The following projects have received funding from the Vision 2030 Global Strategy Implementation Grant.
Design Action Hub
Coming soon!
Wits University
Coming soon!
From Shame to Celebration: Sierra Leonian Women Reframe the Culture of Menstruation
Through a new pilot class and faculty-led study abroad program in the Department of Journalism, Illinois students will partner with multimedia and broadcast journalism students from Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone to shoot primary footage for the film, “From Shame to Celebration: Sierra Leonian Women Reframe the Culture of Menstruation.” The film will focus on how a local woman-led grassroots organization, “Uman Tok,” is making tangible progress to alleviate period poverty and menstrual exclusion while also educating a generation of girls in sexual and reproductive health. The program is designed to train advanced media students to apply and develop their skills as documentary filmmakers and multimedia backpack journalists reporting on issues of pressing international concern. The program will be led by Charles “Stretch” Ledford and Alison Davis and is partially funded by the Implementation Grant.
Charles “Stretch” Ledford
Charles “Stretch” Ledford is an Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he teaches multimedia storytelling. During his 40-year career as a visual journalist he has worked in more than 50 countries on five continents. His photographs, short films and audio stories have been published worldwide by NPR, The Washington Post, The BBC, The Atlantic, Time, Newsweek, ABC News, VICE, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Esquire, among others. Stretch has been recognized with awards from the National Press Photographers’ Association, the New York Art Directors’ Club, Communication Arts Photography Annual, the International Photography Awards, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Galleries and museums in Colorado, North Carolina, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska and Virginia have displayed Ledford’s work. In 2001, Gannett included Ledford’s work in its entry for the Pulitzer Prize in photography. In 2012 he was named Innovator of the Year for College Students by the Associated Press Media Editors.
Alison Davis
Alison Davis has been producing national documentaries for over two decades. Her programs have received numerous awards including seven regional Emmy Awards and over 20 Emmy nominations.
Davis produced documentaries for the Big Ten Network when she joined Illinois’ Division of Intercollegiate Athletics/Public Affairs in April 2008. Before that she worked at WILL-TV (PBS) where she was the longtime producer and host of Prairie Fire, a cultural magazine series about the people and places of central Illinois.