Impact

1. SHADOW LIVES USA will be a hardcover book designed by Teun van der Heijden, who recently won the best design in the Pictures of the Year Competition this book will focus on the power of photography to tell the story with support from the real-life stories of undocumented Latin American migrants. The book will be sold at bookstores but more importantly will be distributed throughout the United States and Mexico and Central America where key legislators, policy makers and advocates will be able to use it to help change immigration policy. It will also be available for sale or distribution at all speaking engagements and exhibitions.

2. PHOTOGRAPHER JON LOWENSTEIN AND PRODUCER NINA ALVAREZ will produce a series of short documentary stories lived and told by undocumented Latin Americans in the United States. This series can be used in a variey of ways in the initiatives being considered and developed by Futuro Media. The stories of ShadowLives USA lend themselves to a natural partnership with LatinoUSA, and can be webcast in a series in anticipation of Maria’s documentary broadcast. If the style and content are appropriate, we would welcome the use of the video stories within the documentary itself, whether as interstitial material or within the body of the piece.

3. OUT OF THE SHADOWS: COMMUNITY FORUMS ON LATINO MIGRATION will be a series of traveling installation/community forums that combine my photographs of the lives of undocumented immigrants in the United States with a traveling installation built through a collaboration of United States citizens with undocumented immigrants. These public settings will ensure maximum exposure with the goal of encouraging community involvement and awareness. Modern museum-quality ink jet printers make it feasible to reproduce the photographs at a fraction of what it would have cost only a few years ago. Using this new technology I envision mounting exhibits and showing this presentation not only in museums and galleries but in suburban malls, libraries, town halls, and public spaces throughout the United States, Mexico and Central America and South America. It’s vital to bring the work back to the home countries to enable an honest and real dialogue among potential emigres who might endeavor to make the difficult journey to the United States.

4. EDUCATION COMPONENT- Shadow Lives USA will work with educational partners such as Facing History and Ourselves, an education organization based on the premise that we need to — and can— teach civic responsibility, tolerance, and social action to young people, as a way of fostering moral adulthood. In conjunction with organizations like Facing History and Ourselves I will seek to involve and educate young people of all ethnic backgrounds in an effort to create a new conversation about immigration. To this end, Shadow Lives USA can be used to help present the reality of people living in the shadows in the United States. I will also partner with grass roots Latino rights organizations to ensure that we create cross-cultural bridges between different ethnic groups.

5. THE NATIONAL ROLL-OUT of Shadow Lives USA will take place in the middle of 2011 just prior to the official start of the political season.

A. Simultaneous press conferences introducing the project, announcing the release of the hardcover book and traveling exhibition will be held in Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington D.C in order to address the issue in the major epicenters of the immigration debate.

B. An A-list celebrity will be asked to serve as national spokesperson for this effort. Someone widely recognized, with a strong following and a reputation for advocacy for undocumented immigrants, will be approached. Celebrities under discussion include, but are not limited to: Edward James Olmos, Frank Sharry or Maria Hinojosa.

C. The photographs, interviews and audio will be developed into an interactive multi-media piece that will be produced in conjunction with NOOR Images and Zocalo Productions, two cutting edge media companies that will serve to both post-produce and disseminate the work.

D. New media and viral marketing will be key to the success of this project. Our use of sites such as Facebook, MySpace and other popular sites in the community will help to generate excitement and activism among high school, college, and graduate students.

E. Editorial Outlets such as Mother Jones Magazine, MSNBC, Newseek, Univision, Latino USA and The New York Times are being sought to showcase the photographs. Conversations are being held currently to run a four part series of the project in a multi-platform approach that will maximize exposure.

F. Shadow Lives USA Website will be created in conjunction with Associate Associate Professor Ken Harper at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Journalism will have a dedicated website for its growing bank of stories.