 Thank you everybody. I'm here to share with you how Heming's house has used the process of making documentary films to actually Accelerate social movements, especially social movements where community members influencers and stakeholders actually get engaged in the storytelling process during the production phase of the film itself my company has been producing television shows and documentaries and commercials and short films for over a decade now and The projects that really touch our hearts and the ones that really Activate our imagination and our passion are the projects that actually we've been seeing measurable Impacts and measurable changes in the communities that we work in although we still make TV series all around the world We still do other documentaries and commercial work We've really started to focus all of our efforts into creating content that is not only going to educate and entertain But it's going to inspire and empower positive action The first film that we produced that really started to get us on to this trip was Systema revolution and some a revolution is a story that followed a really passionate group of leaders from the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra Now the executive leadership had a challenge and the challenge was how do we make classical music? Education more accessible and inclusive to all socio-demographics when Ken McLeod the president and CEO of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra Was telling me about this. I thought it was a very noble gesture to say, you know what the gift of music Should be available for all children So throughout some of the research that Ken and his team did They found an incredible program in Venezuela and Caracas called Elsa Stemma has anybody heard of Elsa Stemma in Okay, so this program has been Transforming the lives of over half a million kids in Venezuela every single day after school for free So kids are learning this incredible skill set of classical music And they don't have to pay a penny for and these are kids from the barrios and the ghettos of Caracas and Also from the rural areas around Caracas and like I said half a million kids So not only is this transforming kids in neighborhoods and barrios. It's actually changing Venezuela So this is a really incredible program now Ken and the other executive leadership of the orchestra Really saw this as an opportunity for New Brunswick, right? I wonder if we could take a program like that in Venezuela and bring it and see if we can integrate it back home in Canada It sounded like a good idea, of course But it really took him a long time to get people on board with the vision He really wanted to create a social movement that would say you know what we can do this back home in New Brunswick If Venezuela did it there's no reason why we can't do it We do have the resources to create an environment where kids can be inspired this way the problem He had though was he was competing against so many other Challenging social issues that we have back home. We've got a very struggling economy. We've got issues of childhood obesity adult illiteracy We even have issues of basic housing and food So where a classical music education program can fit in that in that line of priorities It's a tough pitch unless people can actually see the benefits in person So when Ken the team were telling me about this challenge They also said that you know after two years of pitching this concept We need to go down to Venezuela and see this amazing program with her own eyes and I said I'm coming So my team and I hopped on to an airplane We wanted to invest in this to help Ken and the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra Figure out how to get the the greater community of New Brunswick on board and sold into this idea and as Documentary filmmakers we really understand the power of film to allow people to see something first so that they can then feel there goes the microphone and Once they feel they can actually act go towards positive social action So I said why don't we come down and we will document some of what you guys learn? And then that'll be used as a tool from when you come back to see if we can get this movement moving So I'm just gonna show you a couple clips of what we brought home So you can see for your own eyes some of what we saw in Venezuela El Sistema is for everyone no child is turned away The founder of El Sistema is a gentleman named Jose Abreu and He's very famous for his quote which says once child learns an instrument here She is no longer poor and what we were able to see was the direct results of that sentiment We were able to see kids with a burning passion and kids with a talent that you wouldn't expect in the burials of Caracas, Venezuela This is what really engaged the leadership of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra when they were down there seeing this but the true impact of The decision for us to take a film crew down to film some of this Happened not necessarily in shooting the kids and the incredible music that are making but in filming the actual Conversations that Ken and his team had every single day after seeing all these incredible scenes So we were able to capture conversations. They were open to us Filming the dialogues and their feelings of what they saw and their hopes on camera And I'm just gonna show you one particular conversation That we capture on camera that I truly believe was the pivot point where they took this idea Which was a dream. It was a vision into something. That was actually Actionable and something that was actually gonna happen. So this conversation that we're gonna see here I feel it was the magic of us going down as a film team Is for everybody so these kids are from you know unspeakable poverty and they're performing Beautiful music and it's very high-level. That's right. So so so great artists for everybody So it's a matter of opportunity, and I think the program could start right away Wouldn't be just kind of interesting if we said right now We're going to start in September this September not the following September. Can we can we start in September? What's the feeling behind that? What would it take to do that? So we all know that stating an intention to a community or to another person is incredibly Motivating to actually make something happen And when we just happen to capture that on camera it becomes that much more sticky So this footage was put together into a five-minute piece We came home and the leadership of the orchestra Used it to allow other people other stakeholders in the community to be able to see the magic and the passion of what Was going on in Venezuela and what used to be taking months and months of trying to get people on board Started to accelerate action and people and partners started coming to the table at every time a new person or a milestone Happened and a new partner came to the table. We started filming them as well We allowed the community and all the stakeholders in the community to become part of the story And what we started to see is the acceleration that happens When you actually bring community stakeholders and influencers and decision-makers into the story process It's just like throwing gas onto a fire So after filming this for another year and a half for our own eyes We got to see Truly the Venezuelan music miracle happened to be adopted back in Canada The social movement was a success and just let me show you one last clip about what our kids Were able to start doing within one year in this life-changing program Systema is more than notes on a page strings on a cello or keys on a clarinet It's about reminding society that music is not a luxury item. It's for everyone It's about working against anything that degrades a child And it's about encouraging children to embrace new goals and new dreams In New Brunswick the Canadian part of the revolution Has begun and now we're in our seventh year of Systema in New Brunswick There's over 700 children being affected every single day learning classical music for free after school And these are some of our most needy children in our province I'm not saying that because we made a film about it the movement happened But I am saying because we were able to document key portions of this movement from from conception to reality We really were able to be used as a tool of acceleration Really what it's done for our company is it's allowed us to be able to tell stories that matter stories Actually have impact in our communities locally and globally and most important for me It's really allowed me to create a business that is truly contributing to my vision of a happy and kind world. Thank you very much