Thursday, September 13, 2012

Lavender Lights in the City

Arkansas Times Festival of Ideas


The September 5 issue of the Arkansas Times celebrated 50 of the most influential people in Arkansas in a wide variety of fields, ranging from furniture makers and gardeners to retailers and philanthropists. Next Saturday, Sept. 22, at the Clinton School, five of the honorees will conduct classes and demonstrations of their expertise. They include:

"Arkansas’s Future is Tied to the Immigrant," Mireya Reith (11:00 a.m.) – Reith grew up in Fayetteville and has dedicated most of her adult life to trying to help Hispanics become leaders in the communities. She’ll speak about her United Arkansas Community Coalition and helping immigrants help themselves.

"Organic Farming Before it was Cool," Rusty and Sue Nuffer (12:00 p.m.) – Want to protect your garden without pesticides? Sue and Rusty Nuffer were some of the first organic farmers in the state.

"Finding Trust in Horror," Brent and Craig Renaud (1:00 p.m.) – Arkansas’s most decorated filmmakers will show scenes from their latest documentary works and talk about the future of film in Arkansas.

"Turning a Magazine into a Cultural Institution," Warwick Sabin (3:00 p.m.) – The publisher of The Oxford American, Sabin will discuss the future of the magazine, including building on partnerships with NPR and PBS.

"How to Start a Tech Company in Three Months," Jeanette Ballazea (4:00 p.m.) – Balleza directs Fayetteville’s The ARK Challenge, a business incubator that provides fledgling entrepreneurs with access to business leaders, office space and seed money to launch technology companies in 14 weeks.

When: Saturday, September 22, 2012
11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. – Lectures begin on the hour

Where: Clinton School of Public Service
Sturgis Hall

*Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu, or calling 501-683-5239.
 
 
Know Now Campaign Develops Local Color
 
In case you haven't been keeping up, the "Know Now" HIV prevention campaign has been ebbing and flowing since it stepped off as the centerpiece of National HIV Awareness Day a few months back. The campaign was met with a bit of a sour note as a competing ad entitled "Know Not," was created as a counter to the fact that the campaign lacked local images or recognition of same sex couples from a positive prospective. Wednesday, ad company Advantage Communications "retooled" and further developed the campaign using local same gender loving men whom were recruited to be apart of a photo shoot.

"I was glad to be apart of the shoot and felt that what we accomplished was what was needed to as a "buy in" for the designated population being sought." said Kevin Holmes.  Holmes actively posted notices concerning the shoot as well as recruited from his friendship network. During the shoot participants were fashioned in numerous outfits and scenarios that were intended to mirror gay life. The group STRILITE spearheaded the "Know Not" effort as a means of bringing  the issue of cultural competency to those developing the project on behalf of the Arkansas Department of Health.
 
Jonathan G. of STRILITE stated, " we were glad to learn that AC wanted us to be apart of the process and invited us to help find models. This is what should have happened perhaps from the beginning before we produced our rebuttal video." He continued, " hopefully we are off to having a campaign that will be high impact while delivering a sound message that will be seen from a more positive angle throughout the community." Just as a reminder of that little production, COP 24/7 is embedding that video here for a re-look which also included yours truly as a supporter. This forum was also on the scene for the photo shoot and will share an update next week on who made the cut as models and further development on the status of the project. Stay locked and loaded to COP 24/7, come follow us, opt-in e-mail or bookmark us to stay in the info loop!!!
 
 

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