Schema Magazine

It's hard to get Vancouverites out to anything as we are perpetually flaky, but on a sunny Tuesday evening, the Vancouver Public Library on Robson was full of people bucking that trend. The room was buzzing excitedly for the coming evening's event: Me In Media.

A joint venture between Schema, the United Nations Association of Canada, and numerous community partners (Coop Culture, YouthMade/Access to Media, Pacific Cinémathèque, and W2 Media Arts), Me in Media featured a star panel consisting of Stuart Poyntz (SFU professor), Shima Ghailan (MMUNAC intern), Riaz Meghji (CityTV) and Sid Chow Tan (producer, activist) joining together to answer one question:

How does ethnicity shape the stories that we tell about our city and ourselves? Do you think media plays a role in creating a more inclusive Vancouver?

I had the privilege to be live-tweeting the event and let me tell you, there was not a dull moment! Each speaker was full of great quotes and advice and the audience Q&A after was the liveliest I'd ever seen. Here are some great highlights as captured on Twitter:

"Social media aids Citizen Journalism. Voice is vital BUT words need to be followed by actions." - @ArtOfWords

"Transparency is the new objectivity" - @riazmeghji

"Once false representations are accepted, it quickly normalizes discrimination" - @schema_magazine

"Progressive media means reaching a point when coloured faces are not considered meeting a quota anymore" - @riazmeghji

Despite saying that social media is just the beginning, it proved to be a huge presence at the event. Tweets for #meinmedia reached over 17,000 people and both #meinmedia and @schema_magazine were trending in Vancouver that night! For those that missed out, the entire inspiring transcript from the night can be seen on Coop Culture's live blog and all photos care of Jeremy Lim here.

To keep the momentum going, Schema and the UNAC are hosting several media workshops for selected groups of youth this month. These workshops will teach youth how to express their unique stories and viewpoints through media, in the hopes that they will become more engaged change-makers in their communities.

The first workshop was held last Saturday to much success (check out the photos here) with two more to follow this weekend! Once the workshops are completed, Schema will be hosting an ongoing series of the published works, so be sure to stay tuned for those!

If you'd like to see more programs like this in your community, please take the time to fill out this short 10 minute survey!