Allied Media Projects cultivate media strategies for a more just and creative world. From the unique intersection of media and communications, art, technology, education and social justice, we share and develop models for transforming ourselves and our communities.
Our work is grounded in Network Principles developed and evolved through dialogue with our uniquely diverse and collaborative community of participants.
AMP grew out of the annual Allied Media Conference, which began in 1999 as a celebration of independent publishing and do-it-yourself culture. The AMC has expanded to a large and diverse gathering, offering hands-on trainings in a wide-range of media practices, from breakdancing to video-blogging to building radio transmitters and wireless mesh networks. The AMC fosters strategies for how these practices can support and inspire grassroots organizing for social justice.
AMP moved the AMC from its original home in Bowling Green, OH to Detroit, MI in 2007, connecting with the city’s rich legacy of community media and social movements. The AMC has become a one-of-a-kind convergence point for the most visionary and effective media-based organizers from across the U.S. and beyond, who come to Detroit every year to teach and to learn.
AMP’s local programs model and innovate practices in education, economic development and community organizing. We facilitate organizing around issues of technology access, participation, common ownership, and healthy communities through the Detroit Digital Justice Coalition. Our Detroit Future Media program is a 6-month training course in core digital media competencies, and their application in shaping Detroit’s future through education, entrepreneurship and community organizing. Through Detroit Future Schools, we pair graduates from Detroit Future Media with K-12 teachers to design and implement digital media arts-integrated curricula in the classroom.
We are building web platforms that support and celebrate the collaboration and creativity of our network. AMPTalk is an online forum for idea-development and resource-sharing amongst the participants of the Allied Media Projects network. Allied365.org is an online catalog where participants in the Allied Media Conference, Detroit Future Media, and Detroit Future Schools showcase and distribute their services, curricula, and other offerings.