GroundSpark

The GroundSpark team is deeply saddened by the loss of lesbian activist, Phyllis Lyon. In her 95 years, Phyllis created lesbian community and worked to end discrimination on the basis of sexuality. Her marriage to Del Martin in 2004 was a revolutionary moment in the marriage equality movement. We're offering free streaming of the 20-minute GroundSpark documentary about her marriage. Just use the password RestInPower at https://vimeo.com/87306979

Don't miss 2 more screenings at the San Francisco Public Library in tribute to Debra Chasnoff this month! That's a Family will be screened tomorrow. And save the date for the Let's Get Real screening on Thursday June 28 at noon.

In tribute to Debra Chasnoff, the San Francisco Public Library will screen one of her films each Thursday this month, starting today! Join us at noon for a screening of "One Wedding and a Revolution", presented by Co-Producer Kate Stilley Steiner.

To our community in the San Francisco Bay Area: there will be a memorial service for Debra Chasnoff tomorrow November 28, from 3 5pm at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, 5000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Woodacre. Please feel free to join us to help honor Debra's life and her legacy. https://groundspark.org/get-involved

It is with profound sadness that we write to let you know that our Executive Director, the Visionary Filmmaker and Activist, Debra Chasnoff, passed away on Tuesday, November 7th of metastatic breast cancer. Her inspired leadership and shining spirit will be deeply missed. With her huge heart and keen intelligence, Debra Chasnoff touched the lives of vast numbers of people with her fierce commitment to effecting social change through media. In parallel to her work with GroundS...park, Chas found a kindred community in New Day Films, the filmmaker run cooperative that distributes GroundSpark films, and became a leader in the organization, serving two times as its chair. Her impact on the co-op, its filmmakers and the scope of its collection were immeasurable. She encouraged a cadre of LGBTQ filmmakers to join, and had a profound influence on a younger generation of filmmakers and social activists whom she mentored with her inimitable spirit. She will be missed by family, friends, and all of us in her community of filmmakers, media artists and social activists. As members of the GroundSpark board we are fully committed to the mission of the organization and to advancing Chas’ legacy. We will continue to promote, distribute and utilize her existing body of work in educational settings and organizing campaigns. We look forward to telling the story of her cancer journey through the work she started in her most recent film project, Prognosis. Some of you may not have known about her more than two-year long journey with breast cancer. Following her diagnosis in June 2015, she began documenting all facets of her experience. She envisioned a film that could help shape how people with cancer, their families, caregivers, healers, and medical practitioners approach life-changing diagnoses. She hoped to provide a powerful example of how to live fully in the face of an unknown prognosis. Central to Chas and her wife Nancy’s approach to dealing with cancer was an insistence that no one put a timeframe to her life expectancy. They offered the rest of us a breathtaking example. In honor of Chas’s work and activism, her family and friends - many of whom are filmmakers and have been making this film with her since the beginning - are committed to seeing this project through. Hundreds of hours have been filmed and there is a great deal of research and development to be done. Chas entrusted Nancy Otto, Lidia Szajko, Joan Lefkowitz, Kate Stilley and Carrie Lozano to follow through with the film, working title: Prognosis. Please support Chas’ mission by making a contribution.

The GroundSpark team wishes our President, Debra Chasnoff, a very happy 60th birthday today! Send b-day wishes to her in the comments below and check out the article about Debra's decades of leadership & vision.

#allyweek starts tomorrow! SIgn up today to get a FREE stream of StraightlacedHow Gender's Got Us All Tied Up to use with students, families, and clients all next week www.groundspark.org/ally-week-free-streaming-of-straightlac. Also check out the online viewing guides at https://groundspark.org//st/straightlaced-curriculum-guide

There is a lot of fact finding to do in this story so we are not going to jump to conclusions, but is such bad news it took our breath away. Please check out our film, Let's Get Real and the companion guide to help raise awareness and cultivate real action to prevent bias-based bullying.

Ally Week, when students & educators who are LGBTQ lead conversations on what they need from their allies, starts on Sept 25. For Ally Week, we’re offering free streaming of StraightlacedHow Gender's Got Us All Tied Up for the last 2 weeks of Sept. Sign up for free streaming today.

"Why would lawmakers want children to wait longer? The purpose of this bill is very transparent: to allow agencies to discriminate against LGBT prospective parents." from our friends at Equality Federation That's a Family

Congratulations to Connersville High School, freshman success coach Julie Phillips! She won the New Day Films free film giveaway at the recent School Social Work Association of America (SSWAA) conference and got to pick any film in the collection. We are honored that you picked LET'S GET REAL! Hope it gets some good use in Connersville, IN. The DVD and curriculum guide are on their way to you today. https://www.newday.com/film/lets-get-real

"Research suggests that kids aren't born with biases about race and gender." Um, well duh.....

We are looking for some volunteers to transcribe some interviews for a project about immigration/ family genealogy. Any takers? Send us a Facebook message or email [email protected].