On this day last year, a small group of us pulled together an incredibly beautiful and powerful project. The I Am Equality Campaign launched August 17, 2013. With NO budget and a HUGE vision, we were able to coordinate a photo campaign in 17 cities and 5 countries in a matter of weeks. It started with an idea to photograph individuals, groups and families just as they are--Beautiful, Unique, Amazing, Human. We asked the important question: What will YOU do to make Equality Go Viral? And we had amazing photographers from around the world, who so graciously contributed their time and resources, take beautiful photographs of everyone who showed up to one of our events. We also asked people to interact with us online and take their own photos and answer the question. We were so honored to have the Members of Parliament host an event with the Australian Marriage Equality in Sydney, we had one of Lady Gagas former Tour Photographers host an event in Toronto, Canada. We had an event in Christchurch, NZ, Belgium, and in various parts of the US. My small team of visionaries worked hard to put this project together, and we gave it our very best. We had no idea what we were doing--we just jumped right in to make it happen! In the end, there was little to no media coverage, despite the several promises from news crews, and we worked through a variety of obstacles to make the multiple events happen. Our editors who signed on to edit all the photos afterwards bailed at the last minute, and we currently sit on top of most of those photos waiting to be edited and distributed. Many people who helped organize felt defeated afterwards. I felt the weight of that for a VERY long time. But looking back, I am so incredibly proud of us. I am so grateful that we forged ahead with our vision, that we were fearless, and that we contribute something wonderful and positive to humanity. I am honored that we created a ripple on August 17th, 2013, and that ripple effect of images that captured the hundreds of people who participated in the I Am Equality Campaign still expands to this day, touching many peoples lives in unexpected ways. We had nothing but a grand vision, and we made it happen. And for the several who still remain from that project, we have taken that vision further than we imagined. That experience has netted beautiful opportunities. Our partnership with ASU Project Humanities was born from that campaign. We have been contacted by city officials and other amazing organizations to link up to produce other initiatives. Every other week there is someone inquiring about the campaign and asking when our next event will happen. I am in tears of gratitude realizing that success is not in how many show up, or what news organization arrives to cover the event. It is not in how many team members are still part of the team or who still believe in this vision. It is not in whether the project follows a specific timeline... Our success is that we dared to dream BIG, and we took action, and we made it happen across the globe. We did it! And I look forward to next year, August 15th--when we will do it again! My gratitude to all who participated in this momentous event last year. I
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 23:56:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015