Carleen Zimmerman is caught on camera by Brave Space Media (photo by Glenn Nelson).
That Rebekah Graham came up through our Young Birders program as a high-school student demonstrates how long our roots run with Brave Space Media. Rebekah is a co-producer with the multi-racial, women-led creative house that produced the emotional and visually striking video that is a huge part of the storytelling around our name change.
Birds Connect Seattle, under our previous name, also played a small role in helping support “Expedition Reclamation,” Brave Space’s award-winning documentary seeking to redefine “outdoorsy” and reclaim belonging in the outdoors for Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color “by highlighting their joyful, resilient, and transformative relationships to outdoor recreation.”
Turning to Brave Space Media and its founder, Erin Joy Nash, therefore was a no-brainer as Birds Connect Seattle contemplated branding for a future under a new name and re-focused commitment to inclusion and antiracism in the love and protection of birds and the habitat they share with humans.
Erin Joy, Rebekah, and Samara Almonte spent a three-day April weekend in Seattle to collect recordings of organizational events, including rainy bird outings at dawn and dusk. Samara, who appeared in “Expedition Reclamation,” conducted the formal interviews of longtime Birds Connect Seattle volunteers Carleen and Neil Zimmerman, as well as staff members Ellie Yamanaka and Glenn Nelson.
All the Who’s, What’s, How’s, & Why’s About Our New Name >>
Erin Joy and her team conceived and edited the narrative and mixed in bird video contributed by Glenn and local photographer Pradeep Hanumanthappagari, as well as bird sounds and clips of an address by Dr. J. Drew Lanham, delivered during Birds Connect Seattle’s “By Any Other Name” reveal event. See our homepage for the full video. A shorter version will be featured on our social media platforms.
In digital storytelling, the product rivals Brave Space Media’s original, “Expedition Reclamation,” which won best of festival at the No Man’s Land Film Festival in Denver, best climate film at the Boden International Film Festival in Sweden, and best environmentalist film at the Vancouver Independent Film Festival in British Columbia. Brave Space showed and discussed “Expedition Reclamation” at our 2022 Hoot Camp, which is our annual inclusive leadership development session.
Brave Space Media also recently collaborated with Native Women Ride on a short documentary, “Carlisle 200,” which follows Native bikers Guarina Lopez (Pascua Yaqui) and Tsinnijinnie Russell (Diné) on a 200-mile prayer ride from Washington, D.C., to the cemetery at Carlisle Indian Boarding School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
For more about Brave Space Meida and our other Creative Partners: Click Here
Read about our new logo and visual journey: Click Here
Read about our commissioned artwork, Community Emblem: Click Here