Over the next several weeks, PBP staff will present each of the projects on the PB2 ballot, to explain why they deserve your vote. Everyone who donates for the rest of 2012 will get to vote for how the donations are spent – see the six projects on the ballot on the PB2 page. First up is PBP Project Coordinator Donata Secondo, pleading for you to vote for a video:
When presenting at community meetings or public events, PBP always tries to show a video. I notice a sharp change in the audience before and after watching these clips – what first seems like an abstract, technocratic initiative comes alive when participants see people like themselves engaging in participatory budgeting, speaking about its merits, and excited by its outcomes. After they watch the videos, I can see people start to think “Hey, this really does give people like me the power to improve our communities- maybe I should participate!”
So far, PBP has been relying primarily on volunteer videographers or media clips for these “Ah-Ha” moments. While several of these videos are great, we’re limited in our ability to shape the stories and images in them, and I sometimes get frustrated by things that these videos get wrong, or perspectives they fail to show. By deciding to fund a video project, you’ll help PBP produce a video that introduces PB accurately, engages the viewer, and makes the process fun!
A streamlined intro video would help us ensure that everyone learning about PB at our events receives the same basic information, reducing the confusion that sometimes occurs when they try to explain PB to others. We’d also be able to cut down the length of our (sometimes lengthy!) powerpoint presentations and make the information more digestible and memorable. Lastly, let me shamelessly say that this project would make MY life easier — and maybe yours too! With a good video, PB staff and organizers wouldn’t need to speak so much at evening meetings, and we could focus more energy on other kinds of support and community engagement.
If this received funding through PB2, we’d work closely with a videographer to develop the video. We’ve got lots of ideas for what this could look like – please vote for the video project so we can see some of them become a reality!
p.s. Check out our Videos page for some of our favorite PB videos so far.
