Setbacks for A Creative Memphis
Got 2 pieces of heartbreaking news at last Saturday's Li'l Film Fest.
- This was the last Li'l Film Fest, at least as run by Live From Memphis. Sarah Fleming, part of the diynamic duo that runs the great and creative LFM, announced that she had to get a job that paid health benefits. How this affects their other work, beside the Fest, I'm not sure. Information Bureau (the juried winner of the LFF 8) reports that there is talk to keep the Fest going. He also provides a good description of the spirit of the LFF.
- The Media Co-Op is moving out of its space at the First Congo after January. The mixture of Cooper-Young, the cool and cavernous First Congo and the Co-Op made this one of my favorite places in Memphis. At this point, they don't have a new home. The future sounds, maybe looks, very uncertain for the Co-Op.
Labels: creativity, digital, DIY, filmmaking, fun, geo:lat=35.118768, geo:lon=-89.991074, geotagged, Live From Memphis, placemaking
posted by gatesofmemphis at 2:30 PM
3 Comments:
i am sooooo sad to hear this. i never got to see the li'l film fest OR go to the media co-op :( (alas, suspiria was cancelled...) but i always mention these two things when i am trying to talk up the creative side of memphis. let's hope both can find ways to keep going....
It's shocking how many programs that produce the creative cauldron that Memphis needs go wanting for a few thousand dollars while millions are spent on the latest big idea. In the end, success doesn't come from big developments but dozens of small-scale creative explorations. Lil Film Festival was one of the best. It's a sad commentary on our priorities in Memphis and lack of understanding about the issue (and importance) of creativity.
fearlessvk, luckily they're having a few more events at the Co-Op before moving. A preview of Morgan Jon Fox's new documentary is coming up and I believe another Black Lodge film. I'll try to get details.
SCC, that Fleming noted health care as one of the reasons they have to cut back also points to systematic problems, real obstacles to sustainability of tree-root creative institutions. They exist everywhere else too, but our economy's relative lack of complexity increases the risks for our entrepeneurs.
The world is funner now, the possibilities of positive change are greater, but our rulership class wants to live like its 1977. No creativity, no imagination.
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