video

Enter an election-themed video contest

The UUA’s Standing on the Side of Love website is seeking short, compelling, election-related videos. For example, videos might focus on voter registration, a moral budget, reproductive justice, or marriage equality. The prize for the best video is $1,000. The top five will receive $100 worth of Standing on the Side of Love gear.

The videos should be no more than four minutes long and should be based on UU values and a vision of the future. They should not endorse a particular candidate or political party. They should also not use copyright-protected images or music.

The deadline for submissions is September 23. More information is available here.

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UUA Announcements

Blog highlights youth, young adult videos

Blue Boat, the blog of Youth and Young Adult Ministries within the Unitarian Universalist Association,  is highlighting a collection of videos and other materials that will be useful to individuals and groups working on personal and social transformation. The collection, God Bless the Whole World, is a free online collection of videos, audio files, articles, and courses on social justice, spiritual activism, and environmentalism, which are useful in starting discussions not only among youth and young adult groups, but in other groups as well.

Blue Boat also has other resources for youth and young adult groups, including articles and videos on youth leadership, campus ministry, and social justice.

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Resources

Congregationally focused articles, May to October 2011

InterConnections is not the only source of useful information for lay leaders. Check out uuworld.org for articles about UUA changes and congregational activities. Here are some recent ones:

  • Congregants at the UU Church of Berkeley, Calif., created a “Tree of Life” mosaic using broken jewelry, pottery, keys and other items that had meaning to them. The artwork was an exercise in community and creativity. (10.24.11)
  • First Unitarian Church of Rochester, N.Y., created a rap video for its fall homecoming weekend using the talents of members. The video not only captivated the congregation, but went viral, showing up in many other places online. (10.10.11)
  • The GA 2012 Planning Committee and others met in September and began to firm up plans for the “Justice GA” in Phoenix next June. (9.26.11)
  • An article on campus ministries describes how many campus-based UU communities are connecting with spiritual seekers. (9.19.11)
  • Some UU congregations are creating time banks to build community and save money. (5.23.11)
  • Congregations participating in the UUA’s Leap of Faith program learn from each other. (5.16.11)
  • First Unitarian Church of Providence, R.I., spreads its message using cable TV, and bus shelter and magazine ads. (5.9.11)

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Resources

Video introduces international faith

A new three-minute video, Welcome to Our Global Faith, has been created to introduce the global nature of Unitarian Universalism to congregations, and especially to new UUs.

The video describes the work of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists, the International Association for Religious Freedom, the UU Holdeen India Program, the UU United Nations Office, and the partner church program with congregations in Transylvania, India, and elsewhere.

The video is available on UUA.org here.

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Resources

Videos for newcomers

Q. We’re looking for a video about Unitarian Universalism that we can use in newcomer classes.

A. Many congregations use Voices of a Liberal Faith. View it here: http://www.uuplanet.tv/video/Voices-of-a-Liberal-Faith-Unita.

The Church of the Larger Fellowship also has a new service in which it will help congregations create a five-session “Welcome In” online class explaining Unitarian Universalism, how the congregation works, UU spirituality, the larger world of Unitarian Universalism, and the history of Unitarian Universalism and the congregation. Find out more and view a sample online class here.

A third option is the DVD Our American Roots, highlighting the history of Unitarian Universalism in North America. It is $75 from All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Okla.

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Q&A, Resources

Videos showcase congregational projects

A new series of short videos, titled “A Religion for Our Time” and highlighting inspiring work in Unitarian Universalist congregations, is being released between now and General Assembly in June. The first video, featuring the UU Church of Ogden, Utah’s OUTreach Center, a drop-in program for bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender youth and young adults, is available now on the front page of UUA.org. Other videos will be posted in weeks to come. Look for them either on the front page or on UUA.org’s Religion for Our Time page.

The videos are being funded by a donation to the UUA for this purpose. They are being created by a Denver, Colo., production company using images supplied by the congregations involved.

UUA President Peter Morales, who commissioned the project, said the videos will cover a range of topics. “One of the best ways we learn is by seeing what other people are doing. I am truly excited about this new way of sharing some of the wonderful work our congregations are doing. I hope these short videos inspire creativity across our movement.”

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Resources

Multicultural, antiracism films available for loan

A library of 32 videos and DVDs focusing on issues of race, oppression, and multiculturalism are available for loan to congregations free of charge from the UUA’s Identity-Based Ministries Staff Group.

Titles in the DVD-Video Loan Library include “Race: The Power of an Illusion,” “Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North,” and “Farmingville: Welcome to the Suburbs, Home of the New Border Wars.” Some of the films have discussion guides.

Most titles aren’t readily available through commercial rental businesses such as Netflix. The UUA provides them for congregational and private viewing only.  They’re available on a first-come, first-served basis. The DVD-Video Loan Library is a cost-effective way to support and deepen reflection about key issues. The list of titles and instructions for borrowing them is available as a PDF online here.

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Resources

‘People So Bold’ offers guidance for justice work

Congregations looking for support, guidance, and inspiration in doing social justice work can find it in a DVD and a book of essays, both called A People So Bold. Both were created from conversations on January 4 when a group of UU theologians, social justice advocates, ministers, educators, and others came together to talk about “not how we do social justice, but why we do it and what it means,” in the words of the Rev. Meg Riley, director of the UUA’s Advocacy and Witness program.

“We had a deep conversation about what it means to be engaged in the world,” Riley says, adding that the topics on the DVD include some not normally discussed in social justice contexts, including “how we as UUs talk about evil.” She says other topics include: “How does our faith hold brokenness, injustice, and suffering, and how do we develop a prophetic voice?”

Participants in the talks included the Revs. Rebecca Parker, Paul Rasor, Thandeka, Victoria Safford, and Marilyn Sewell, plus social justice advocates the Rev. Louise Green, Paula Cole Jones, the Rev. Kate Lore, plus Jill Schwendeman, director of youth programs at White Bear UU Church in Mahtomedi, Minn., and Annease Hastings, music director at Bull Run UUs in Manassas, Va. A complete list of participants is here.

The January 4 convocation was the result of a partnership between the UUA and All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington, D.C. Three other congregations also participated in the conversations: First Unitarian Church of Portland, Ore., White Bear UU Church, and Bull Run UU Church.

The DVD and book are designed for churches to use every way they can––in lifespan education, by social justice groups, and for sermons, says Riley. Some of the information on the DVD was also used at the UU University session on justice presented at General Assembly 2009.

Congregations can request one free copy of the DVD by emailing socialjustice@uua.org. Additional copies are $10 each. The book, edited by the Rev. John Gibb Millspaugh, cominister of the Winchester UU Society in Winchester, Mass., is $16 from the UUA Bookstore. It is published by Skinner House. A DVD Discussion Guide is available free, online.

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Resources

Filming others may require permission

Q. Our congregation has an excellent choir. Our meetinghouse is a popular place for community dinners and other public events. Recently, one of our fellowship members produced a movie to tell our story to newcomers. Questions are now being raised about copyright and privacy issues. If we sponsor a Christmas fair and we sing Christmas carols from the Unitarian Universalist hymn book, do we need legal permission? Can we film visitors as they walk past our holiday displays? The  movie includes crowd scenes with two or three hundred people present.

A. Peter Bowden, a children’s television producer who also runs UU Planet Ministry & Media, which offers growth consulting and video production services to congregations, has this to say:

“I’m not a lawyer, so please conduct your own thorough research and consult experts. However, in my work with producing documentary-style content for broadcast TV we always get a release form with this simple guideline—if you can tell who it is, get a personal release.”

“When filming crowds at public performances and other large events we generally post signs at entrances to the event notifying those attending that we are filming,” he says. “By entering the event they are thereby giving consent. When we do this we take pictures of the signs to document they were posted.”

“In short,” he says, “signed releases for everything! For people, for corporate logos, for property, for pets.  In the spring of 2009 I made a video for our congregation’s capital campaign (http://www.youtube.com/channingchurch). If you look at that video, which is primarily stills edited together, I only used recent footage with people I recognized and thought we’d have a chance of contacting. We went through the video and listed every person clearly recognizable. All of these people were contacted for permission. We went with simple verbal and email permission to be included and were explicit in stating the video would be posted online. I would have liked written releases but the verbal/email is better than many churches do.”

The dangers of not being thorough? “All it takes,” Bowden says, “is one person to discover they are in your video (or their former spouse and child are) and you’ve opened a can of worms. Maybe not a lawsuit, but you can quickly regret not doing the work to get permissions. If you have existing footage you want to use you’ll need to make your own judgment call.”

He adds that some public events, such as newsworthy gatherings, have different standards. “As for music, if it has a valid copyright you need to get permission to use it in a video. Just last week I saw a UU video on YouTube that had a notice posted under it stating that the audio for the video had been disabled due to potential copyright violation. In the YouTube environment people and organizations are getting very sloppy. I advise organizations not to fall into this trap.” Information on obtaining copyright permissions for some UU materials is here.

In addition to his work with congregations,  Bowden created and moderates the website uuplanet.tv, a Unitarian Universalist video network. Through this site he is collecting and sharing all of the best UU television and video content from across the web.

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Q&A, Resources