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How do documentary producers and artists address the most common issues in the news and shed new light on them?

How do documentary producers and artists address the most common issues in the news and shed new light on them?

Through creativity, a keen ear for what's been left out of the dialogue, and a passionate desire to keep an issue in the forefront of the public mind.

Moderator Dmae Roberts guides multi-media artist damali ayo and producers Ahri Birnbaum, Jonathan Mitchell, and Sandy Tolan through a discussion about rising to the challenge and how listeners have responded to productions focusing on such topics as abortion, the Mid-East conflict, and issues of race.

Featuring

Ahri Birnbaum

Ahri Birnbaum served as co-executive producer of Shades of Gray, a one-hour documentary about the many truths inside the abortion issue in America. She is the former senior producer of PRI's Beyond Computers, a weekly program that intersected technology and culture.

Damali Ayo

Damali Ayo's award-winning work has been shown at galleries across the world. She speaks to colleges, high schools, non-profits and communities in the U.S. and Canada about race, art, and eco-living. Damali and her work have been featured in over 100 publications worldwide including Harper's, the Village Voice, Salon, and CSPAN2's Book TV. Damali's book, How to Rent a Negro was granted a 2005 Honorable Mention in the Outstanding Book Awards from the Gustavus Meyers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. Her radio work Living Flag: Panhandling for Reparations won a Silver Reel award from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters.

Dmae Roberts

Dmae Roberts is a two-time Peabody Award-winning radio artist and writer who has created groundbreaking personal, multicultural documentaries.

Sandy Tolan

Sandy Tolan is the author of two books: Me and Hank: A Boy and His Hero, Twenty-Five Years Later and The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East.