Precious Places
Apply now for Precious Places 2009!
Precious Places Community History Project is a community oral history project inviting members of Philadelphia's many neighborhoods to document the buildings, public spaces, parks, landmarks and other sites that hold the memories of our communities and define where we live.
This is a critical time for neighborhoods, as many are undergoing significant change. Previous Precious Places participants chose subjects as diverse as a beloved jazz club, a hundred-year-old tree, a forgotten cemetery, and the Underground Railroad. We encourage neighborhood groups in Camden and Philadelphia to apply.
This year, 10 neighborhood groups will collaborate with a research consultant and an experienced filmmaker in documenting their neighborhood. These facilitators will provide training on oral history and documentary production, but the community group members will plan, research, write and record their film. On September 9th, 2009 each group will spend an entire day shooting footage in the neighborhood, including interviews and documenting selected sites or events. Finally, after editing their video, each group will be invited to show their work at a gala premiere organized by Scribe.
Producing a documentary video is a chance to honor the local experience, and to become the author, not just the subject of your neighborhood’s history. In addition, community groups can learn the skill of producing oral history to uncover the rich stories that make up our past. Finally, the project is a valuable opportunity to make us aware of our diverse neighborhoods and the development policies that often render certain ‘precious places’ out of existence.
Community Groups are invited to apply. We will use some of the following criteria in selecting groups. Scribe is looking for:
-- Groups that have the time and capacity to produce a video
-- Neighborhoods that have buildings or other public places which
1) hold an important community memory
2) are in danger of being lost; and/or
3) help define the neighborhood
-- Neighborhoods experiencing a transition in housing prices, population or landscape;
-- Neighborhoods with stories that will have an impact and be of interest to the public at large
This year we are particularly interested in groups in South Philadelphia, Olney, Logan, East & West Oak Lane, West Philadelphia, Camden and Northeast Philadelphia.
For an Application form please scroll down to the bottom of the page and download the attachment "PPAPP09.pdf" or contact Corey Chao at 215-222-4201.
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2008 Precious Places projects!
In the midst of such substantial change, these documentaries record the stories of "precious places" in neighborhoods throughout the city. From the Northeast to the South, from West Philadelphia to Camden, the participating groups this year are both compelling and diverse.
Awbury Arboretum, East Germantown
Bethany African Methodist Episcopal Church, Northeast Philadelphia
Bra Buddha Ransi Temple, South Philadelphia
Camden Places of Worship, Camden, NJ
Center in the Park, Germantown
Greenbelt Knoll, Northeast Philadelphia
Manayunk Canal, Manayunk
Oaklyn Memorial Library, Oaklyn, Camden County, NJ
The Unity Garden, Southwest Philadelphia
40th and Lancaster Intersection, West Philadelphia
To read more about the 2008 projects, click here.
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Precious Places DVDs Available for Purchase!
While tourists head straight for the city's official "Historic District" and native Philadelphians think they have seen it all, Scribe Video Center's Precious Places Community History Project reveals bypassed neighborhood sites as bright landmarks that surprise and inspire residents and visitors alike. Using video documentary as a storytelling medium, neighborhood residents come together to document the oral histories of their communities.
In the past three years Scribe Video Center has collaborated with dozens of community groups to produce 42 neighborhood histories, with ten more beginning production this August. Through this program, Philadelphia now joins the ranks of other cities such as New York and Los Angeles in having a citywide oral history project. With Precious Places, however, the community members themselves create their own videos about the people and places that make their neighborhoods unique.
Ordering DVDs of Precious Places Community History Project
The complete 3 DVD series seen on WHYY TV 12 is available for purchase.
Precious Places Community History Project Vol. 1
Precious Places Community History Project Vol. 2
Precious Places Community History Project Vol. 3
Conceived as a way to mark the 20th anniversary of Scribe Video Center, the Precious Places video documentaries celebrate not only Scribe's history of innovative programs in the media arts, but also Philadelphia's richness of neighborhoods, buildings, public spaces and landmarks. They record community memories and help define where we live at a time when so many of the city's memories are undergoing so much change.
Scribe had long felt that Philadelphia lacked but deserved a compiled oral history of its streets, squares, monuments, and buildings, where social and cultural richness have led to the development of complex, diverse and vibrant communities. Through more than two decades of work with individuals and groups, of teaching and guiding people as they made documentaries that brought their dreams and visions to life, we knew how many more stories were out there just waiting to be told. And we shared with others concerns about the disinterest, deterioration, gentrification, unfamiliarity and even misinformation that endanger so much of the region. Community oral history, we thought, was an ideal way to spread the words and the sights of these precious places and to celebrate them and the people who cherish them.
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The Precious Places Community History Project is made possible by the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Samuel S. Fels Fund, Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation, the Claneil Foundation, Independence Foundation, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, National Endowment for the Arts and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
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Equipment and In-Kind Support came from Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc., Temple University-Film and Media Arts, University of the Arts-Communications Department and Swarthmore College. The United States Geological Survey provided use of aerial maps.
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Special thanks to Philadelphia Folklore Project, Philadelphia City Planning Commission, Center for Africana Studies- University of Pennsylvania, Third World Coalition of American Friends Service Committee, Maxine Griffith, Helen Cunningham, Elijah Anderson, Tukufu Zuberi, Carol Davis, Susan Phillips and The White Dog Cafe.
| Attachment | Size |
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| PPAPP09.pdf | 112.27 KB |