[Nfb-editors] Food for Thought: Presenting Our Message as theatre

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Tina,

I was the one who mentioned the "dumbing" down of society.  I'm only 30
so it is not inexperience of the culture speaking.

I have been involved in the performing arts ever since I can remember.
I danced for years, and I believe my first play, Cinderella, was at age
9.  I performed in plays in my high school as well as in the community.
I was a vocal performance major when I went to university in 2000.

I think your idea is great, and someone should develop it.

My comments were never meant to act as a call to give up.  My point was
that the Federation, along with most organizations, have to learn and
develop new ways of drawing people into the NFB.  If anything, I was
challenging our current leadership to create innovative initiatives and
programs that draw the interest of this new generation while maintaining
the foundation of the organization.

I think your idea has merit.  I've been talking about a Renaissance of
sorts for years.  When you look at any major activism-- voting rights,
Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights, etc.-- it was the art community that
took root and drew people in and changed mindsets.  Art forms have
always had the power to persuade, I think society has forgotten this.

Bridgit

Message: 5
Date: Wed, 4 May 2011 21:51:52 -0700
From: "Tina Hansen" <th404 at comcast.net>
To: <newmanrl at cox.net>,	"Correspondence Committee Mailing List"
	<nfb-editors at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Nfb-editors] Food for Thought: Presenting Our Message
	asTheater
Message-ID: <4F5F2E273697478E96755348DC46FF4F at tinad85eb5cc31>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
	reply-type=original

Personally, I'm still learning the ropes, but I know that maybe it's
time to 
actually have our plays recorded professionally, and maybe it's time to
have 
our members write original skits that present our message. I'm thinking
that 
we could offer these as audio drama or as video, but write it in such a
way 
that everything is conveyed in the main dialogue so that the sound track

could stand alone. And, some of our own members could act in these skits

alongside professional actors or community theater groups.

I know that some people on this list are troubled because they feel that
our 
young people are apethetic or that they don't care. Yet, some young
people 
are actually very creative, caring, compassionate and hard working. I 
believe that we need to find those young people who do care about these 
issues and allow them to use their abilities. They understand the social

networking side of things, and they understand their culture.

Some people feel that because everything is being "dumbed down" that we 
should cave in. It shows me that some people have limited experience.

Part of the problem is that our culture is on overload, and that people
are 
retreating as a protective measure. We need to show people why our
message 
is still important, both to those in the organization and those who have
not 
yet joined.

There are plenty of members who could write this stuff, and I'm sure
that 
with some help from those creative young people, we could come up with 
something good. Audio theater productions need not be overly elaborate,
but 
they do need to be credible and strike a balance. They need to entertain

while they inform. Also, it's possible to be engaging while keeping it 
short; we'll just need to work on how to do it.

And how about this? If we find someone who has a lot of questions, we
might 
even be able to ask them to help out in a segment, and we use that as a 
teachable moment. If anyone remembers the Braille is Beautiful program
we 
did some years ago, that program offered a nice mix of real NFB members
and 
friends who showed the audience about the beauty of Braille. Maybe we
could 
do something like that.

So rather than complaining, let's all let our imaginations fly as we
find 
ways to be creative and have fun while being serious. Thanks. 




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