Click for flickr set.

There’s a new band rehearsing in our basement and they’ve got a record release party and concert tonight at Union Pool. I think they go on at 11.

UnionDocs is happy to announce that we have received a development grant from the Experimental Television Center!

The grant is from the Experimental Television Center’s Media Technical Assistance Fund, and will support UnionDocs’ ability to strenthen our organizational capacity. In other words, we got a grant to take classes on…how to get more grants!

UD resident Sarah Lawson and Operations Assistant Amber Cortes will be taking Grantseeker Training Courses at the Foundation Center through June, learning the ins and outs of writing proposals and budgets, cultivating alliances with funders, and building relationships in the world of foundations. These seminars will enable UnionDocs to build a strong base of funders to ensure the future survival of the UnionDocs Residency and other programs, such as the Documentary Bodega series.

As the saying goes, teach a man to fish…

More about the Experimental Television Center:

The Experimental Television Center was founded in 1971, an outgrowth of a media access program established by Ralph Hocking at Binghamton University in 1969;. Today, the Center continues to provide support and services to the media arts community. Part of their mission is to support the creation of work using new electronic media technologies, and to encourage an informed appreciation of media art by supporting the exhibition of film and electronic works by artists and by arts and cultural organizations in the New York state. They offer grants to media arts organizations, residencies for artists, and a video history project.

Check out their website here.

begging naked director Karen Gehres.

click for flickr set 

click for Flickr set. 

Talk about spearheading global peace! This sounds amazing. Read about the event below. DCTV and NYWIFT will be your local hosts for this worldwide event. This Saturday from 2-6pm.

www.pangeaday.org

Pangea Day is a global event bringing the world together through film.

Why? In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it’s easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film.

Starting at 18:00 GMT on May 10, 2008, locations in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked for a live program of powerful films, live music, and visionary speakers. The entire program will be broadcast – in seven languages – to millions of people worldwide through the internet, television, and mobile phones.

The 24 short films to be featured have been selected from an international competition that generated more than 2,500 submissions from over one hundred countries. The films were chosen based on their ability to inspire, transform, and allow us see the world through another person’s eyes.

The program will also include a number of exceptional speakers and musical performers. Queen Noor of Jordan, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, musician/activist Bob Geldof, and Iranian rock phenom Hypernova are among those taking part.