Community Visions

The Community Visions program teaches documentary video-making skills to members of community organizations in Philadelphia, Chester and Camden (NJ). A powerful way to document community concerns, celebrate cultural diversity, and comment on the human condition, Community Visions is a part of Scribe’s mission to explore, develop and advance the use of video, film, audio and interactive technology as artistic tools and as tools for progressive social change.

About Community Visions

Since 1990, Scribe Video Center has guided over 150 community and activist organizations through the production of short documentaries and neighborhood portraits addressing social and political issues. Scribe works with local non-profit and community groups whose members have important stories to tell but limited access to the means of making videos. We invite applications from all groups, including people of color, young people, senior citizens, immigrants, differently abled, and poor people.

Selected groups — usually four each year — make videos about issues that are important to their constituents. In recent years, groups have made oral histories, documented neighborhood issues, or created neighborhood portraits. The project is free to the group. Scribe provides instruction, technical assistance, equipment, tape and other expenses necessary to produce a five- to fifteen-minute video. When the documentary is complete, we host a premiere screening and help the groups plan how they will use their videos.

While Scribe provides all the necessary technical assistance to produce your videotape, groups must have a strong idea and committed individuals to see the project to completion. Participating groups will acquire new skills while discovering new ways to reach their constituency through video.

Community Visions is made possible by support from The Lincoln Financial Foundation, Dolfinger McMahon Foundation, and The Union Benevolent Association

Ione Nash – Her Life, Her Art

by Arthur Hall Afro-American Dance Ensemble Alumni

A pioneer in the Dance Arts, Ione Nash has made a significant contribution to African dance in Philadelphia and the US through her belief that passionate expression of feeling is at the heart of great dance. In the late 50s, she joined the ensemble of Ghanaian dancer Saka Acquaye, who founded an African dance troupe in Philadelphia. She created her own company, the Ione Nash Dance Ensemble in 1960. Throughout the 60s, she danced as a partner with Arthur Hall in his own Afro-American Dance Ensemble. Turning 90 this year, Nash shares her unique experiences as a dancer, choreography and teacher, with insights on the history of African American dance in Philadelphia.

Operating Outside the Lines

by Brandywine Workshop

This documentary explores the history of Brandywine Workshop’s 40 years of printmaking and other visual art, including testimonials from artists. Founded in 1972 by Allan Edmunds, Brandywine is a national center for printmaking. With an international following, Brandywine’s artists include Emma Amos, Akili Ron Anderson, Camille Billops, Edgar Heap of Birds, Mei-ling Hom, Richard Howard Hunt, Martina Johnson Allen, Jacob Landau, Hughie Lee Smith, Evangeline Montgomery, Marta Sanchez, Toshio Sasaki, Vincent D Smith and Isaiah Zagar.