One Minute Academy's Chasing the Light Podcast: Ukraine

I had the immense privilege of documenting a storytelling workshop serving the American Embassy in Kyiv by the One Minute Academy.

One Minute Academy's mission is to spread video literacy around the world. Working with both teachers and institutions to provide students and employees with new opportunities for self-expression, they have created online video education strategies for some of the world’s largest institutions, such as Adobe and National Geographic. To date, they have collaborated with 75 US embassies on projects ranging from drug violence prevention and economic empowerment, to countering violent extremism and training for diplomats (you can learn more at oneminuteacademy.com).

One Minute Academy’s founder, Christoph Geiseler, and I collaborated to create this project documenting the Ukraine workshop. Classes took place over Zoom over the course of a week, and while Christoph and his intrepid team of teachers did their thing, I recorded each day, pulling students ‘aside’ into breakout rooms to interview them on their experience within the class, during the war, and about the stories they were hoping to tell.

Meeting these students and watching their creativity unfold was a transformative experience; then, combing through a week’s worth of footage to create a narrative podcast was another! Christoph and I went back and forth on the perfect voice for the podcast before settling on me as the observer. From there, I dove into sound designing and soundtracking, and what emerged is I hope a truly immersive look into this experience.

Formal copy here (also written by me):

8 months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a storytelling workshop takes place in partnership with America House in Kyiv. Joined by guests Professor Nick Cull, from the USC Center of Public Diplomacy, and Ed Bice, CEO of Meedan, follow along and meet the students as they learn the skills they need to capture their experiences in a one minute documentary-style format. Whether documenting Russian war crimes in Kharkiv, creating artist communities among refugees in Zurich, or working to preserve their culture under threat at home in Kyiv, everyone has a story to tell.

Previous
Previous

PRO SESSIONS from the San Francisco & PNW Chapters of the Recording Academy

Next
Next

Mary McLaughlin Music: Bandcamp Release of A Gaelic Christmas