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5. TOH receives NYS Grant to Produce Spanish Version of The Witness

Tribe of Heart has received a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts to create and release "El Testigo," the Spanish-language version of The Witness. Shortly after receiving this grant, Adriana Cristina Hernandez, a professional interpreter, contacted us from Texas. She had seen The Witness and wanted to share it with her Spanish-speaking family, so she graciously volunteered to make a translation of the film for us. In August, we plan to go into the studio with Eddie Lama, and using Adriana’s translation, will create a Spanish language soundtrack for The Witness. El Testigo will premiere in New York City, and will eventually be available as an alternate soundtrack on the DVD version of The Witness coming out later this year. Given the audience response we have seen when showing The Witness in Latino communities, we are thrilled at the prospect of being able to distribute a Spanish-language version worldwide.

ACTION OPPORTUNITY: If you have contacts in a Spanish-speaking community and would like to help us publicize and distribute the Spanish version of The Witness, please send us an email with your contact information, and we will get in touch when El Testigo is ready for release later this year.

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6. “To Tell the Truth” – Science Teaching Guide for The Witness Released

Tribe of Heart’s second teaching guide, “To Tell the Truth: Science, Society, and Controversy,” was designed to stimulate critical thinking amongst science students. Exploring the age old scientific debate over the nature of animal consciousness, this new teaching guide invites students to consider some of the ways prevailing social, political, and religious influences have shaped the results of animal study and research, from medieval times into the present. It also shows how the new science of cognitive ethology is mounting a challenge to centuries-old scientific attitudes and beliefs. The readings for this lesson provide lively food for thought, not just for science students, but for anyone who is interested in the role science has played in our conception of the human-animal relationship. Science and English teaching guides are both downloadable for printing as well. Click here for details.

ACTION OPPORTUNITY: If you know a high school teacher, community college instructor or college professor who teaches science, ethics, writing, or philosophy, consider supplying them with a copy of The Witness along with our teaching guides. Though the guides are designed specifically to meet national education standards for high school students, much of the material and references, as well as the general approach to teaching the material, can easily be adapted for college classes.

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7. John Robbins Joins New Gift of Compassion Initiative
    with The Food Revolution

John Robbins’ groundbreaking book, Diet for a New America, had a major influence on our work at Tribe of Heart. Specifically, John’s unique blend of personal storytelling and clear exposition of the many ways we are unnecessarily harming ourselves, our planet and the animals, touched us deeply.

Given the inspiration John’s work has offered to us and so many others, it is with particular joy that we announce our collaboration with him in an extension of Tribe of Heart’s Gift of Compassion program. From this point forward, each person who purchases a Gift of Compassion (24 half-priced videos plus outreach materials) will receive a complimentary copy of The Food Revolution which has been donated by John Robbins. In turn, each person who purchases a case of The Food Revolution under John Robbins’ special discount program for activists will receive a complimentary copy of The Witness donated by Tribe of Heart. John’s book is a perfect addition to our Gift of Compassion activism kit, as The Food Revolution supplies, in a single work, an engaging and meticulously researched overview of all the major reasons that a plant-based diet is best for our health and our hearts, and why it is also the greatest single gift we can give to those of the future.

ACTION OPPORTUNITY: If you haven’t yet, read The Food Revolution, and consider distributing The Witness and the Food Revolution together as complementary tools for change.

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8. GOC Participant Gets The Witness into Wilmington Film Festival

Annette Swartz of Wilmington, Delaware, joined our Gift of Compassion program in November of last year. Since then, she has organized a screening of The Witness at the University of Delaware, donated the video to local libraries, designed library window displays highlighting The Witness and animal issues, and approached local philosophy professors about including the film in their curricula. She is also currently working on getting The Witness shown in area churches, as well as a correctional facility for adolescents.

Annette holds up her library's newest arrival: The Witness

Most recently, Annette submitted The Witness to the selection committee for the Wilmington Film Festival. After their viewing, we were contacted by a member of the Mayor of Wilmington’s staff, who kindly shared the committee’s heartfelt reaction to the film. We will be attending the screening of The Witness at the festival (Sept. 25-29, details TBA), along with Eddie Lama, and look forward to meeting Annette in person. Annette’s success in bringing The Witness to a mainstream municipal film festival shows once again what is possible when just a single person steps forward to carry the message of compassion into their community.

ACTION OPPORTUNITY: If your community or region has a film festival or an alternative movie theatre, you may well be able to submit The Witness for consideration. Feel free to contact film festival organizers or theatre programmers, who often appreciate suggestions from the community about interesting films to consider. The Witness can be screened in 35-mm film, Beta-SP, DVD, and mini-DV formats. You may find that your submission of the film will be strengthened if you include a complete Witness Press Kit, which is now available at the Tribe Shop. You can also download many of the same resources for free here on our web site. Once you have developed an opportunity in your community, contact us and we can offer advice about how to follow up.

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9. Activists Bring The Witness to Theatres and Colleges
     Across North America

Once again we return to our theme of individual activists facilitating events that have widespread and lasting impact. In 2002, there have been a series of superbly orchestrated screenings, each led by one or two activists who then assembled a whole team to plan, publicize, and host larger scale screenings of The Witness. Here are some highlights:

VANCOUVER, BC PREMIERE: Pacific Cinematheque Theatre
In January, Tony Levin organized a screening of The Witness at Vancouver’s Pacific Cinematheque, and enlisted the help of EarthSave Canada and the Vancouver Humane Society. Tony and his team publicized the event widely, and arranged a radio interview for Jenny and me with Karl Losken, who hosts Animal Voices on 102.7 FM in Vancouver (Great program! Check it out). Their hard work paid off with a well-attended event, and an audience that was clearly moved by the film’s message. After the screening, Tony led a discussion, and literature was made available on vegetarianism and animal protection issues. After seeing how his efforts impacted this group of people, Tony decided to organize another screening at the Pacific Cinematheque, which just happened on Tuesday, June 25th.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA: The Red Vic Movie House

In February, activist Diane Delonzor orchestrated 4 evening screenings of The Witness and one matinee over the course of two days. It was a real community undertaking, inspired by Diane’s creative leadership and passion to make a difference. Diane recruited a team of volunteers in the advertising and publicity profession who launched a grassroots publicity campaign. She also enlisted the help of Ed Sayres, President of the San Francisco SPCA, and Camilla Fox, fur expert at the Animal Protection Institute, who joined us for a discussion with the audience after the screenings. Both the SF/SPCA and API publicized the screening to their members.

The Red Vic Movie House, a worker-owned and operated cooperative on Haight Street, graciously hosted the events on Feb. 19 & 20 and provided a flawless projection of our 35mm film print. The audience response was enthusiastic, and many people gathered in the lobby after each screening to collect literature about animal protection issues and to discuss how they could get more involved in helping animals.

STANFORD Welcomes The Witness and John Robbins

John Robbins and James LaVeck answer questions at screening

Following the Red Vic screenings, we went to Stanford University for a screening of The Witness hosted by the student group Stanford Vegan Action. With the support of Dr. Tom Raffin of the Stanford Medical Ethics Committee, Courtney Dahlke of Vegan Action orchestrated a community-wide publicity campaign. John Robbins then joined the effort and kindly agreed to introduce the film and participate in the post-screening discussion, which helped draw an even larger crowd for the event. ToH Board member JP Novic enlisted the help of several members of her Santa Cruz organization CAPE (Center for Animal Protection and Education), who set up a Tribe of Heart table at the event, selling videos, distributing literature and answering questions.

There was a full house, and the discussion that followed the film went on for over an hour, on topics ranging from the inherent cruelty of dairy industry practices to the challenges of getting animal rights oriented programming nationally broadcast, with a lot of time spent on a topic that often comes up in our presentation at colleges: Where do we draw the line in our obligation to treat other living beings with kindness? 

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GAINESVILLE, FL: Compassion for Animals Symposium
From the Bay Area, we traveled to Florida on February 23rd. Chas Chiodo of Vegetarian Events had invited us to this regional conference to give a presentation on “Building a Bridge to the Mainstream,” and to hold an evening screening of The Witness. A large group assembled, and a very lively dialogue followed the film, with some people staying for almost 2 hours to share ideas about media activism and the promise of bringing a message of compassion to a broad cross section of the general public. Chas and his crew were masterful at creating community over a 2-day event and provided a rich environment for activism to take root and flourish. The conference is held every February in Gainesville, so if you’re in driving distance, we highly recommend you check out next year’s event.

MIAMI, FL: Speak Out for Animals Symposium
After Gainesville, we headed down to Miami to show The Witness at the Speak Out for Animals Symposium, and to be part of a panel discussion with philosopher Tom Regan and humane educator Susan Hargreaves. Held on the Miami-Dade Community College campus, the audience for this event were mostly students, and their questions following the film were especially thoughtful. One woman spoke with great emotion about how she’d like to change her diet, but knows she would receive no support from her family and community. Interestingly, many of the other questions had to do with animal ethics issues not even covered in the film, such as birds and other wildlife kept in captivity. To us, this was a good sign, as people were examining other parts of their lives and experiences in light of what they had just seen. This symposium was a program of the Animal/Ethics Study Center (AESC) at Miami-Dade Community College, and was organized by AESC’s Coordinator, Joyce DiBenedetto. The AESC, which was visioned and is supported by Donna Litowitz, a longtime friend of animals, houses a library collection of books and videos that explore the ethical issues around our society’s treatment of animals, and also arranges classroom presentations on these topics. We were happy to leave a few copies of The Witness in their collection!

ACTION OPPORTUNITY: We have found that copies of The Witness donated to libraries get very good use. Consider donating a copy to your local libraries, or requesting that they acquire a copy for their collection. This is a great way to get the video into the hands of young people. You can introduce librarians to the film with our handout, "The Witness for Teachers and Librarians," which can be found on our downloadable resources page.

LAWRENCE, KS: Liberty Hall Movie Theatre

The phenomenal AOK team takes a rare break for a photo in front of Liberty Hall

Members of Animal Outreach of Kansas (AOK) are going all out to prove that a small group of people can make a really big difference. After holding 16 well-attended community screenings of The Witness over the last year, they found a way to bring the film to the Liberty Hall movie theatre in Lawrence. Theatre owner Scott Bliss, who was given the video by an AOK member, was so enthusiastic about showing the film that he graciously provided the venue with only a small admission fee charged to cover his overhead. The film was screened in April on a Thursday night, and for a Saturday and Sunday matinee. The audience response was overwhelmingly positive, and since so many people expressed regret that they weren’t able to send friends and co-workers back to see it before it left the theatre, AOK donated a copy of the video to local libraries and the Lawrence high school.

But AOK didn’t stop there. They went on to build a portable video information kiosk modeled after Eddie Lama’s Faunette (a pedestrian version of the FaunaVision van shown in The Witness). So every Friday night, volunteers of AOK are out on the streets educating the public about the sad reality of animal suffering. Special thanks to Megan Fobes, Ann Wilson, Judy Carman and the rest of the AOK A-Team for inspiring all of us here at TOH with your creative and energetic activism!

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MANHATTAN: Two Boots Pioneer Theatre

The Witness has now shown at a third Manhattan movie theatre, thanks to TOH Board member Mary Max, who organized two back-to-back Friday night screenings the first weekend in May at the Two Boots Pioneer Theatre. The dedicated team of activists that put this event together with Mary included Linda Nealon, David Baden, Marisa Miller, and Rich Cook. The full house screenings were followed by a lively reception, which we attended along with Eddie Lama and Eric Weiss of Faunavision, artist Peter Max, and surprise guest Rikki Rockett, drummer of the band Poison, who is also known for his animal activism. Manhattan’s famous Candle Café catered the event with sumptuous vegan desserts. Special thanks to Peter Max for his kind support, and to Anna Willis of Peter Max’s studio, who designed the posters and invitations for this event.

OTHER COMMUNITY SCREENINGS

In addition to these large-scale screening events, we’ve learned of more than 25 other community screenings that were organized in California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and Ontario, Canada, since 2002 began. Since The Witness was released in July, 2000, we have been informed of over 150 screenings that have been held in 40 US states and 6 Canadian provinces. Our goal is to have screenings of The Witness happen in all 50 states. We have not yet heard of screenings organized in Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia or Wyoming. If you know of a screening that happened in one of these states, please send us the details.

ACTION OPPORTUNITY: If you haven’t organized a community screening yet -- or even if you have -- consider showing The Witness at your local library, college, church, community center, health food coop, yoga center, or other public venue where you can invite the public. The TOH web site has a guide to holding a screening and downloadable resources for publicizing your event.

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10. Tribe of Heart Grassroots Survey

Our goal is to provide our community with the very best documentaries, outreach programs, and support services we can, and we know that the key to achieving that goal is to carefully listen to your feedback and suggestions. The time has come for us here at TOH to connect in to the collective wisdom and experience you all have, in order to design the new initiatives that will be rolled out along with the release of Peaceable Kingdom later this year.

This summer, our in-house staff is being joined by Susan Wiser. Susan, who works as a therapist at Cornell University during the academic year, is volunteering her skills as a professional researcher and highly skilled listener, and is leading the development and implementation of our grassroots survey. Susan is our most active local volunteer, and, over the last ten months, has assembled by hand many hundreds of copies of The Witness that have gone out into the world. She and her husband Paul have also been active participants in the Gift of Compassion program. Her hard work, warmth and positive energy have been a great gift to Tribe of Heart.

Susan is in the initial stages of designing our survey, which eventually will be administered over the phone and email by a team of volunteers to a cross section of people involved in TOH activities. We will be seeking feedback on various aspects of The Witness, on grassroots screenings, and on the Gift of Compassion program. Your responses to our questions will be crucial to helping our upcoming programs be as effective as they can be.

ACTION OPPORTUNITY: If you receive an email from Susan or one of her fellow volunteers inviting you to participate in the survey, please consider taking the time to do so. The information that has come in from the preliminary interviews Susan conducted has already proven to be very helpful and will better equip us to offer programs that really work. Also, we are trying to do a special segment of the survey focusing on professional educators, so if you are a high school teacher, college professor, humane educator, or librarian, and are willing to participate in the survey, please send an email to Susan. Thanks!

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11. Volunteer Reaches Out to Faith-based Communities

Mary Margaret Earl presents Eddie with the Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience Award

In addition to Susan, we are fortunate to have the help of another professional volunteer for the summer, Mary Margaret Earl. We met Mary Margaret last year, when she presented Eddie Lama with the Courage of Conscience award at the Peace Abbey (you can read the text of her inspiring speech). Mary Margaret is a recent divinity school graduate for whom animal issues are central. This summer she will be researching the use of The Witness to promote compassion for animals in faith-based settings. A trained journalist, she will also be writing some articles for the TOH web site to share what she has learned. As spiritual communities typically have a strong value for ethics, compassion, and the cultivation of kindness, they become a natural setting for sharing a film like The Witness. With Mary Margaret’s initiative, we hope to learn how to better serve those who wish to incorporate the animal compassion message into their faith-based work.

ACTION OPPORTUNITY: If you have used The Witness as an educational vehicle in a spiritual setting of any denomination or tradition, please contact Mary Margaret with your feedback and insights.

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12. TOH Hires New Administrative Coordinator

In the first week of May, Lisa Cochran joined TOH as Administrative Coordinator, bringing our in-house staff to three. Lisa spent the last fourteen years of her career in a variety of positions at New York State Electric and Gas, where she developed a wide range of business management, accounting, quality control, and supervisory skills. In joining the TOH staff, Lisa has found a way to combine her professional talents with her lifelong interest in animal protection, which has previously been expressed through her persistent efforts to educate co-workers about animal issues and by caring for animals in need. While attending a college Biology class, Lisa single-handedly convinced the faculty to offer an alternative to dissection, resulting in the department’s purchase of computer physiology software that has since been used by many students who choose not to participate in dissection. Lisa’s job as Administrative Coordinator will bring her into contact with many TOH supporters, and we hope that you will enjoy her professionalism, good humor and spirited commitment as much as we do.

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13. TOH Board of Directors Welcomes Two New Members

Drawing of Mary by Peter Max

Mary Max, board member of Humane USA and wife of the artist Peter Max, joined the TOH Board of Directors at the end of 2001. A deeply committed animal activist, Mary’s work with Tribe of Heart has thus far focused on developing a number of long range opportunities that entail getting The Witness into the hands of people in the world of public affairs and entertainment. Mary also recently worked with a group of dedicated volunteers to hold two well-attended screenings in Manhattan at the Two Boots Pioneer Theatre, and she also recently facilitated The Witness being accepted into a film festival that we will soon announce. Mary has a special talent for introducing new people to the world of animal activism and is responsible for quite a number of people not only deciding to live with greater compassion for animals, but also dedicating themselves to working for change in our society. Mary’s warm heart, dedication and fierce commitment to activism have been a constant inspiration to all of us on the Board. Peter Max has also been active in supporting Mary’s work, offering TOH advice on various aspects of our program and taking time to attend TOH related events in New York. Peter’s longstanding commitment to animal rights and human rights is well known, and we have been honored to receive his help and encouragement.

More recently, our Board of Directors was joined by Alice Baker. Based in Rome, Alice has a distinguished career as an opera singer, and she brings to our board a lifetime of experience in the fine arts. Her career has taken her all over the world, and her travels have helped her develop a sense of both human problems and human potential that transcends national boundaries. Alice’s familiarity with many of the languages and cultures of Europe position her perfectly to lead the movement of TOH documentaries into the European community. She is the Founder of CMI Arts, an non-profit organization dedicated to helping establish mentoring relationships between new opera singers and experienced performers, and has also been involved for several years in efforts to aid some of the nearly 200,000 cats that wander the streets of Rome through her work with Torre Argentina, a remarkable cat sanctuary in Rome. Alice was inspired to get involved with Tribe of Heart through her concern for people, animals, and the environment, as she feels our planet is at a critical turning point, and that the time to make a difference is now.

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14. Special Thanks to Patty Finch

After several months of very fruitful work as both a volunteer and an employee, Patty Finch left Tribe of Heart last February to pursue other opportunities in the humane education field. We thank her for her ground-breaking work, both on our teaching guides for The Witness and on our outreach strategy, and we wish her well on her continuing lifetime journey of service to others. Patty has helped us understand our work in a much wider historical context. She has also inspired us to study the words and deeds of people in other eras who dedicated themselves to teaching compassion for those deemed unworthy of full membership in the moral community. Her contribution will have a positive impact long into the organization's future, and for that we will ever be grateful to her.