Media Democracy Days is upon us!

Media Democracy Days is here - and here’s what you need to know

It’s that time of year again -- Media Democracy Days (MDD) is upon us!

This year’s event has already been off to a lively start with interactive workshops taking place earlier this week at the Vancouver Public Library’s new Inspiration Lab, a space which provides participants access to sound studio, video production, and self-publishing software.

Things are gearing up for the main day of the event, which will take place tomorrow, November 19. You can join Vancouver’s thriving media community at SFU Harbour Centre in discussions and workshops about a people-led and people-first media future for free. This all-day (10:30am-6pm) event is FREE and is a staple for all alternative and independent media activists and promises to attract nearly three thousand attendants to its sixteenth annual offering.

The event this year will be headlined by Ryan McMahon, host of the Red Man Laughing podcast and the first Indigenous comedian to have a full hour special on CBC. The choice of McMahon  as keynote falls in line with a greater concentration on intersectionality and diversity within the program overall, as well as its focus on Indigenous content.

To echo the importance of representing digital rights struggles across varying and unique identities, the very event planning process for MDD 2016 itself took on an innovative approach, filling the workshop roster with brand new offerings that combined the skills and insights of co-presenters.

Community activists, educators, and artists were first invited to collaborate on overlapping pitches at a gathering in September, in this way ensuring more community-driven content. The lineup for most of the day has been filled as a result of this process, which asked contributing presenters to consider select themes in their work. These include topics such as community-based media initiatives, accessibility issues, media for and within the struggles of displaced communities, and incorporation of the Leap Manifesto in media activism.

Some notable highlights in the program include the starting Saturday workshop run by “radical librarians,” which will serve as an introduction to the work of three local people who use their roles as librarians for social equity. Rabble.ca will also offer an evening workshop entitled “Decolonizing the Mind,” featuring Dr. Glen Coulthard, author of “Red Skins, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition,” and Tina House, filmmaker and APTN video journalist.

For more information and updates, be sure to check out the MDD 2016 Facebook event, or else visit their website. See you there!