Red Deer Public Library has been awarded a TELUS STORYHIVE Voices grant, which provides $10,000 in production funding to produce a locally reflective video series that will be distributed on TELUS Optik TV and TELUS’s online platforms.
The premise of the STORYHIVE Voices grants, which are awarded to 100 applicants in Alberta and B.C., is to encourage content creators with little or no formal experience or training to create a video series focused on their local communities. The program is sponsored by TELUS, and the goal is to help create a safe space for new and emerging content creators to hone their skills and bring the projects they care about to life.
Briana Ehnes, Red Deer Public Library’s Events & Innovation Manager, will be leading the project with help from RDPL’s Brand Manager, Candice Putnam. The team is excited to get to work, and hope to involve many other library staff and community members in the project.
“When I heard about the STORYHIVE Voices grant, I was immediately intrigued,” says Ehnes. “I knew this would give us the perfect platform to defy preconceived notions of what a public library is and can be for its community, and I’m so grateful that we have been given this opportunity to tell our story.”
RDPL’s video series is titled ‘Be a Part of the Story,’ which is also the library’s official tagline, and will be presented in six parts. Ehnes explains the concept of the series, and what the library hopes to achieve by taking on this project:
“We see all walks of life at the public library – from young children to seniors, people experiencing homelessness and addictions, newcomers, and more. Highlighting stories from these individual community members, as well as some of the local organizations that we collaborate with to support the needs of Red Deerians, we'll share our triumphs and how public libraries are rising to the occasion. We'll also discuss some of the challenges our community faces and how we might work together to create change.”
“Part of this project is aimed at building an understanding that strong libraries help build strong communities, but we also hope that the project will build empathy toward those in our community who are facing challenges – whether this is through discrimination, or access to safe housing or treatment programs – so we can work together to support ALL members of our community, which is one of the core values held by RDPL.”
As part of the application process, Red Deer Public Library created a 60-second video to serve as an “elevator pitch” for the grant committee, which can be viewed on the library’s YouTube channel.
As a recipient of the grant, Ehnes and her team will attend a series of virtual workshops that provide the foundational tools, resources, and guidance to bring the project to life, including sessions on how to conduct interviews, craft a narrative, film and edit the videos, and more.
The video series will launch on TELUS Optik TV and on STORYHIVE’s YouTube channel in fall 2024.
For more information, please contact:
Briana Ehnes, Events & Innovation Manager
Red Deer Public Library - Downtown Branch
4818 49 Street, Red Deer AB, T4N 1T9
Phone: 403-346-4576 Ext: 1510
Email: behnes@rdpl.org
