Welcome to Alumni Live: The Podcast.

These are conversations with Grand Valley State University film and video

graduates about the industry, the film, video, major and alumni profiles.

Welcome back to another episode of Alumni Live: The Podcast.

Today, we're talking all about community media.

We've got some great representatives here.

Kerri VanderHoff is here an Independent Consultant and Executive Director of

the Coalition for Community Development.

Hi, Kerri.

Hi, Randy, how are you?

Hey, doing pretty good.

We also got Joe Zook, Production Manager at GRTV from the Community Media Center.

Hey Joe.

Hey, Randy, thanks for having me.

And we've got Jasmine Fuentes from the GR Media and Film Incubator or GR Mifi.

Hey Jasmine.

Hi, nice to be here.

So to the group, what is the term community media?

What does that mean to each of you?

Well, I see it as a time for people to take back the airwaves.

And that comes from back when we only had airwaves before the internet.

But that's where I was first introduced to community media was in Boston through

the community access TV station there.

And the way that they described it was that cable channels uh, got to

have all those channels and where's our channels, where we get to speak

and decide what is being said.

And now there's lots of different forms, but that's what it's still about is

getting to shape our own narratives and not having only corporations be in

charge of what goes out to the people.

Yeah.

Access is fundamental to community media.

I mean, that's really the community component.

It's democratic.

When we think about that it's hyper local and it's accessible tools.

It's a platform for free expression.

Jasmine said, it's unbound by those corporate interests and algorithms.

And so it's all about access.

It's the tools, it's the community, it's the platform, it's the

ability to build and develop and grow community using media.

Hyperlocal is one of the things I think of as well and accessibility.

It's the ability, especially for marginalized voices, that,

don't quite get amplified enough.

And it's a chance to explore nuances in storytelling because you don't have to

necessarily make it for a larger audience and just hit the highlights, right?

You can dig deep into the humanity of the stories and really reveal these

sort of local and diverse differences and Commonalities as well, so I

really appreciate that part of it.

So as Executive Director of the Coalition for Community Development,

I do other projects as well as an Independent Consultant, but my main

work is as the Executive Director.

It really is about working with residents.

I live out in Muskegon, so Muskegon Heights is our base of operations.

And it really is about understanding from a resident led perspective, the needs, the

strengths, the stories of the community, and sharing those in order to create sort

of a cohesive community action, advocacy.

And are people bringing you stories or how do you find these community stories

that you're putting on the airwaves?

So mostly it's in the work that we do, with different events that

are happening community gardens, beautification, libraries, we

work a lot with, and sometimes collaborating with bigger organizations

like the local health system.

So it's in the work that we're already doing and addressing sort of issues,

building off strengths of the community, and then storytelling is a way to

really move those projects forward in a way that is, more relatable, I think,

than handing over a sheet of written word to be able to hear from people

in their own voice, the residents telling their own stories is very

powerful to move those projects ahead.

That is very special.

Jasmine , you want to tell us a little bit about GR MiFi, the good

work that you're doing out there?

Well, we started with the production of a documentary about the black freedom

struggle in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

It's based on a book called A City Within a City by Todd Robinson.

And so we knew that we wanted this story to be told by people who have lived

it rather than other people coming from outside and telling the story.

, That meant not just the verbal narration of the stories, but also

even who's carrying the cameras, who's holding the microphones.

That was a challenge to find enough people locally with the high level of

cinema skills that we were looking for.

And so we wanted to build an incubator to help move along the skills of

people who were amateurs in it locally.

And so that's what we've been doing is, helping people to hone their

skills, figure out exactly where they want to go with them, and, eventually

get people into full time work.

Usually in the media world, or in the video production world, that a

lot of times means freelance work.

We are very happy to have just counted our sixth member who has

quit her boring daytime job and gone full time into media production.

And so the goal is that as all of our creators, we call them the skills to be

able to convey their own stories and the stories of others they'll start collecting

stories from around them and helping everyone build their skills in putting out

the narrative that they want to put out.

That is awesome.

What are some of those narratives, some of those topics

that you're seeing pick up?

Is it different than you're seeing in national or corporate media?

Well, right now we're focused on collecting the stories that are

in the book, or that go along with the stories of the book.

And so that's kind of what we're focusing on.

But as people get trained and start finding more stories of their own, some

of the things that we're seeing already is that they're uplifting candidates for

political office, for the smaller offices.

The candidates get to decide how they're going to tell their story.

And we have some small business owners who want to talk about

how they came to start up their business and why it matters to them.

Even filmmakers people who are making short films, we interview

them, thanks to the Community Media Center for helping us out with that.

They are our landlord and partners in many ways.

we have this great podcast room and we bring in creators who tell their story

about what drew them to wanting to be a part of a creative community where people

are in charge of their own stories.

That's incredible.

I just hear neighborhoods so much throughout of what you're talking

about, between working with Joe and GRTV and the audio listeners couldn't

hear that, but he was putting up a heart sign as you were talking about that.

And these grassroots stories that are being told that is so cool.

Joe Zook tell us a little bit about what you're doing at GRTV.

GRTV and the Community Media Center is multifaceted, right?

So GRTV is a service of the Community Media Center.

The Community Media Center touches on various corners of this media landscape.

We have GRTV.

We also have WYCE, which is listener supported and volunteer run radio.

We have the Wealthy Theater.

Local listeners will be familiar with the Wealthy Theater.

And we also have the Rapidian, which is citizen journalism.

That's our e newspaper.

Community Media Center as a whole is helping steward and support

various forms of community media.

My purview is mostly with GRTV specifically.

We are the public access channel here in Grand Rapids.

And what I do with GRTV, specifically, I'm the Production Manager.

And what that means for us is that most of the work I'm doing, its

multi pronged, as all of our work is.

But I do our for hire video services.

I produce our grant funded documentary projects, if and when we have those.

And we're also developing a media preservation wing here.

Media preservation and archiving, especially of outmoded media,

analog video, this sort of thing.

This is an important component of community storytelling.

The through line is immensely important.

Getting new stories out is equally important.

But we also don't want to lose those histories from past generations.

The tapes that still exists that haven't been digitized, they don't last forever.

They're in states of decay.

And so it's important to save that media.

So that is, a new project that we're working on here.

And then our production services is really almost exclusively with other nonprofits.

Community partners and also local government.

But that is producing media and telling stories for our community partners.

Community media is oftentimes individual stories, but we are all this community

together, and we have a ton of really important and meaningful, non profit

organizations here in West Michigan.

And so we partner with a lot of them to help them get their messages out.

So it's crazy to me that at this point in 2024 with the way the media

landscape looks, a lot of it's so global, what is the history of like

a community media station like GRTV?

Like, how did you get carved into the landscape and, it sounds like you're

doing an incredible job with grant funding and, for hire and surviving

today, but how did this even start?

Yeah, that's a great question.

and I'll say we, we're doing our best.

Um, the origins of public access and cable access.

It originates from the cable companies, paying franchise fees to

city governments and municipalities.

It's for right of way, for, use of community and municipal resources,

for access to lines underground to run cable, these sorts of things.

And some of those franchise fees then get passed on to public

access and cable access.

This is , a federal law, from the late seventies or early eighties, it was a

carve out that said it's important if we're going to have cable television, if

we're going to have all these channels that are national television that don't

necessarily originate in the community.

It's important to us as a society.

We want to still make sure that there is a channel for local voices.

So in some ways we're a holdout from an era that some think is bygone, but I

think that's actually a misconception.

It's true that fewer people these days have cable television,

as people have cut the cord.

But community media is alive and thriving on the internet, on your

Roku or on YouTube on demand or streaming live on our website.

It's a lot less about the specific platform and it really is more

about the community access.

I just wanted to add that we got to give props to the activists who made

this happen because I'm sure the government didn't say, you know what?

This wouldn't really be fair.

Let's make sure the people have a voice.

So whoever was the first station to do it was probably the ones who said, you

know, we demand this and we know how it would look and we're going to get started.

And I know that Boston, they were one of the first in the seventies, but

I'm not sure that they were the first, but I heard the war stories when I

was there that we were among the first and it was a big battle and a lot of

cities said we want four channels.

We don't just want one channel.

We want one for the government, our local government to use.

We want one for our colleges to use, one for K-12, and one for anybody.

And the one for anybody would be like Community Media Center.

So that we've got equipment and people can learn how to use the equipment

that regular TV channels have.

And we want it just as good.

And so they set that up and Grand Rapids is the most, widespread community access

station I've ever heard of where there's the five threads that Joe mentioned

I haven't found that anywhere else, but I'm sure there are a couple places

like that, but it's among the top.

It's incredible.

It certainly enriched my life so much between Wealthy Theater and, all

the good, shows I've seen there and, little film festivals and to like,

WYCE with incredible music that is put out there in the performances and

it's just everything y'all are doing.

And also like the Community Media Center has been just such

a resource for training people.

So we'll definitely talk some more about all that, But Kerri I'm

hearing just the level of importance.

This is that it's protected by federal law.

This community media in your experience, has it lived up to that level of impact?

Tell us some stories about things that you've seen and

stories that you've seen created.

For me, it has, for us, it has, and I hope that it's never in

danger of being taken away.

If it is, somebody rattle a cage because we need to make sure that it remains.

I hope it's not a hidden gem to a lot of people either.

the first time you walk into GRTV or, some of the others that are in the

area or across the nation, you're surprised at the equipment there, at

the offering of take this class and then you can check out this top of the

line equipment and use it on your own project I wonder if maybe that education

to the community could be stronger.

So I'm glad we're doing this podcast and talking about a little bit more

because it really is a great resource.

Making media is a part of what we do, it's not everything, so we don't have

all of the equipment in, you know, a production room somewhere, and just having

that ability to be able to reach out and beef up our ability for production

value and to have people who can help guide us through it is very important.

And some of the other non profits that I have worked at, have used services

like website building and things.

There's a lot of different services, not just for filmmaking

alumni or video producing and things like that podcasts, right?

So the services, Joe talked about a few of them and I think you could

really just spend a day there and explore find out more about it.

Yeah.

And partnerships are so important and it's not just TV stations, right?

Kerri, I know that you've worked with the libraries out there in Muskegon right?

We've worked with the libraries.

We've worked with the local health system, collaborating with different cross sector

partners is a wonderful thing, right?

Because you get a lot of different perspective.

So with the libraries we've shown films, but also had panel discussions.

People come in from around the world, plus local, and record that,

talk about some of the issues.

I think the last one was about the remake of The Little Mermaid.

One project that we are doing with GVSU, actually, because we realize data

justice is as important as media justice.

I'm curious what is the mission of the Coalition for Community Development?

I'm not familiar with it.

The mission is really to empower one another and to support a thriving

community in Muskegon Heights.

It's as simple as that, because what we believe is as an

organization, we don't lead.

We, first of all, our board is majority Muskegon Heights residents.

So it's not that, we're not already embedded in the community as we are.

We work very closely with the Neighborhood Associations but we're also the, we

call it the CBO, the Community Based Organization, that can usually be the

connector between residents and some of that really grassroots, trust, community

driven projects and working with larger organizations that are really needed

as fiduciaries or because of the way that they might be able to move some of

these desires forward with government and funding and things like that.

So we work very much as that organization that ensures the resident

voice is heard and stays heard.

It's really important, that the pace can be slower, the pace is not

so we can move with the speed of trust as we say out here, right?

And we can move to make sure that everybody's walking

along with the project.

Sometimes when you do collaborate with larger organizations as is necessary,

they understand it and then they've got the resources to be able to move.

And take it away.

And the important thing is to not do that, to slow down, be present, and

the residents lead the project and you can learn a lot and it can really

reveal things when you just slow down and make sure that everybody's

involved from the very grassroots to whatever collaborative partner of a

larger organization is moving at.

And community media understands that.

We're very small.

And we like it that way.

We had a retreat earlier this year about growth.

And there's a nimbleness to being small.

So that we do need to be very resourceful and you can be very creative when

you have to be resourceful as well.

But it's mostly private donors who believe in what we do.

And it is foundations.

And sometimes when we do collaborate with some larger organizations we tap

into federal and state funding as well.

But we were an all volunteer organization for just over 15 years

of its existence and a part time Executive Director, me, only came on

board in 2018, But we're moving slow in the way we grow intentionally.

It's beautiful to be in this space because I have worked at bigger

organizations and it has taught me the beauty of slowing down and just

listening and being present and not feeling so checklist oriented, right?

Goal oriented, we've got to get this done and by this time there's a real

beauty in that, and again, I find going back to community media and that,

creating content from such a hyper local perspective really thrives in

being present and moving at that speed.

I'm hearing nimbleness, and I'm also hearing community led.

Are those words that reflect your own experience.

looking at podcasting.

It reminds me about how we applied for a neighborhood match fund grant

from the city to train new podcasters.

And so we put out the word that, you know, anyone who's ever wanted to have their

own podcast, come on out, and our creators will teach you how to design your program,

record it, and edit it, and put it out.

And we, talk about nimble, we were just so surprised at how many people came

in and said, I wanna have a podcast.

And we say, great, what's it gonna be about?

And they said, well, whatever you want to interview me about . And they

just, so many people wanted to be interviewed, but they did not want

to think about like what they would want to have a whole series about.

So it was just, it was funny.

We really had to pull things outta people and, they would lose interest

quickly so there were a lot of surprises there just always are whenever you

think you know what people want which is why Kerri does what she does, right?

Because people who come up with programming of any kind think they

know what it is that the recipients want, and a lot of times the recipients

don't even know what they want, and so you gotta ask a lot of questions

to help get to the bottom of that.

Joe, that idea of training.

I mean, I know GRTV has a robust training, abilities there.

Tell me a little bit about what your programs are.

Yeah, absolutely.

That is a huge component of what GRTV and the CMC does and it's a

big component of becoming a member.

That's what's great about community media.

And this center is it's yours, it's your TV station.

It's your community resources.

Which I think remains very unique.

We have this model that Imagine it is almost like a library resource.

Where we have these tools and resources.

You can come in here and take classes.

You can take certification classes to be certified on the various equipment

and the facilities that we have.

And then if you're a member in good standing and you've taken a

certification class, through our education department Then you have access.

You have access to this equipment without an additional cost.

And that is really important to community media is that level of access.

Now, as much as we can on this podcast, shout from the rooftops to

the students listening here that is, you said, free access to equipment

with training, that is incredible.

Like, I, hope every student listening to this and, people living around

Grand Rapids here that like, you are providing just such a service.

You get out of school and there's a big shock factor after you've

had access to that equipment room.

You've gotten familiar with the equipment that you use to create your

media You reserve it, you go and check it out, and as soon as you're out

of school in the desert of the real,

Now I really want to activate, but I can't afford that six thousand

dollar camera that I'm used to having access to automatically.

We won't call it for free because school is really expensive,

but it's baked in, right?

That is a huge resource, and I think far too few new alumni realize that

this resource is in your community.

You are the city's equipment room, right?

Like you can go there and make a documentary, make a show like

it's such an an incredible thing.

But then a component of that, an important component of that is when you

become a member of the Community Media Center, when you take the certification

classes GRTV and you use the equipment, you are also agreeing to provide

what you create for the community.

So that's the agreement that you make.

You check out that equipment, we get you access to that.

And then when you create that media, you then submit your finished projects to us.

And that's going to go on GRTV.

That becomes the programming that is on GRTV.

And if your audience, where you want to reach them, is on YouTube,

upload it to YouTube, right?

Reach your audiences where you want to.

But also, we expect that to be part of this public access.

Your voice is our community collective voice.

So that's the social contract.

And that's why there's so much great stuff on GRTV.

It's so much fun to watch.

So if I'm looking at the three of you and our, little zoom Brady

Bunch thing I got going on here.

Every time one of you talks, I'm seeing your eyes light up.

I'm seeing y'all nod when, somebody else is talking.

And we started this conversation talking about, the humanity that

you find in community media.

And I just want to ask you about each of that.

What puts your heart on fire for this segment of media, this community media

Jasmine, you want to start off with that?

I think it is just watching people recognize their power for the first

time and just to realize that .Others want to hear their voice and find their

stories fascinating and find their experiences helpful to learn about.

And, just watching people go from like for our program.

We were just laughing last night at how One of the creators was showing off

his new demo reel and when he came in six months ago, he didn't even really

know what a demo reel was And he was asking us, you know, I really love

shooting videos And I love working out and I find it really fun to shoot

videos at the gym because the lighting in there is just kind of dramatic.

And I'm just shooting myself working out and then people are coming up and

asking me to shoot them working out.

And so I'm here to say, can I charge people for that?

And that's where he was six months ago, and he's one of the ones who just quit

his job and is working full time, and he just finished his demo reel, and he's

got so much work and getting paid well.

He's paying his bills.

I just asked him last night, are you paying all your bills?

And he said, yes, I am.

So it is just really fun to watch his excitement grow, and just to hear as

he did work on things to have everybody , looking at his work and saying.

That is awesome.

I love that angle that you chose and I can see why you like shooting at the gym.

That makes a lot of sense.

Have you tried talking to the gym?

Maybe they want videos.

What kind of videos have you thought about?

And just to watch people come alive is exceedingly rewarding to me.

And it's just fun to see people blossom and realize their

power and their abilities.

I relate to that so hard.

I do a lot of work with the Mosaic Film Experience uh, in town and we'll go

into a, high school or middle school and, put an iPad or teach them how to

use mobile apps and just the light that comes out of their eyes, you know, and

a lot of times too, in the beginning of the class people will be into themselves

or, like not really showing up and then, as soon as there is that moment

where you just feel them seizing their voice and that's, oh, that is so cool.

What a great way to say that.

Kerri, can you tell us about what lights your heart on fire?

Jazmyne said that so eloquently.

What do you got for us?

I think that it's my evolution into more of the grassroots non profit world.

I started out in the music business and in marketing, worked my way up the

ladder there, so there was a lot of sales videos that had, rock stars and

things in it as they came into town.

And then I moved out to L. A., worked for a movie studio and came back and

actually went back to school to Grand Valley as a non traditional student.

I think I was around 30 or something like that right, to finish my degree.

The filmmaking storytelling bug was there, but I didn't necessarily have

a huge passion for a certain kind.

And I think that it was at Grand Valley that I took some of the more

theory related classes Dr. Perrine in particular, that sort of my mind just

whoa, there's so much more to think about representation and, the form

and content and how powerful the use of it is to frame a message, right?

And so much so that I went on to get my Master's more in the critical,

And I think coming out of that I was still working a lot in marketing.

I worked at the Grand Rapids Art Museum for several years

before moving out to Muskegon.

And I really decided that I wanted to continue to, understand that

representation and the powerful meaning that is created and how so many voices

are not heard that much, especially in the nonprofits that are doing such

great work on such small budgets, right?

So there's a lot of good things that are going on, but not so much.

Using this powerful medium to tell their stories and to get more

volunteers and funding and whatnot.

And I think that, in particular, one of the things that just working and bringing

that sort of, filmmaking background from Grand Valley and other areas of

my past since we are an alumni podcast.

Just want to reassure people that it can be a zigzag path,

of how you proceed with it.

But working in the non profit world for Coalition for Community

Development and going to a lot of different sort of, community sort

of representations where they're reporting out issues in the community.

You know, The same old charts and graphs are used as they're

using statistics and talking about especially marginalized communities

and working for years within these.

I'm like, how is that data being collected?

How is it being analyzed?

How is that happening?

Because the stories coming out from a grassroots level, there's got to

be a level of trust to really get that sort of authentic sort of data.

So we actually reached out to Grand Valley to the Social Science department and

started a project where we first brought data collecting skills to leaders of those

small grassroots nonprofits in Muskegon Heights and Muskegon or residents who were

interested in collecting, learning how qualitative quantitative data is collected

and understanding how to collect that because the closer you are to collecting

that data, the truer it will be, right?

And then learning how to report it out.

Now, of course, you can use this, data is power, to apply for grants.

They love that data that proves sort of a need, right?

And the needs of the community, partnering with some of the larger

organizations advocating it to city government, and here are my statistics,

so you can't get away so much from the charts and graphs for sure.

But what we wanted to do is to not only have that data that

was collected more close to home but turn it into a video series.

So , we received some funding to be able to do this and themes that emerged that

the residents really wanted to unpack and talk about because everybody says you've

got to gain trust in certain communities.

What is that?

it's different to a lot of people.

It's like talking about what is equity that's different to a

business as it is to a grassroots organization or to a hospital, right?

Prosperity, especially generational economic thriving in the community.

Health.

Mind, body and spirit culture and tradition, a lot of wonderful traditions

and cultural nuances to talk about and other lived experiences, right?

And so within that, the data that emerged and how people talked about it,

we then armed ourself with our cameras and microphones and went out and talked

to different people about how would you like to talk about this or express this.

And so we've got some who participated in a, a talk show

and talked about this issue.

We have a person who is a dancer.

She's, a dance instructor, and so she's a Choreographer and she

wanted to do a dance that expressed what trust means or prosperity.

We actually wrote, we had a spoken word artist who I wanted to, write a spoken

word version of Romeo and Juliet that was modern day based in Muskegon and

Muskegon Heights called Roman Julissa and we helped put that together and they're

local actors and that was a lot of fun.

That's done with a lot of green screens.

That'll be fun to edit that but just these different ways to approach those themes.

People think they understand what it is and move forward really quickly

on the idea of trust, but that's something that really slow down and

unpack it on that humanity, that level of person to person and get to know.

It's amazing how you really find that camaraderie in these different sort

of ways that people talk about, issues like that and you learn from each other.

In a big way from these, small individual stories collectively.

We didn't want just one interpretation, but several, in

this video series that we're doing.

So as you can tell, that's what's getting my blood going right now is

I see it and I feel it and I'm fortunate enough that I got to see that

firsthand and that was, specifically a project where I know that you put

them in the driver's seat and earn back that trust because they had a bad

experience with a filmmaker previously.

So there are ways that, local filmmaking can go wrong and you really help gain that

trust back and help them tell their own story, for their centennial anniversary.

It was really incredible a community project to be a part of.

And with you as well, everybody who was involved in that we went back and

showed raw footage to the group and, never were they left behind in any of

the processes that moved forward and all those stories of the people who

are now in their 80s and 90s who had lived through the civil rights era were

it's for community by community and you're out there doing it.

That's incredible.

Joe, what lights your heart on fire like It takes a special person to be

in here, community media, programming GRTV, what gets your blood pumping.

What Kerri and Jasmine are saying resonates, of course.

I mean, I think we have a lot of crossover in our missions

and our beliefs about this work.

Similarly, you know, I started out in my career post school, crewing,

film, TV, below the line, G and E, transpo, that sort of thing.

Shout out to John Philbin, now retired, in the Summer Film Program, that was huge.

That was really, I know it exists to this day.

That's a meaningful way as a student that we got hands on experience and

were able to confidently translate our skills, into the world of film production.

I did that for a few years and then after a while, wasn't so

interested in all the heavy lifting that came along with that work.

I wasn't quite getting the returns, in meaning and impact, moved over

to doing more of the work that I'm doing nowadays, but in the

commercial and the corporate world.

I love producing and production management.

I'm well suited for the work, but the work that I was doing for a

number of years, the end product wasn't particularly meaningful to me.

Ultimately how I end up here is, for me, it is all about community.

I admire activists and activism.

We've talked about that a little bit already, but I'm rarely

the one on the picket line.

Or making public comment at a city council meeting or something.

I, I like to tell stories.

I like to connect with people.

I really like to listen and learn.

I think the greatest impact that I can have is at the community level.

My direct impact I think is on other people, other individuals.

I think we all learn from each other.

We all influence one another.

I'm all about being a part of active support systems and community media right

now, I think is both more important.

At least as important, but arguably more important than ever, it's also more

fragile than ever, I think it's fragile because of this evolving landscape

of, telecom and cable companies, the franchise fees, attrition of viewers

from cable to streaming and also just in general community resources, schools and

libraries and public media, these sorts of very important, crucial resources being

defunded increasingly, being attacked.

I think the importance is because media literacy and access to accurate

information is as important as it's ever been and in many ways it's more

fraught than it's been in a long time.

To me, the work that I'm able to do, the impact that I can make, is

here, in communities, at a grassroots community, individual level.

That's where I feel like I'm most useful.

I think that is commendable.

That's incredible.

We're taking a short break to tell you about the Chuck

Peterson Memorial Fellowship.

The fellowship was established by Chuck Peterson's family and friends to assist

the upper level students in the film and video program at GVSU, who are working

on creative projects that support the nonprofit sector in their community.

Kyle Macciome, May the 2020 recipient of that fellowship describes the

benefits of the support he received.

When going through this fellowship, there are three separate parts

of yourself that I think get to experience a lot of development.

The first is as a student, because this is a learning process.

You get to learn how to work with a client on your own independently,

out in the world, away from the classroom, like you would in

something like producing for clients.

And the second one would be as a video maker, as a video producer, as someone

who has respect for the work that they're doing and wants to improve on

themselves and produce a final product that can be used out in the real world.

And then the third one would be as a citizen.

You know, you're not making video for an entertainment value or for some

kind of commercial purpose, it's for a non-profit it's for a direct benefit

in your community and being a citizen of that community, understanding how

you can directly impact and improve it, is a really valuable experience that

I think the fellowship teaches you to be as, as a student, as a filmmaker

and as a citizen, all three of those things are directly a part of this

process that you get to learn and ask yourself, how do I want to be seen?

And how do I want to act as these three roles?

For more information and to donate to the scholarship, visit the link in

the description now back to the show.

So Jazmyne, we heard a little bit about Kerri's, she said she

had a zigzagging career path.

We just heard about a career path that kind of stretched from Grand Valley

through film to community media from Joe.

What was your career path?

How did you end up where you are now?

Well, I went to college in Santa Barbara, and when I was done there, I wanted to

move to Boston because of having had a lot of fun experiences there, so I just

got in my car and drove out there and found a place to live and started temping

at all different kinds of places just to have some income and to explore the city.

I found that to be a really fun way to get to know a new city is just plop yourself

into an office at different addresses all over the city for a few days each time.

I'll, I'll never forget one of the places I landed had I was sitting

there at my desk doing my thing.

And all of a sudden the entire floor of probably a hundred people vanished.

And I thought, have I gone deaf?

Like, was there a fire alarm?

And I didn't hear it.

Like, what just happened?

and there was one final person heading out to the elevator.

I said what is happening and he said oh, it's lunch break And I'm like

people are this detached from their work that they can just drop, everyone

can just drop what they're doing.

I always have to wrap up whatever my task is and I just thought okay,

this tells me something about the kind of work I don't want to have.

Like, I don't want to live like that.

I was a communication major, and my dream was to work at the PBS station.

And they just kept saying, you're brand new, like you just graduated,

you can't start at a top level station.

Having just graduated from college, go to a small town come back.

And so I ended up letting one of my temp jobs turn into a public, it was a

publishing job, educational publishing.

And I kind of liked that.

And so I did that for a couple of years but I was still looking at

those jobs with WGBH and seeing if there's anything I could possibly do.

And eventually an educational publishing job came up there.

And before I knew it, I was working on a program called Zoom.

And anyway, so I was working for WGBH for a couple years, and then

I ended up moving to Grand Rapids.

And I was looking around for things that were going on here, and I found

that Calvin College had a TV show.

And I really wanted to have my own interview show after having watched

a lot of what was going on at GBH.

Interview show was my favorite.

So I, found that, It was produced by students, and so they kept on turning over

who was in charge of this TV show, and it just didn't have any consistency, and

the guy who was, in charge of it, had put all of these, meeting notes out on the

internet because the internet was still kind of new and so he was like, just let

me put stuff on the internet because I'm supposed to be in charge of the website.

So let me see what papers are around that I can put on.

And it just happened to be all these notes about that show

because that was in his desk.

So I ended up reading all this and then contacting him when I

found out I was moving to Grand Rapids because of my husband's job.

I said, Hey, it sounds like you guys could really use an adult to be in

charge of this thing and just keep it consistent and do this and this and this.

And he's like, how do you know all this?

This is amazing.

He forgot he had put all this on the website So yeah, I was able to take over

the TV show and I just kept on working on it and getting it better and better

until I was ready to approach WGVU and ask them if they would start airing it.

And they did.

So it was on Community Access when I arrived, but, I got WGVU

to take it on and then eventually.

I got it to the point where I said, I feel like we're ready to offer this nationally.

What do you think?

And they said, all right, let's give it a try.

And it worked and 60 stations across the country picked it up.

And so that was really fun.

It was called Inner Compass and it was a talk show about, ethical,

social justice, religious issues.

So I did that for about 15 years.

And then, was looking for something else and found that book by Todd Robinson

and just thought that was a lot of stuff to unpack and I wanted more

people to be able to benefit from that.

Wow.

I just, I hear so much in all three of your stories that

I think will help students.

And, it's never a straight shot, right?

You never call your shot and you're there, right?

you had to do so much to get to that place at WGBH.

Yeah, I mean, the only thing that we can be sure of with our

career path is that it's not going to go where we want it to go.

That's the only place that we can be sure it's not going to

go is where we wanted it to go.

I wanted to say that it's up to us sometimes to bring

this skill set and passion.

If they had hired a different Executive Director than me five years ago, I don't

know that, storytelling via, you know, a visual medium would have been so much

a part of the job and uh, you know, the ways that we're getting things done.

Like the education kit we created for the local, County Museum, which

had very little information about a significant population here until we

approached them and created this content.

So to the students who, want to do this, don't think that's a singular

path or even a job that you think is a job that traditionally has a

visual medium or, storytelling aspect.

Whatever job or place, or people, or mission, that's attracting you, how can

you bring your skills to enhance that job?

I think another way to say it, Kerri, is just that you can create the

job that you wish you could have.

You know, you don't have to say, well, there isn't a job that does

all these things that I want.

So then the question becomes, how can you get paid for doing that?

And that's a little more challenging.

but I think, you know, what I'm learning is to, I need to find the

people who have the same passion and then they would want to support that.

It's just that community component.

this is so true.

I'm talking about creating those opportunities, right?

Knowing what you're interested in or what you're wanting to pursue, finding those

opportunities, making it for yourself.

It's building that community, right?

And Jazmyne just said, finding those like minded people are the

people who also believe in what you're trying to accomplish, right?

We do this through the community component of all of this, I know that

we're coming at this from a media lens, but media is, secondary to community.

And media is one way that we're talking about building community.

Hmm.

it's finding your community.

It's knowing those other like minded people or, the diversity

of thought that really helps us, explore these opportunities.

Totally.

I think I heard in your story too Joe, sometimes you have to ask

yourself, Am I enjoying what I'm doing?

And it sounds like when you're lifting that heavy equipment, at some point, you

said, I'm really not there's not impact in this you were looking for something more.

And that's something that I have had to ask myself.

And I think, especially 2020 pandemic shutdown, like all that,

like really, had me asking myself, am I enjoying what I'm doing?

And some parts it was yes.

And in some parts it was no.

And what I realized is I thought I was trying to give myself

steps to get somewhere else.

And then I was like, wait a minute, I'm enjoying what I'm doing here, like this

community media making shows with Kerri and, working with WGVU, the PBS station

and, things like that, telling, Michigan stories, Grand Rapids stories, and now

I'm at, Detroit PBS, finding ways to say, I love what I'm doing is so important.

That's really cool that you all found that.

Sticking in this idea of career and talking to, some of the college

students who might be listening, what are some lessons, uh, that you

learned while you were in college that you're using still today?

Whether that be at Grand Valley for Kerri and Joe or, out west, for Jazmyne.

I know that I really learned how important a team is.

And how you really, rely on their passion and expertise in what they're

doing so you can focus on what you're doing so that ultimately whatever

project you're on has all of that.

And then I always want to work with passionate people.

I mean, I was laughing when, I heard the story about the lunch

break because I don't want to work with those people either.

I want to work with people who are passionate about what they're doing.

And when you are in school, and you're learning the skills.

Certainly, you're learning the practical aspects to definitely take those

classes to understand the impacts.

So that you're not repeating or making really pedantic films either.

But I think that the beauty of being in school is that network you're creating

of those passionate people you get out of there into the real world or whatever as

Joe was saying is people aren't going to talk to you for hours about film, But wow,

can you really have those conversations and develop those and those are going

to be your friends and contacts wherever they go around the world keep in touch,

because you've really shared something special with a group of passionate people

you might not find quite that way again.

But I would say search for it, if it's not quite in that sort of large capacity.

For instance, when I did move out to LA,, I think one of the mistakes that

I made is that I did work for a big movie studio, but it was more in the

get the coffee kind of thing, right?

So your creativity and all of that, I think the mistake I made is I

didn't find a smaller community creative that you could share those

ideas, talk those things out, and the largeness of it just drained me.

And then I realized I was a Midwestern girl at heart, so that was important too.

But, seek that community.

We need each other and look at, to go, even right here where we talk, go here

and they've got equipment for you.

Go over here and they might have a connection to such and

such or information about that.

That community in college, enjoy it, grow from it, and seek out,

community as well after you leave.

Sure.

And I think the Alumni Association too, like we're working really hard to make

sure that kind of community is still out there for people when they graduate.

Joe, biggest lesson being at Grand Valley.

what's helping you out there programming for GRTV today?

I think being involved with a lot of stuff just to piggyback off of what

Kerri was just saying, like that there are so many opportunities, especially

at a larger school like Grand Valley.

And it's just, there's so much great stuff going on, get involved with stuff,

do clubs, do stuff, you don't know where you're going to meet your community.

I'm fortunate that I still, maintain, a very tight knit, and

meaningful community of fellow film and video alum, from my era there.

But I have just as many connections, from people who I met in completely

different areas of study because, I was interested in being involved

in, the Kung Fu club or whatever.

Were you really in the Kung Fu

For a minute I was, but I tried a whole bunch of different stuff.

But also I think yeah, in general, if you're a film and video student

uh, if you're interested in production, at least for me, the

Summer Film Program was crucial.

I don't know that I would be where I am now if I hadn't gotten the

hands on confidence that I did.

You learn a lot in the classroom, you get to do a lot of fun things.

But for me personally, I know that the Summer, Film really made the difference.

It gave me the confidence to then go and apply for a job as a grip on a film.

Because I knew that I could do it.

Yeah, and I know to like, so after I had done the Summer Film like I started

to feel like as I was doing you know crewing for other things I was like

I've already done a big show you like it gets those like first time jitters

out like I know how the set works I know like what the code is if somebody

has to go to the bathroom on the walkie talkies all of a sudden you just know

all that it like really smooths out those jitters, I agree with that 100%.

Thinking back to college, Jazmyne what were some big lessons that are still

fueling you, pushing you forward today?

Well, I think mine was more inward focused.

I think some of the main things I learned at Westmont College, shout out

to Westmont College, was the appreciation for art and beauty and rhetoric.

I had a Rhetoric Professor, and I would have been a rhetoric major if there was

one, but it was just called communication, but he was all about rhetoric.

And just the beauty in the art of language, and choosing your words

carefully because everyone counts, and paying attention to the words that other

people are using, and unpacking them.

I had some art classes where you just had to sit and look at a paper

clip for a half an hour and try and just stare at it and have to think

about all that you were seeing.

Just until you are past boredom, about bored to tears, and

just have to write about it.

what are you seeing when you see this paperclip?

I remember that I never, I haven't thought about this at all, but it's a

question that's making these things pop up for me of just slowing down and paying

attention to what is around you and what people are saying and how they're saying

it and how you are going to talk about matters that are important to you and

how you're going to, utilize your own power by giving it words because words

have so much power in the way we talk about ourselves, the way we talk about

our community, way we talk about our story whether it's going to be a victim

narrative or an overcoming narrative.

That's playing out right now in the work that we're doing because

Todd Robinson was very focused on avoiding the victim narrative.

And it is so often used that, especially with marginalized people, I mean, even the

term marginalized people, you know, that's a, that's a victim word right there.

Paying close attention and trying to find better words for things

because well, one of our heroes in the book says that those who have

the power to define have the power to determine, and that's how it starts.

So a connection that I hear between all three of you is you've all talked

about the importance of classes or experiences that weren't strictly film,

or strictly storytelling, whether it's the Kung Fu Club or, taking rhetoric

classes I think that is something very and I think Grand Valley does that

really well requiring gen eds or themes getting people out of their comfort zones

mixing up with other scholars I think that's really important and special.

These ideas that Jazmyne's brought up about, how to tell an impactful

story and work with people who, are trusting you with their stories.

What are some other tips, Kerri that you might have, along those lines of

how to talk with somebody who might be, telling a traumatic event on film or

opening up to themselves and trusting you.

I'm sure there are students listening to this who, can't wait to go out

and, make the world better with their cameras but what are some cautions to be

worried about or to watch yourself for.

Framing is everything, right?

So it's how is the story framed?

I think that it's important to not just ask questions as Jazmyne

says, from a victim framing.

Tell me about, the crime in your neighborhood, or how's that?

That's already framing it, right?

if you ask someone what do you love about your neighborhood?

You will hear wonderful stories about, I love my neighborhood, everybody from,

the mayor walks by, the town drunk, and everybody knows who they are, make sure

they get home, okay, and I would hate to live in one of those communities

where, People drive home, the garage door goes up, they drive in, it closes,

you never see them again, right?

Because I think that you will allow the person to tell

the story they want to tell.

And I think it is, if you have some history of, studying different

techniques and things like that.

You might hear if maybe someone is nervous or moving down a path.

You might not just run with that so much.

Yeah, I like what you said about the whole person right like seeing them as

a human as a storyteller, not just as a, part of your show or you know your

ticket to the next story you know like it's very important to really see the

person in front of you I agree with that.

Joe as a programmer, how do you deal with tough content, are people

bringing stories that you have to really consider to put on the air.

So I will say that's not my purview, here.

What I'm doing here is this other component where it's more like

reactive, working with organizations, to produce content for them.

So I'll be working with a nonprofit organization.

They have a message, they have a mission, right?

so my purview here primarily is to help produce media.

There's, there is a distinction to be made, which is GRTV as an

entity, we don't have an editorial stake in what's going on the air.

And that's actually really important, right?

When you are a member of the community, You come in, you use the resources, you

produce television, you submit it, you fill out a cablecast form that says, to

the extent that it, is legal for me to air and broadcast this on television,

uh, you take responsibility, but we're not making any editorial decisions.

So in fact, there are no difficult decisions to make.

This is truly the community's platform.

It's community television.

So maybe another way to phrase that is you're telling stories of nonprofits.

I'm sure these nonprofits are doing, incredible and sometimes difficult work.

How do you think about working and telling those success stories

of the nonprofits in the area.

It's a lot of fun because it's not very often, just out of the box.

Everything starts with a conversation.

I don't do a lot of prospecting, I'm here to support the organizations who

need us and who, utilize our resources.

It really depends.

We have a lot of conversations about you've got a little bit of a budget,

you know, that media is important.

Sometimes those conversations are, we want this sort of impact.

We want to do this with this video.

We know exactly how we want to deliver this and who are our audience is.

But just as often, it's a conversation of we've never really had a

budget to produce media before, but we know what's important.

We know that we're not reaching the community that we're here to serve.

We know that we have these resources of our own, and we know that there

are members of the community who could benefit from what we have to offer, but.

We know that they don't know about it.

We get to help fill that gap or bridge that gap.

So it's always a conversation, it might be, we don't know how to do this.

What do you think that we should do?

So we talk about the tools and the resources that we have, we

talk about do you already have an audience or impact on social media?

Should we make a video for social media?

Should we do a live stream, to help you reach members of the community, are

you doing a forum that you're inviting people to, to join in person, but you

also want to reach people, who aren't likely to come or able to come in person.

So everything is a conversation.

Yeah, expanding that access I hear even in that answer.

So as we're getting close to wrapping up here I've got, one last big

question, so we're recording this, it's October 24th 2024, where, just

about a week or so away from a huge national election that's razor thin.

We have no idea at this point in history what's going to happen next, right?

Both sides are, stressed out about what the future could hold.

But as we're here talking about community media, I'm hearing just a lot of hope

and a lot of action that's happening.

You are three people who are out there making incredible change and making

people in your community's lives better.

As we're thinking about what people can do in their communities what is

it about what you're doing that gives you hope for the future that, helps

you feel like there's action and hope talk about this idea of hope.

Yeah.

Good question, Randy.

I returned to, Grand Rapids after, many years living in New York.

I built my career in the city, and a big part of returning to Grand

Rapids for me was, something that I could never really get a hold on.

to the extent that it's important to me a city like New York was a

really cohesive sense of community.

You can be in the proverbial center of the universe, in New York City, and have

a community of your own, but still feel.

Isolated, I wanted to come back to a city like Grand Rapids where

building a community feels a little more holistic to me and where, your

contributions, really can make meaningful contributions at a community level.

In that regard, concerning ourselves with national elections and global politics.

will have an impact on all of us, but no matter what the future

holds for any of us, we will all perpetually be members of communities.

I think that immediate impact, the impact that we can make

on our direct community scale.

To me, that's what's most important.

No matter what happens in elections, we're still neighbors with each other.

that's where I feel my impact is most resonant.

So I just try to focus on that.

That is beautiful.

Neighbors will still help each other out.

Community is still there taking care of each other.

That's what we can do no matter what we can.

We can vote once in a while when the polls are open, but every single day we

can live in our communities and be good neighbors and make meaningful impact.

I really think ultimately That's where individuals can make a big difference.

Beautiful.

Kerri Vanderhof uh, tell us about what gives you hope right now.

Community media, we're thinking about our neighbors.

what gives you hope?

I have the feeling that in the last year or so it's put down the phones and , go

talk to your neighbor, go to an event and talk to the person next to you, get to

know each other and have conversations and I'm just, I don't think I'm the

only one who's longing for more of that.

And I do think, especially with the younger generation, I do

teach adjunct, so I get to see the 20 year olds rotating through.

And I do agree that I think that they see the world differently, and do see

more of an us, and working together.

And I think that there's hope in the next generation, and I think there's

hope in talking to your neighbors and I think there's hope in this

sort of type of work in community that people are ready to maybe dive

into a little bit more and grow.

The voice, the people, the community, the world that we want to be and live in.

Yes, man, I have given you a huge ovation.

That is beautiful to say.

Now that everybody's worked up and ready to come volunteer how do people find you,

get ahold of you, or uh, come participate?

GRCMC.

org.

That is where you're going to find all of it.

Where you're going to find GRTV, you're going to find volunteer opportunities,

how to sign up for classes how to access all of our resources, and

the website that is also built in house by our brilliant web services

staff, which is yet another service

that the GRCMC provides.

It's all there under one digital roof.

I think you're going to find what you're looking for.

And you're going to find the person to reach out to.

Or come down and check us out at 711 Bridge Street on the West side of town.

We are your Community Media Center.

Come on down and see what we have in store.

Kerri you looking for volunteers if alumni or students want to come help work out

in Muskegon Heights or in West Michigan?

We do and we have.

We've had internship programs and, other ways that we've worked with GVSU and

the wonderful film video program there.

uh, You can find us at MHCCD, that's Muskegon Heights CCD.

org, MHCCD.

org.

And you'll be able to watch some of our trailers and video programs that

we have on there that were actually created with some of our GVSU interns.

Lots of good things going on.

So cool.

And finally, Jazmyne tell us about how people can get involved with GRMIFI

and your City Within a City project.

I'm sure students and alumni can't wait to get ahold of you.

Yeah well, we have a website, grmifi.

org.

And we also have one for Grandstand Pictures, our production company,

and a City Within a City film.

The way to get in touch would be grmifi at gmail.

com.

And people can ask to, come check out our meetings and, fill out an

interest form and tell us what it is that they hope to, uh, pursue

creatively and, we can go from there.

Thank you all so much.

And thank you listeners for joining us tonight.

My name's Randy Strobl, I've been your host on this episode

of Alumni Live: The Podcast.

Thanks everyone.

Thank you for joining us for this episode of Alumni Live: The Podcast.

Subscribe to our podcast, to hear more from our alumni across the industry.

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