MLK: Preserving. Remixing. Remembering.

by Zoë Banks, Marketing Manager

As we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this holiday weekend, we're sharing a selection of BAVC projects that remix, preserve, and remember Dr. King.

BAVC's Digital Pathways Audio class developed on an audio project that taught students new ProTools skills and the ethics of media remixing by dropping audio they had created themselves behind Dr. King's final "Mountaintop" speech. By editing, remixing and transforming the raw footage they were provided, students were encouraged to create unique narratives that communicated the feeling behind Dr. King's words. The curriculum for this lesson plan, which was distributed free for educators, can be found here.

Listen to the MLK remixed tracks (MP3) by BUMP students Jonathan Wong  and Ricky La.

In a fascinating piece about the challenges and triumphs of preserving for Manchester University the long-lost video footage of Dr. King's final speech on a University campus, BAVC Preservation Director Moriah Ulinskas remembers, "When we played the tape the image was a mess of rolling horizontal lines, but the sound: Dr. King’s unmistakable, unshakeable baritone boomed through the speakers of our preservation suite, with surprising levity and humor." Read the full story here.

As a student in BAVC's youth program, Jazmin Jones co-produced with Nick Parker The Apollos, a short documentary that tells the story of the 1981 Oakland Tech senior class that fought to make MLK Day a recognized holiday in the State of California.

The Apollos went on to screen at film festivals nationwide and won many awards - among them the Human and Civil Rights Award from the National Education Association -  while Jazmin went on to launch an accomplished filmmaking and photography career, recently returning to BAVC as a Digital Pathways video instructor, teaching the next generation of youth to tell their own stories and those of their communities.

Watch The Apollos: