonderful people:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6FWElbG7gqAtAgyU_FrcWrhY5dLoppcM
My time in Colombia certainly served as a big and “bueno” finale to Bent Marble’s calendar of workshops for 2018. It was definitely a labor of love… and a lot of work, which couldn’t have been accomplished without all of you kind-hearted and generous donors… as well as Bent Marble’s many like-minded, local organizational partners, workshop co-facilitators, and, of course, our inspired and inspiring workshops participants!
All in all, I facilitated 14 workshop series, in five different countries, educating and inspiring a grand total of 244 new documentary filmmakers! We had students as young as 8 and as old as 78. We worked with kids with cancer in Tanzania…. and child refugees in Lebanon. We taught urban youth in Morocco… as well as seniors from a rural area of Colombia. Clearly the populations we served were diverse… but all had in common the desire to learn how to use the simple, technological tools that nearly all of us possess today, to create films about what matters most to them, and share these stories with the world. And to further help us wrap our heads around all we’ve accomplished together this year, I’ve made a short (3-minute) recap and thank you video (see below).
Well, thank you again so much for your support of Bent Marble in 2018. And I wish you all from the bottom of my heart a fantastic 2019… filled with love, learning, community, connection, and growth in the “story” of your lives. I will definitely be in touch with you, as the story of Bent Marble evolves… and we keep this marble rolling!
Best,
Steve
