Conversations from the Open Road

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Conversations From the Open Road is a Road-Trip to experience our world in a meaningful way.

We are a student journalism, digital media crew probing the challenging issues and individual stories in our communities.

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A society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable people.

We listen to and learn what this means on the front lines.

We have returned from our trips this summer and are now finishing up our documentary shorts.

STAY TUNED for our showings!

View last summer's collection:

Chicago - Neighborhoods Fighting Public School Closures: Systemic Racism in 2018

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We would be grateful to you for any donation you offer to our scholarship fund.

CLICK HERE:

Digital Magazine

to learn a bit more of who we are!

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We hit the road as strangers and return bonded by the shared compassion for

all whom we meet along the way and a deeper understanding of the struggles

in our world.

It’s a road trip in the truest sense of the word: we thrive in the unknown and

have little interest in indulging in the luxuries of tourism, but instead seek the

comradery and fellowship with lots of other humans on this crazy journey through life at this moment.

In Brief:

6 Open and Interested Students (high school and college)

1 Talented College Film Student

2 Charming Leaders ( A Once Secondary Teacher and a Freelance Film/Audio Professional)

9 Creative and Collaborative Geniuses

9 open and humble minds.

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10-14 days on the road

2 mini- vans, a collection of media equipment, and sleeping bags.

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This is a Citizen-Journalism, StoryCorps-inspired investigation;

Culminating in a collection of Documentary, Mixed-Media Shorts,

reflecting the various threads of a place and its people.

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We start with a concern and question, then road-trip to the communities on the front lines.

We learn from local people, experts in the field, and relevant organizations.

ALWAYS enjoying adventures from the local landscape.

Each student creates a documentary short, which becomes part of our collection shown to film festivals around Vermont.

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We will help to facilitate the process of earning credit from a student's host school, if desired.

Our Philosophy:

* Our FIRST priority is to listen and appreciate with an open heart and mind.

* We believe that learning from and listening to people is the cornerstone of a compassionate understanding of our world.

* Learning through Experience endures.

* Social and digital media is the most engaging, accessible, and democratic medium to share knowledge - and we love it!

* Traveling is Transformative.

* There is no single story, to any person and place. We are not shaping a documentary, but a collection of mixed-media shorts that reflect our experience of the complexity of a place and issue

* We are NOT looking for answers, but rather the humanity within every struggle and inspiration.

* Being a Citizen requires empathy, gained in knowledge and experience of the issues effecting our community.

* Genuine Knowledge comes from probing the complexity within every issue.

* Traveling, creating and learning collaboratively is an electric experience, and worth more than an individual pursuit.

* It is time to be Content-Creators, not just passive recipients of knowledge.

About Us:

We have worked in education and/or radio journalism and film for a decade. We haved joined our efforts to start this program in order to combine what we love: working with young adults, collaborative creation, expression through film, wrestling with current and relevant issues, and experiencing the varying geographies and cultures within our country.

Contact Info

conversationsfromtheopenroad@gmail.com

mary.beth.simons@gmail.com