Beyondmedia Education's mission is to collaborate with under-served and under-represented women, youth and communities to tell their stories, connect their stories to the world around us, and organize for social justice through the creation and distribution of media arts.
Our Vision
Beyondmedia Education envisions a compassionate and just society where universal access to media tools and information equip women and youth to document and communicate their stories, serve as educators and role models for others, influence public policy, and generate social transformation.
Beyondmedia...
- generates images that are inclusive, realistically depicting the diversity of women in the world.
- privileges storytelling and storytellers: every speaker is a narrator.
- is stylistically mixed, produced from multiple perspectives, improvisational and intentionally open-ended.
- is not mass media, it's "low tech": whenever possible, we use available light, ambient sound, minimal equipment, and little or no crews.
- works collaboratively to create media that is healing and revealing of diverse expressions of human connectedness that are usually missing in conventional media.
- places respect for the subject above all else (the "golden rule").
- reflects the people behind the camera as well as those in front of it.
- strives to break down boundaries that are maintained through so-called "professional standards" controlling expression and containing resistance.
- promotes a world in which power is shared and each person is heard as a speaker with narrative agency.
- defines narrative agency as the linchpin of personal and global transformation: to frame and speak one's point of view, and derive response.
- understands the role of art in the world as presenting the broadest range of images, such that each person has the opportunity to see her or his reflection somewhere in that mirror.
- is committed to the free expression of all people, including us.
Check out our new office video!
Beyondmedia Office Video from Beyondmedia Education on Vimeo.
Executive Director, Salome Chasnoff.
Salome Chasnoff is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, installation artist and media activist who has been guiding Beyondmedia’s artistic production since founding it in 1996. Her strong commitment to using media for liberation education and progressive organizing has drawn like-minded people over the years to shape Beyondmedia’s distinctive artistic and political vision. Salome has an M.A. in Theatre and Performance and a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. She has been an arts educator for more than 20 years in university and community settings, and has produced more than 25 works, several dedicated to expanding media access to the diverse stories of women and youth. She is a single mother with three fabulous children. top
ASSOCIATE Director, JOANNE ARCHIBALD.
Before coming to Beyondmedia in 2007, Joanne worked at Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM) for 14 years, beginning as Advocacy Coordinator, and then working as Advocacy Project Director and Associate Director. She serves on the Advisory Board of Grace House, a transitional program for women exiting the prison system, and on the Institutional Review Board for Northwestern University, as an advisor on prison research. Finally, after 27 years and seven schools, she earned her BA in 1994 from Northeastern Illinois University, but her greatest and most rewarding learning experience has been raising her son. top
Development manager, Ronit Bezalel.
Ronit Bezalel, Development Manager, has been creating social issue documentaries for over fifteen years. Ronit began her career at the National Film Board of Canada, where she directed When Shirley Met Florence (1994). Her award-winning film, Voices of Cabrini: Remaking Chicago's Public Housing (1999), received a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Award to catalyze dialogue about affordable housing issues in 11 different Chicago neighborhoods. Newsweek magazine selected Ronit as one of the "Top 10 Women of the 21st Century" (Jan 8, 2001) for this work. Ronit has a M.F.A. from Columbia College Chicago, and a B.A.from McGill University in Montreal. In her spare time, she can be found tearing up the mountain biking trails. top
Youth Outreach Coordinator, Zaida Sanabia.
Zaida Sanabia began learning video production when she participated in a Beyondmedia workshop at Horizon's Young Women's Drop-In Program in 2001. In 2002 Beyondmedia Education partnered with Sanabia to produce A Fish Almost Eaten by a Shark. She has just completed her first year of college and she's begun working on a new Beyondmedia project, Can LGBTQ + School = Safe?, gathering stories of anti-gay violence and sexuality-based discrimination from students in Illinois schools. Most recently, Sanabia won Chicago Foundation for Women's Ripple Effect Award as "a shining example of the triumph of women and girls when given opportunity" in 2003, and the Amigas Latinas "Aixa Diaz Scholarship" for her work in creating safe schools in 2004. On 2006 Sanabia with the help and support of Amigas Latinas headed the first Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Young Latina group "Amiguitas" in Chicago.top
Distribution Coordinator, Simon Fisher.
Simon Fisher is a student at UW-Milwaukee pursuing an MA in History with a certificate in Women's and Gender Studies. He is one-half of the Chicago-based performance duet Actor Slash Model who is currently filming a documentary featuring interviews and live performance footage of transgender and gender-variant musicians from across the country. He has an undergraduate degree in Women's Studies and English Literature from DePaul University and was a lead organizer of Camp Trans from 1999-2005. Simon is co-creator and co-curator of Chicago's bi-monthly series Threat Level: An Evening of Queer Shorts. He plays the ukulele and sings sweet love songs with a Tennessee twang. top
Davey Ball began learning website development while publishing his own internationally focused arts and music magazine onlinecalled QueerKit in 2003. He studied Photography at the University of Central Florida and has since been published online in Spark Magazine and in print as a contributor to and Chicago representative of Bust Magazine. Before moving to Chicago he worked at the Minnesota AIDS Project doing HIV prevention, counseling and testing on-site at various bars and clubs throughout and city. In Chicago he has worked to organize a monthly gathering called Chances Dances as an effort to mobilize the marginalized gay, lesbian and trans communities by creating a safe space for them to socialize. top
Tara Malik received her BFA in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology and has used photography as a tool for expression, education, and activism for the past fifteen years. An educator and organizer of urban youth photography programs, she helped form The New Orleans Kid Camera Project, a community based arts program created to address the impacts of Hurricane Katrina on children returning home to New Orleans. Tara is co-founder of One Bird and a Masters candidate at Columbia College, Chicago in Arts, Entertainment and Media Management specializing in Arts in Youth and Community Development. top
Program Staff, Rebecca Connie.
rebecca s. a. connie is currently a film and video MFA candidate at Columbia College Chicago. She strives to use art as a tool for activism, education, and communal solidarity. Classically trained in the theatre arts, she received a BA in media studies and anthropology from DePaul University. She has primarily worked with youth and young adults for Chicago Public Schools, Gallery 37, DePaul University, and Columbia College. She has produced both narrative and documentary films, covering such topics as autism, urban education, and contemporary materialism. rebecca is currently working on an independent documentary concerning the idealistic notions of motherhood and mental health. top
Madsen is a multi-media artist, musician and activist. After growing up in the scenic woods of northern Michigan, he trained as a filmmaker at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and classical quartet composer at Hogeschool voor Muziek en Technologie in Utrectht, The Netherlands. Madsen spends much of his time playing upright bass in the duet music project Actor Slash Model, utilizing songwriting and vaudevillian performance to address political issues, identity, queerness and kink. In addition to music performance, Actor Slash Model also collaborates in other media; the duo are currently producing an experimental documentary exploring trans and gender variant idenitities as they related to music and performance, wherein Madsen in directing his first feature length film, scheduled for completion in 2009. top
Jesse Wheeler has worked for Beyondmedia on a part-time basis since 1997 in a wide variety of capacities, from grant writing, to editing, curricula development, workshop facilitation, music rights acquisition, and DJing the fabulous fundraisers. He has a B.S. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University, an M.A. in Ethnomusicology from University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from UCLA. He has produced two amateur shorts: Tributo ao Rock 'n' Roll and On Your Skin: F*** the USA and Ethnography in Protest. His c.v. can be downloaded here.
Jesse also has two sporadically active, yet sempiternal bands: Mad Dog with Jesse James (blues) and X-GRANITO (punklore). top
Morgan Duran is a multi-disciplined artist studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Although her strengths are in motion graphics, her interests range from typography to woodworking, as well as contemporary art and design. She was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas and has been actively involved in grassroots organizations such as Food Not Bombs, Bike Across Borders, and Voice for Animals for close to ten years. Throughout middle school and high school Morgan was a member of Say Si a progressive art cooperative for students in San Antonio. There she participated in a multitude of events including film production, photography, and installation. With this background she aims to stimulate counter-culture affairs while examining social movements. top
Ewa Bloch is a student at The School of Art Institute of Chicago. She is seeking her Masters of Art and Art Education and her thesis project focuses on community based art education program in the marginalized rural areas. She was born in the west part of Poland where she worked as an elementary school teacher. She holds a Masters of Mathematics and Education from Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland) and Bachelors of Fine Arts with a minor in Art History from Barat College in Lake Forest, IL. In the passed decade she has been a practicing artist, exhibiting her work in numerous galleries and museums throughout Northwest. Her recent work revolves around issues of self-image and self-worth of women affected by psychological disabilities. top
Mollie Dowling, works at OAI, Inc., a non-profit worker training organization as a Program Manager for workers who handle hazardous materials. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Women's Studies and Asian Studies from Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago in 2002, and a Masters in Arts in Community Development from North Park University, Chicago in 2005. Her graduate research was a documentary focused on the effects of prisons on the economic development of rural Illinois communities. She was especially interested in the community organizing strategies employed by rural community leaders to effect positive and sustainable economic growth. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Muslim Women Resource Center and a member of the Advisory Board for the United Auto Workers NIEHS Hazardous Materials Training Programs. top
Michaela Purdueis a Community Initiatives Organizer for Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA), an organization that combats poverty, racism, and anti-Semitism in partnership with Chicago's diverse communities. Prior to her work with JCUA, Michaela was a field organizer for Amnesty International, USA, where she mobilized activists and communities on local and global human rights issues. As a certified teacher and leader in Re-evaluation Counseling, an international peer counseling and liberation organization, she led classes and workshops on eliminating racism, developing peer-counseling skills among youth and adults, and building a network of allies for both constituencies. Through the project United to End Racism (UER) she was a delegate to the national White Privilege Conference for three consecutive years, and led the UER delegation to this conference in 2006. Also through UER she was a delegate to the United Nation's World Conference against Racism, held in Durban, South Africa in August 2001 and has since participated on several delegations to various countries in Africa, training community members in peer counseling and leadership development. She received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychological Services and Human Development and a Certificate in Learning and Organizational Change from Northwestern University in 1999. top
Erik Bataller is a father, partner, friend, son, cousin, community
participant and Senior Information Risk and Security Consultant. In addition to being on the board of Beyondmedia, Erik is a volunteer
social studies teacher at the St. Leonard's (Ministry) Adult High School in Chicago. He works for Neohapsis, Inc. as a consultant with
large, medium and small private and public sector organizations to manage, assess and improve their risk and security strategies and
postures more effectively on an ongoing basis.
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Serena
Worthington is the Director of SAGE (Services and Advocacy for
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders) at Center on Halsted, the
Midwest’s most comprehensive LGBT community center. Prior to this
she was the Director of Life Enrichment at Norwood Crossing, a
not-for-profit long-term care facility on the northwest side of Chicago.
She is a member of the Chicago AIDS Foundation Special Projects
Committee on HIV and Aging, the Chicago Task Force on LGBT Aging, the
Cook County States Attorney’s LGBT Advisory Council and the
Community Advisory Committee for the Harold Washington College
Gerontology Program. Ms. Worthington received her Masters of Art
in Art Therapy from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2002.
Her undergraduate degree is from Fairhaven College where she completed
an interdisciplinary concentration in art and cross-cultural psychology.
She is an artist and licensed professional counselor. top
Adam W. Hart is a poet, prose writer, musician, filmmaker and queer agitator originally hailing from Green, Ohio, and graduating cum laude from the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. His work appeared in the summer 2008 issue of After Hours literary magazine (volume 17). Currently an account executive with VMS, Hart is focusing on 2008 as a year of concentrated effort for publishing his work, enjoying the poetry scene in Chicago and abroad, working with organizations such as Beyondmedia to create lasting social change/community discussion - and releasing an album of original deep house/dub music under his Laguz recording name. top
Anne Glickman is currently working as a freelance audio producer here in the Windy City. Her work has been featured on Chicago Public Radio, Studio.360, Weekend America and Radio France International. She has also been active within the progressive philanthropic community and was a founding member of the Gulf South Allied Funders - a cross-race, cross-class national grassroots giving circle that channeled over 3M to community operated organizations throughout the Gulf South area. But she is no boring old activist type! Glickman can start a serious dance party, bike around with abandon and create the most amazing balloon arches you have ever laid your sweet eyes upon. top
Clay Chalupa remembers having had a passion and concern for social justice in her earliest childhood. However, as it is for far too many individuals, it was years before she found the courage to realize the strength of her own voice. Decades of life experiences, from back-to-the-land farming in Tennessee to managing a jazz nightclub in Chicago, she finally took a leap of faith inspired by Audre Lorde's eloquent words: "Your Silence Will Not Protect You." She obtained her master?s degree in counseling/human services and is now a Licensed Professional Counselor and social activist.
Her focus has been working and volunteering with agencies that serve and support survivors of trauma, violence and oppression, particularly in underserved populations. Clay is also a co-owner of a women's clothing consignment store and has set up a small fair trade exchange with a family in Vietnam.
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