Rashin Fahandej’s residency centered on the role of community members as creative collaborators and agents for systematic change. Her projects explored alternative modes of documentary filmmaking focused on co-creation by increasing equity through educational art and media programs. She piloted models for sustainable media and art programs for ages 5 to 19 at Blackstone Community Center at South End. During her residency she worked with her BCYF community to engage her youth as active participants in teaching and mentoring. Partnering with other artist and academic institutions, using multimedia and new technologies such as 360 cameras and crowd sourcing platforms her project creates an ecosystem for ongoing participation.

Everybody in the community who shares something with me, they know what they want to say, and they know how to say it. It’s just the tool, like media is a tool. If the have access to the tool, they can tell their own stories, and they can have impact on their own culture, and they can hear each other’s stories, and they can reflect on them. That’s why I was interested in tool sharing and programming, because I felt it was essential. We need the tools, and we need the platform for everybody equally, not for certain people in the community.