From August 30 to September 15, 1995, two parallel events took place in China: the NGO (Non-Governmental Organizations) Forum on Women in Huairou, and the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Feminist videomaker and educator Salome Chasnoff documented the Forum through the perspective of a group of Chicago-based grassroots activists and other women who attended the Forum.
A Girls! Action! Media! Project. Your Social Life is a 20-minute educational docudrama about the latest issues facing youth – cyber-bullying, sexting and online abuse. Produced and written by youth for youth, the film features interviews with diverse young people at several points along the cyber-bullying spectrum: cyber-bullies, targets, allies, accessories and passive onlookers. It also offers insights from key adults working with high school students about the consequences of digital abuse often disregarded by youth until it’s too late. Using accurate information rather than fear to move viewers, Your Social Life engages with entertaining dramatizations depicting typical burn page and sexting scenarios.
In 1999, Beyondmedia began working with 42 recently released women at Grace House in Chicago. After participating in a media production workshop these women produced an award-winning video, What We Leave Behind, to educate the public about some of the causes and effects of women’s incarceration. Over 200 groups nationwide now use this video as an organizing and educational tool and many former prisoners have developed as public speakers and advocates through facilitating audience discussions with screenings.
Through Beyondmedia’s Women and Prison program, incarcerated women and girls, former prisoners and their families use media arts to voice their stories, promoting public dialogue, healing and community organizing. Since 1997, Beyondmedia has collaborated extensively with women and girls in prison and after their incarceration to create interdisciplinary, multimedia educational forums on women and prison.
![[Interview with Wenona Thompson]](https://mediaburn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Image-6-15-23-at-10.45-AM-228x160.jpeg)
In 1993, Girl Talk, a program for girls, ages 12-17, who are detained in the Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center (JTDC), came into being as the brainchild of some very dynamic women and their sponsoring organizations, the Children and Family Justice Center of Northwestern Law School (CFJC) and Chicago Women’s Health Center. A survey of the girls, conducted by CFJC, found that they faced a number of serious concerns on a daily basis, including sexual assault and other forms of violence, relationships and conflict resolution, education and employment, legal rights, and a wide range of health issues. Programming and services related to these issues were almost non-existent through the detention center, and Girl Talk, a name chosen by the girls themselves was one answer. Girl Talk started as an eight-week pilot project and quickly grew into a weekly year-round one.It grew over the years and was eventually led by Wenona Thompson, a young woman who had spent time within those walls herself as a teenager. Eventually Girl Talk developed a program called Talk Out which extended the program to the girls once they were released from the detention center. Girl Talk ended in 2005 and Wenona Thompson tragically passed away way too young at the age of 32 in 2008. (See https://chicagogirltalk.wordpress.com for more information.)
Thompson shares her story and work with Girl Talk in this interview conducted by Salome Chasnoff and Beyondmedia Education for the educational website womenandprison.org.
Beyondmedia Education compiled a tribute to Girl’s Best Friend Foundation as the foundation came to a close in 2007 after 13 years of providing grant funding to organizations with the goal of promoting civil rights and social change for girls and young women. About Face Theatre, Access Living (Empowered Fe Fes), Alternatives, Inc. Girl World, Beyondmedia Education, Chicago Girl’s Coalition, Chicago Women’s Health Center, Family Matters, Girls in the Game, Global Girls Inc., Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health, Project Exploration, Sisters Empowering Sisters, Umoja (Women of Destiny), and Young Women’s Action Team come together in this tribute to thank Girl’s Best Friend Foundation for their support.
In March 2004, Beyondmedia collaborated with their longtime partner, Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM), to produce Voices in Time: Lives in Limbo, a series of art & education events on women and girls’ incarceration and its impact on families at Las Manos Gallery in Chicago. The event aimed to give voice to imprisoned women and girls through visual art, media, written and spoken word, and critical dialogue. This project featured Beyondmedia’s multimedia installation that recreates a prison cell through the eyes of its female prisoners together with live performances by former prisoners, an exhibition of art by women and girls in prison and an audio installation with family members of incarcerated women. Through Beyondmedia’s Women and Prison program, incarcerated women and girls, former prisoners and their families use media arts to voice their stories, promoting public dialogue, healing and community organizing. Since 1997, Beyondmedia has collaborated extensively with women and girls in prison and after their incarceration to create interdisciplinary, multimedia educational forums on women and prison. See http://beyondmedia.org for more information.
Turning a Corner tells the stories of people involved in the sex trade and their efforts to raise public awareness of systemic injustice and promote needed reforms. Created in a media activism workshop with over a dozen members of Prostitution Alternatives Round Table (PART), this groundbreaking film recounts their survival and triumph over homelessness, violence and discrimination, and gives rare insights into Chicago’s sex trade industry. The new version includes interview updates with many of the participants from the original film.
Through Beyondmedia’s Women and Prison program, incarcerated women and girls, former prisoners and their families use media arts to voice their stories, promoting public dialogue, healing and community organizing. Since 1997, Beyondmedia has collaborated extensively with women and girls in prison and after their incarceration to create interdisciplinary, multimedia educational forums on women and prison.