autumn's blog

Last year, DMA lost a longtime volunteer and good friend in Bill Smith. Bill’s family wanted to honor his wishes to help DMA, so they worked with our partner the Center for Car Donations to get a good price for Bill’s classic but not-running 1967 Chevy Malibu four-door. Here’s the note staff at the Center sent to us:

We are pleased to send you this check in the amount of $4,388.40 for a Chevrolet Malibu. The fees on this vehicle were higher than normal $150 tow and auction fee because we had it cleaned up (there were over 35 black widow spiders living in it), and we had our mechanic go thru and tune it on so that we could send it on EBay instead of sending it to a local auction.  I am sure the donor will be delighted we were able to get such a high value for her brother's car.

Lin Weaver has served as studio host intern for DMA’s "In the Studio" series for much of the past year. Lin has a full plate these days, and will not be hosting as much in the future, though she’s not leaving altogether. We thank her for the outstanding job she’s done, producing many segments.

In addition to our Election Programming Davis Media Access also helped produce and facilitate the following:

DJUSD presents “Local Control Accountability Plan” (LCAP Plan). By July 1 CA Districts are required to adopt, with community input, a three-year accountability plan. DJUSD Superintendent Winfred Roberson explains the DJUSD’s process.

Visit the DJUSD Channel 17 website where you can find a weekly schedule for this show, live airs and repeats of school board meetings, local school productions and much more.

DMA’s commitment to non-partisan, voter education programming and local election coverage is well known in these parts, and right now, election season is in full swing. With ‘Meet the Candidates,” pro-con statements for local ballot measures, and several forums airing on DCTV Channel 15 on Comcast and available online, we’re working with other community organizations on the next set of forums, and beginning to think about what shape our election-night program will take.
 

This year looks to be one of our most fun yet!  If you are interested in enrolling in one of our Animation Camps for summer 2014, don't delay too long!  Our Video Production camps are full.  More info about the camps can be found here:

• 
Kids Video Animation Camp One   July 7 - 11:  1-4pm

• Kids Video Animation Camp Two   July 14 - 18: 1-4pm

On the heels of Jeff Hudson’s excellent article about KDRT 95.7 FM’s upcoming 10th anniversary this fall, it seems fitting to place KDRT squarely at the center of this year’s fund raising campaign.

Our annual donations already support KDRT, a non-commercial, community-based radio station. Although KDRT is a largely volunteer-run project within the media center, it does have hard costs: the lights to keep on, licensing fees to pay, equipment to upkeep, and its share of insurance, staffing, etc.

It’s been 25 years since community leaders worked to launch what was originally Davis Community Television as a public-access cable channel. What started as a promise of equal access to media tools for all has grown into a full-service community media center.

Much has changed in 25 years. The political climate doesn’t favor non-commercial, community-based media, and many centers similar to DMA have closed across the country. DMA has worked diligently to be of service and make a difference locally, garnering widespread community support. Leveraging a small staff with a large complement of interns and other volunteers, it’s DMA who heeds the call to cover a candidates’ forum, a school orchestral performance or basketball game, or a community event.