by Cheryl D. Fields A couple of weeks ago, I visited the Library of Congress. I hadn’t been there since before former President Obama appointed Carla Diane Hayden Librarian of Congress in 2016. The library was as stunning as ever, and I was especially thrilled to explore “Not an Ostrich,”…

The BPM family is hot, hot, hot! by Leslie Fields-Cruz I spent the last weekend in July at a family reunion in Washington, D.C. Watching four generations of my relatives interact with each other — smiling, laughing and celebrating our accomplishments, while also crying and hugging each other as we…

by Leslie Fields-Cruz “My vision and my idea was always to share the achievements and contributions and beauty and talent and artistry of Black people with the world. … To help to change the images that have been perpetuated about Black people through mass media. By omission; by downright, you…

Late last week, we received an announcement about an opportunity that STARZ is offering for screenwriters. The STARZ #TakeTheLead Writers’ Intensive is a collaboration between the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), New Filmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA), and STARZ. It seeks emerging and underrepresented writers who are looking to…

by Katelyn Walsh Last month, several Black Public Media fellows and I joined our other member organizations from Black Innovation Alliance (BIA) to experience one of the biggest tech conferences in the world, Collision 2022. More than 1,500 startups, nearly 500 exhibitors, and more than 35,000 attendees filled Toronto’s Enercare…

by Leslie Fields-Cruz Perhaps it is because I was born at the beginning of summer, but I just love this season! One of my favorite summer recreations is checking out films featured in the annual PBS Short Film Festival, which for 2022 began on Mon., July 11, and continues through…

by Leslie Fields-Cruz I hope you all had a safe and restful Independence Day weekend. Suffice to say, it was both festive and deeply tragic. Because of the holiday, BPM will publish our July newsletter next week. …

by Leslie Fields-Cruz Recently, my older sister shared with me the lyrics from Jazz Poet Gil Scott-Heron’s song, Winter in America. It’s a song everyone should listen to right now. He describes winter as a “season of frozen dreams and frozen nightmares … frozen progress and frozen ideas … frozen…

Let’s take a look by Lisa Osborne We are excited to announce that we have added a fourth residency to our BPMplus Initiative. The new program is a collaboration with the Johnny Carson Center at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. We also are accepting applications for the third cohort of the MIT…