Above Minneapolis, January 2008

Looks cold doesn't it?

Two weeks ago, a man stopped our crew as we were shooting a spot for a local business and asked "What's going on?! There are film crews everywhere!" I told him that this was probably the last beautiful weekend of the year before winter sets in. As I walked around in short sleeves, my mind drifted to the frigid shoot we had on top of one of the Minneapolis skyscrapers last winter. Looking forward to the sub-zero days ahead! ;-)

As we wrap up this beautiful season, we wanted to share the stories of a couple of our clients from this past season. These stories inspire me on a daily basis and I hope you find inspiration in them as well. I continually feel honored to be a part of these projects, as I believe that these stories and these organizations are changing our world.

Thank you again for your continued interest and support of our work!

Peace,
Dawn Mikkelson
Founder
Emergence Pictures

This spring, Emergence Pictures was honored to be selected by the City of Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support to produce a video highlighting their innovative work to engage communities in storytelling as a way in which to inform the Department's work. The department worked with community partners within the Hmong, Vietnamese, African-American, Native-American, Somali, and Caucasian communities to create community storytelling sessions where participants talked about the "time when you were healthiest". These dialogues brought forward amazing insights into the common themes without our highly diverse communities and will be used to help serve these communities better by partnering with them directly. The stories were sometimes funny, sometimes thoughtful, and sometimes heartbreaking . . . creating a wealth of information and healing for all involved. We are proud to have participated in creating a 16-minute video to be used to share their outcomes and teach other communities how to do the same.

On behalf of our Health Department and our community advisors, we too, enjoyed working with you on this video project. We are all so proud of what we have been able to create together. Still, people are talking about the video that have seen it at the conference! Imagine what people will say, when we start to deliberately disseminate this to policy makers, health decision makers, and most importantly, the community members themselves. You may end up getting a few more phone calls/requests for your service :)" - Emily Wang, Minneapolis Department of Health & Family Support

This summer we teamed with the MN Council of Nonprofits and MAP for Nonprofits to highlight the stories of 6 Nonprofit organizations who make outstanding contributions to Minnesota's high quality of life.

In mid August we received the list of these prestigious winners and within less than 2 months, produced 6 individual 3-minute videos highlighting the true impact they make on our communities! The awards include the Nonprofit Mission Awards in the categories of Innovation, Nonprofit Advocacy, Anti-racism Initiative and Responsive Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Excellence Awards for one large and one small nonprofit organization that honors overall excellence in management.

The videos were premiered at the 2008 MN Council of Nonprofits Annual Conference. We are proud to present, the winners of the 2008 Minnesota Nonprofit Awards.

Check out their videos online through the links below!!!!

The Recipients of the Nonprofit Mission Awards are:

* Innovation: East African Women's Center - Confederation of Somali Communities in Minnesota, Minneapolis
* Anti-Racism Initiative: Pillsbury House Theatre - Pillsbury United Communities, Minneapolis
* Advocacy: Transit Partners, St. Paul
* Responsive Philanthropy: American Indian Family Empowerment Program, Arden Hills

The Recipients of the Nonprofit Excellence Awards are:

* For a Small Organization: St. Mary's Health Clinics
* For a Large Organization: Washburn Center for Children

Congratulations!!!