More Digital Storytelling from the North

Ageless Inuit Man-Photo by Doreen Leavitt

                                 

    Last year I was involved as evaluator in an innovative pan-Arctic Inuit Wellness TV Series project. It was a very engaging experience and I know we all learned a lot.  Take a peek at the website and just one of the imbedded project videos below and you may, too.                                                                                                                                                                              

 
Pan-Arctic Inuit Wellness TV Series      (click here)

TV Set-Iqaluit, Nunavut, May 2009

 
ABOUT US (excerpted from website above)


"Qanuqtuurniq - Finding the Balance" shared health information, stories about successful Inuit community health projects and interesting research with audiences across northern regions in May 2009 . It was co-ordinated by the Inuit Tuttarvingat, the Inuit-specific unit of the National Aboriginal Health Organization.

TV PHONE-IN SHOWS

"Qanuqtuurniq - Finding the Balance" was an International Polar Year outreach project. It involved a project team of health promotion experts, researchers, Inuit organizations, community members, and northern broadcasters, as well as several working groups that helped develop the content. Inuit Communications (ICSL) of Iqaluit, Nunavut along with EnTheos Films of Ottawa, produced the series and it was broadcast in May 2009 on the Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network (APTN) North and Alaska's 360 North.

The three television programs were:

• about Inuit youth and coping; Inuit men's health; and Inuit maternity care
• live and interactive through phone and e-mail
• aired in the Inuit language with English captions
• broadcast on May 11, 12 & 13, 8-10 p.m. Eastern Time
• broadcast simultaneously through a Web-cast on the National Inuit Youth Council's Web site, www.niyc.ca
• hosted by an Inuk broadcaster, with a panel of community experts and a live studio audience
• a way to share interesting information about Inuit health and wellness
• an opportunity for Inuit to talk to Arctic researchers and ask how research is benefiting Inuit communities.

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Here is one of the brief videos that provide highlights from exemplary community-based health projects (~5mins) that was created as part of the overall project and imbedded into the  2- hour live TV show on youth resiliency. If you like this one, I encourage you to check out the others, and the many additional resources all available on the Inuit Tuttarvingat website above. 

Look. Listen.

Project Life | IsumaTV   (click here)
Project Life is a youth wellness and suicide prevention program for the Maniilaq area of Alaska. It uses digital story-telling to help Alaskan Native youth to connect with and express their culture. It also helps the youth learn about leadership. These digital stories created by the youth allow them to explore their culture and interact with their elders by interviewing them and then sharing the interviews with the community. We will meet a young Inupiat woman whose life has been dramatically changed through the Project Life program and hear how this program hopes to impact many more youth.