ACE Spectrum
ACE Spectrum
Ace Spectrum is about you — the ACE Learning Centers.
It’s a quick sharing of ideas, inspiration, opinions and best practices among our continuing education organizations.
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From Stories About a Gay Syrian Refugee to Fly Fishing in Golden Gate, the KALW Audio Academy is on a Roll
By Guest Blogger Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW Public Radio
It’s been a couple of weeks since my last report, and the current Audio Academy has been extremely productive! I’d like to dedicate this blog post to providing an update on the stories they’ve been making. Here goes:
KALW Audio Academy members create stories,
Eli Wirtschafter produced a story about a gay Syrian refugee and his journey to the Bay Area. He did a great job sharing the piece, and it became KALW‘s top story the week it aired. Eli subsequently sold the story to The California Report, giving it an even broader audience.
As part of their training at KALW, we ask Academy members to produce interviews for Crosscurrents. That means researching a topic, booking a guest, listening in on the interview and editing the story for air. Eli produced this interview about the potential link between global warming and the refugee crisis.
Another aspect of our students’ training is taking a 45-minute raw conversation recorded by Storycorps in San Francisco and cutting it down to an airable three minutes. That’s what Tammy Drummond did with this piece about a disabled dancer.
Then there’s a series of stories that KALW has been developing over the last few years about San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. We’ve had three great additions to that series created by members of the Audio Academy. Truc Nguyen reported an Audiograph piece about the extraordinary Conservatory of Flowers. Ian Lewis made one about the well-hidden casting pools for fly-fishing. And, most recently, Luisa Cardoza reported an Audiograph about the meditative archery range on the far west side of the park.
Truc also produced a Storycorps about a group called “Our Mission: No Eviction” which aired on Monday.
Lisa Bartfai‘s story about the problems with the current bail system aired last Wednesday. It was a solid look, fueled by a strong scene of a complicated and frustrating process.
Now the cohort is in production on a series of stories to air on Crosscurrents about what public safety means to different people around the Bay Area. We’ll start rolling those out in just over a week.
This week, our seminars will be focused on investigative journalism. It’s driven, in part, by our recent visit from Susanne Reber, executive editor of Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting. And we’ve also got a deadline set for pitches on whole episode ideas from the Academy members. Historically, these have been some of the most fulfilling projects created during the group’s time working with us, so I can’t wait to see what comes next!
A KALW Audio Academy Graduate Makes Significant (Radio) Waves
By Guest Blogger Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW Public Radio
Last week was a real standout for the Audio Academy, in large part because of one street corner. Crosscurrents dedicated the entire week to airing The Intersection, a five-part series created, reported and hosted by David Boyer (’14). I’ve talked about this work of extraordinary long-form journalism before in this blog, and to witness David’s vision fulfilled after many months of hard work was deeply moving for me.
A couple of years ago, David was my mentee in the Audio Academy. He was a really driven, extraordinarily creative and highly motivated producer, and the first piece he made was an absolute joy to hear: the story of a man named D’Arcy Drollinger and the class he taught for aspiring backup dancers in San Francisco’s Castro District. It’s called “Sunday Skool,” and you can hear it by clicking here.
While he definitely enjoyed having fun, and making playful radio, David was really motivated to use the medium for a more transformative purpose: to tell stories that challenged conventional perceptions. He and I discussed, at length, how the most significant story in San Francisco was the rapidly changing economy and how it was changing the nature of the city. The mass media was already reporting on the Mission, SOMA and South Bay Districts regularly. We wanted to get ahead of the curve.
David had the idea to focus on one intersection where each corner would represent a different sense of place. And after a great deal of searching, trial and error, he decided the corner of 3rd and Jerrold in the Bayview District would be the ideal focal point. A few months later, as his final project for the Audio Academy, he created The Intersection. It was four distinct stories about a church, a fast food chain restaurant, a college prep program and an organic pizza shop. Listen to the pieces here.
The Intersection was different. It was personal. Very emotional. Insightful and caring. Thoughtful, open and honest. We thought so highly of the project, we featured it during a membership drive, anchoring the pieces with a conversation with one of the Bayview’s longtime community leaders, Joe Marshall. And when David graduated from the Audio Academy in 2014, we found out he was just getting started with his project.
David applied for and received two grants to continue his work, from Cal Humanities and the San Francisco Arts Council. He decided to focus on another intersection in San Francisco subject to significant changes: the corner of Golden Gate and Leavenworth in the Tenderloin. Then David utilized some of his true gifts. He sat down with people. He listened. He spent time connecting with people in a community, finding out where they are at, what they want, what makes life hard and how they relate with one another. And after nearly a year of conversations, David’s podcast The Intersection was ready to be released.
It started as a podcast, released weekly, as a serial. Then last week, KALW had the honor of hosting the broadcast debut of The Intersection over four days. One story about the struggles of a drug addict to leave her difficult street life behind her. One story about what it’s like to be a middle-school girl growing up in the hardscrabble Tenderloin. One story about the work done inside one of San Francisco’s oldest union hiring halls. One story about how people living and working in the neighborhood coexist with drug dealers. And one story about how a high-profile literacy program is moving in and what that might mean for the neighborhood. You should hear these stories. Get started by clicking here.
The podcast was noticed by iTunes, making its list of “new and noteworthy” podcasts. It’s been buzzed about in blogs around the Bay Area, and it’s been noticed by producers at WNYC, public radio’s biggest podcast powerhouse. And when we aired it on Crosscurrents, three of the pieces quickly entrenched in the top four “most listened to” spots. David is making meaningful, impactful radio.
So, yeah. Last week was a remarkable one for the Audio Academy. In large part because of one street corner. And because of a graduate who is making sure its story is told well.
Current College Students Share Stories and Advice With Future College Students at SFIHS
By Guest Blogger Amanda Chui, Senior Teacher and Advisor, San Francisco International High School
Community – it is something that is naturally created at SFIHS. Students learn the value of remembering where you come from. During our last week of school this fall, our students and alumni had the opportunity to connect to learn more about themselves as future/current college students. Our alumni shared many stories and advice with our current seniors. The turnout of our alumni was so great that each senior had at least one alumni to talk to. The SPAN* program has allowed us to continue to connect to our students in many different ways, and to give back to the community they are from.
SFIHS grads who are now college students visit the high school to share their experiences.
Looks like the advice during the SPAN Alumni Panels was good.
It’s about community and connection as current/future college students listen to each other.
*SPAN is a program in the ACE Learning Center