| First Friday at DOM, June 7 |
Join us for First Friday at DOM on June 7 for a live studio performance from Latin Jazz band Jon Romero y Amanecer. They will be joined on stage by the night's Spotlight Nonprofit, cityWILD. Food from Illegal Pete's and adult beverages available, suggested donations are always welcome and encouraged!On TV Denver Comcast Channel 57Time: Doors at 6 p.m. Live Show is 7-9pm
Location: Denver Open Media, Studio A
700 Kalamath St, Denver, CO
On the first Friday of each month, DOM hosts a free community event with local performance groups, musical acts, and nonprofit partners. These events are broadcast live on Comcast Channel 57 as well as streamed on DOM's website. Events are cablecast and streamed live in Denver Open Media's Studio A.
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Intern Spotlight:
Rebecca Blättner, PR & Marketing | |
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I'm a recent college graduate with a degree in Media Studies and minors in English and Phonetics. I made my way from Germany across the big pond here to Denver, which became my second home after spending a year abroad at the University of Denver in 2011-2012. Without any mountains close to my hometown in Germany to tell me which way I'm going, I decided to lay my trust in the Rockies once again to guide my way. So far it's been working out pretty well, though I did get lost last week somewhere in Ken Caryl.
How did you become involved in pr/marketing work?
I haven't had any previous real-world PR/Marketing experience before starting my internship at OMF, which is why I'm so glad they offered me a position! As a recent graduate, I'm still trying to find my place in the "Media World" and I think PR/Marketing might be it! I'm really grateful that OMF is giving me the opportunity to explore the wide field of PR/Marketing work and is helping me to gain some hands-on experience.
Tell us about why you decided to do an internship with Open Media Foundation.
During my time at the University of Denver I took a class called "Designing Social Awareness". In this class we actually worked together with OMF to create a new action plan for their outreach efforts on a broad, theoretical level. Now I'm actually implementing some of the ideas we worked on with my class! I knew back when I was first introduced to OMF that if I got the chance to come back to Denver I would definitely apply for an internship, since I was initially a big supporter of OMF's mission and knew I wanted to be a part of it.
What have you gotten out of your internship with OMF?
I've only been here for about 4 weeks now but I've already learned a lot about what goes into doing PR work for a non-profit organization with all of the various channels that are available to us. Change or success in the PR world doesn't happen over night but definitely takes a lot of effort and requires continuous improvement.
Why do you think community media centers are important?
So many people aren't able to be part of the media conversation because they either don't have the money or simply don't have the right "look" for mainstream media, which is why its so important that organizations like OMF exist to ensure that everybody has at least the opportunity to get their message out there. As Sociologist Niklas Luhmann said: "Whatever we know about society, or indeed about the world in which we live, we know through the mass media". We can't rely solely on mass media to show us what our society and our world really looks like, and that's why we need community media centers - to show more perspectives, more opinions, and more stories.
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| Executive Director Report from Tony Shawcross |
At the Open Media Foundation, our team has benefitted tremendously from the Google for Nonprofits program. Offered to all 501C3 nonprofit organizations, Google for Nonprofits provides a suite of software and services valued at over $100,000/year that saves money and expands efficiency for participating nonprofits. For example, at OMF, we no longer purchase MS Office products, using Google Docs which are far superior in their collaborative design and cloud-based delivery. Every document we create is editable by each member of our team, searchable and organized in the cloud in ways that is immensely more efficient than storing files on our respective computers or an internal network. Our email is powered by Gmail, with their ever-increasing functionality, inter-operability, and integration with phones and productivity tools. Google Calendars have streamlined our scheduling. Google Drive has replaced dropbox and networked fileservers. Google Adwords drives traffic to our sites, including DenverOpenMedia, which is now one of the most popular nonprofit websites in the state.
One of the most valuable tools offered to us through the Google Grants program is the YouTube for Nonprofits service, which includes Live Streaming services that OMF had previously paid thousands of dollars for from other providers. This service enables any nonprofit to stream their events simply via YouTube. For more involved live-stream needs, Denver Open Media will be offering a new LiveStreaming Kit for free to our members, complete with the Pro version of the Wirecast software, cameras, and cabling for multi-camera setups.
 Tomorrow (Wednesday, June 5th) at 4:00pm, OMF will be introducing these new tools in a 90-minute class that will include an overview of the benefits of the Google for Nonprofits Program and a training on YouTube's new Livestreaming software, Wirecast for YouTube. The class is open to 20 in-person participants joining us in the OMF Learning Lab, but an unlimited number can watch the class via DOM's livestream.
To register to attend the class in person, go to http://openmediafoundation.org/education/seminars-and-special-topics/livestreaming-nonprofits
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May Breakfast Fundraiser a Success
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On May 22nd, OMF held it's Annual Free Breakfast, A Higher Definition of Media: A Collective Perspective at the Mi Casa Resource Center. With a little under 200 attendees, the Open Media Foundation was shown incredible community support by raising $10,841 all in one hour! The event was sponsored by Eco Products, Eyedea Worx and catered by Black Eye Pea Catering. Thank you to everyone who attended this early morning event!
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| New Denver Open Media Website and new Member Rates Effective July 1 |  The long-awaited new DOM website is up and running! This is not just a new website, but a complete re-write of the software that powers your community-run TV station. There will be some growing pains and we are asking for your patience and feedback throughout the transition.
Some of the new features on the site include:
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New look and feel, including a streamlined user interface.
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Home page access to all of DOM's video archive, including voting information.
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Shopping cart checkout for memberships, classes and equipment rentals.
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Quick turnaround time for scheduling of newly submitted shows.
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HD archiving of cablecast files so we will be ready to playback HD shows as soon as Comcast gives us the HD channels.
You may notice after July 1 that the new website will also feature new pricing for our individual membership levels.
Membership pricing changes include the following:
- Increase in DOM's basic membership from $75 to $100.
- No longer offering separate field, studio and editing memberships for $175, and instead encompassing all in one membership level for $250.
- For $500 you will be able to get all DOM membership benefits and get free classes for a year.
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| Client Spotlight: Family Star | |
 Watch the latest OMF-produced video for Family Star online, and read all about this nonprofit's experience working with our production team over the past 6 years.
Please provide a brief description of your organization. Family Star is an authentic Montessori school, committed to early childhood education in an inclusive environment of ethnic and economic diversity. Enhanced by a unique array of family services, and supported by a partnership of parents and teachers, together we are leading a movement to educate the human potential.
What are the issues that you are trying to bring to a larger audience?
Right now, only one in every ten families is able to find a quality early childhood education program, regardless of their financial standing. However, studies have shown the importance of children's development from just a few weeks old, so if parents don't have a place to put them where they can learn and grow, they are already starting out behind. Moreover, in addition to having quality trained teachers and a method such as Montessori that prepares children for success, both students and their families need the bevy of services that we provide, from help with housing to nutrition workshops, parent nights on child development to goal setting with child family advocates. Changing the future for a child helps to transform the entire community.
What are some of your primary goals for 2013?
We're starting the second phase of our Legacy Campaign to help us purchase the former Curtis Park Community Center as our own (the first phase allowed us to renovate it). We're also working to diversify our funding, as we face cuts from the sequester and foundations have changing priorities. And as always, we look forward to continuing to provide high quality early childhood education to the over 300 children we serve every year, allow them to reach (and exceed) their potential.
Tell us about your experience working with OMF.
This was our 6th year having our Fundraising Luncheon's video for Lunch with the Stars completed by OMF. We've loved every video that you all have made for us in the past, and really appreciated having Brandon's fresh set of eyes on the one this year, along with Tony's experienced filming. Compared to previous years, we wound up changing the format based on Brandon's suggestions, and everyone has said that this was the best video of ours we had ever seen. Brandon and his team worked incredibly hard to help us show how we educate young minds, strengthen families and transform communities through our work here at Family Star. Not only did we feel our needs and ideas were heard; we also felt they were taken to a whole other level by Brandon's creativity and vision.
How has your video helped accomplish Family Star's mission?
It is something hard for people to "get" what exactly it is that we do. Some folks don't understand Montessori, others don't seem to think that children are very capable at...well...anything, before they start "real" school in first grade. Using OMF has allowed us to show our community the huge change we make in the lives of our students and their families, from showcasing 2 year olds putting away their dishes to 5 year olds reading seed packets and planting their own community garden. Our children are so successful and amazing; our videos from OMF work to show our families, donors and community at large the magic that truly happens behind the scenes here at Family Star. This means that not only do people want to know more and have questions about what they saw; it means we can increase and strengthen our donor base so we can be here for more decades to come.
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