Last week I launched an appeal on Kickstarter to help raise some funds to hold a series of video production workshops with the kind folks of Voces de Cambio, the program for teen girls I volunteer with in Guatemala. Voces de Cambio uses writing and photography to help young women explore issues like discrimination, gender equality, and youth leadership. It’s an amazing program and I’ve gladly given my time over the years to help with curriculum, teach photography classes, put together a couple program exhibitions, and help build their website.

Kickstarter is an online tool for ‘crowdfunding’ creative projects, that is providing a place for the general public to get behind projects that interest them and hopefully rally their friends to do the same. Since I’ve been paying attention to Kickstarter there’s been a steady stream of great projects, including a book project by Larry Towell, with scores of new projects appearing daily.

All the information about the appeal is on the Kickstarter site, but this project will help Voces de Cambio add video to it’s program. The initial beneficiaries are the program graduates, as they’ll work through a series of workshops which will give them a solid grounding in video, as well as introduce them to what other youth are doing with the medium for social change. There’s money in the budget for a few initial video cameras, so after they’ve got a handle on the basics the girls will set about making their own videos, working in groups to shoot, direct, and edit their own films. During my visit I’ll also be working on a short film of my own looking at the program, and how it’s impacted the girl’s lives, working in collaboration with the workshop participants. At the end of our time together we’ll hold a public reception and screening (read PARTAY!!) so the girls can celebrate their hard work with their friends and family. Afterwards I’ll work with the Voces de Cambio staff to refine the curriculum we developed for the workshops so that it can be rolled into the program’s main course work, allowing the program to continue benefitting from this appeal.

Kickstarter is a little daunting though, as it’s all-or-nothing, meaning if we don’t reach our goal we get nothing. This makes sense though, as with a portion of the money requested most projects wouldn’t work. Take ours for example, it includes money for the workshops, for gear, and for travel. If we don’t have enough for all three of those elements then the project falls apart. The key then becomes outreach, and getting the message across to those you feel will become backers. We’re a week in at this point, and have just about reached 20% of our goal, which is great. With more than a month to go I’m pretty confident we’ll make it.

Using Kickstarter itself couldn’t be easier, they’ve put together a really slick tool. To get started someone from Kickstarter has to vet your project to make sure it’s a good fit for the site. After that it’s a straight-forward process for setting up your project, uploading video, images, and adding your project rewards. Kickstarter uses Amazon Payments as it’s payment gateway, as they keep all the money in escrow until the end of the appeal, and apparently only Amazon can make this happen. It’s easy enough to set up, took me only 10 minutes before I was back at the Kickstarter site ready to launch. Of the money raised in a successful appeal Kickstarter takes 5%, and Amazon 2% or 3% but it’s free to initiate a project.

So, if you’re reading this before March 22nd I’d ask that you consider backing this project, and help spread the word. Voces de Cambio is dedicated, and much deserving. Together we’ll put your money to good use, and as a backer you’ll be the first to see the girl’s success, as we’ll be sending out regular news, and updates, as well as posting links to the work the girls produce. What was it Aimé Césaire used to say? “There’s room for all at the rendezvous of victory.” See you there!!