Created by the South Side Home Movie Project in collaboration with Arts +Public Life, Spinning Home Movies was “launched as an effort to connect with our communities virtually in spring 2020; the ongoing Spinning Home Movies series has emerged as a new paradigm for meaningful artist/archive partnerships and for robust community engagement. Each episode features a 20-30 minute set of home movie footage, curated and sound-tracked by Chicago DJs, musicians, and performing artists, followed by a live discussion, “The Rewind,” where the production team, guest artists, and film donors dig deeper into the episode’s themes.”

My role: I contributed to the inception of this program, originally live editing/streaming pre-recorded content with live interviews and audience reactions. As the series evolved, I worked closely to design and produce new episodes by supporting guest artists with onboarding, researching, and recording to the live premiere.

My impact: Since April 2020, Spinning Home Movies has completed over 20 episodes, each engaging new artists and different South Side Home Movie Project Archives collections.

Challenges/Opportunities: Implementing new technology! Moving archival images between editor, artists, and live stream was tricky, but the reward was creating a moment of togetherness during lockdown.

In the Media, “We get to talk to folks who are part of the collection, and they’re reflecting on the footage, their feelings: what parts of those times are missing now and what parts are still here,” said Tony Santiago, who hosts the program, setting the stage for each week’s mix with a little introduction. “

-Christian Belanger- Hyde Park Hearld