presskit - Look at Us!

contents
The Context
3
The Potential
4
Introducing Look at Us!
5
Viral Media For Social Change
7
Impact
8
Process & Deliverables
9
Programme Team
10
Production Partners
11
Partners
13
the context
Five hundred million
adolescents, and counting,
live in poverty in urban
slums around the world.1
Worldwide this half-a-billion-strong group is not
just ignored but neglected. They lead unimaginably
hard lives, in dangerous conditions, struggling to
meet their basic needs. All the while, their
economic, social and creative capacity, a wealth of
human capital, is underutilized to the point of
waste.
the potential
Youth living in poverty are in far more danger of
dropping out of school, premature parenthood, and
engaging in high-risk behaviors - behaviors that can
severely impair their potential for a successful,
thriving life. Adolescence is seen as a critical
window for interventions to help young people
establish a better path toward adulthood.2
Poverty limits opportunity on all levels and
especially so for youth - it denies them time,
resources, and exposure to discover their interests
and foster their passions. However, despite a
challenging lifestyle, once inspired and supported,3.
Malala Yousafzai and her fight for girls education is
but one example. At 15 she challenged us to wage
war against illiteracy and terrorism by “picking up
our books and pens”. And it worked. This is the
power and potential these youth have. We must
support them in fighting for everyone’s right to
dream and have access to a bright future.
Youth in urban slums have
the potential to generate
tremendous change impacting not just
themselves, but their
communities and the wider
world.
change . hope . joy . dignity
inspiration . love . laughter
learning . life . empowerment
introducing look at us!
Look At Us! is the next generation of
traditional community support programs and limits their
social change initiatives. Our mission is
effect.
to generate a worldwide social
Our purpose is two-fold. First, to inspire and motivate the
campaign, reaching out through media,
young people we work with—we hope to broaden their
technology and cultural channels to a
visions of what is possible, give them confidence in
global audience, to spotlight the issue
themselves, and enable them to laugh, play and discover
of half a billion adolescents living in
their potential. Second, to call worldwide attention to this
poverty around the world.
invisible population so they can receive the consideration
Our vision is to create a series of bold,
they deserve, and be included in the global.
modern music videos and companion
documentary films that will
Why music and dance?
demonstrate the creative power of
adolescents living in urban poverty
Music and dance can inspire and touch unlike any other form of
around the world. We will shine an
communication, crossing all boundaries of age, ethnicity and culture.
inspiring and hopeful light on the vast
human capital of teens
worldwide—without the patronizing
narrative that often accompanies
It is a direct, rapid, relevant and positive way to engage youth.
There is already a global audience – music and dance “reality shows”
have been a sensation the world over.
viral media for social change
This project will go viral.
We expect the project to go viral.
The products of Look At Us! will be
of the highest international quality,
engaging for local, national and
global audiences alike. Our content
will be entertaining and relevant,
leveraging the excitement all
people experience around music
and dance.
We want to create compelling
viewing that will unashamedly
catch at the heartstrings of all who
watch our programming, reminding
us all of our shared human
potential and dignity.
Traditional campaigning in
response to large-scale
humanitarian issues is lengthy,
expensive and complex, requiring
cumbersome bureaucratic
machinery. Look At Us! is a modern
streamlined approach, carefully
designed to target a specific
problem, demographic and desired
outcome by taking advantage of
various media and social media
platforms and the global audiences
they capture.
Look At Us! will take the “against
all odds” element seen in reality
Our music video will be reminiscent of the original “Happy”, by Pharrell
Williams,4 which was the number one song in over 24 countries in 2014. The
song has been used in advertisements, TV shows, and readapted in over 94
countries.5 Look At Us! offers the same opportunity for viral advertising, viral
viewing - and viral joy.
The companion documentary to the music video will similarly be designed to be
compelling, entertaining and relevant for a global audience.
programming to create powerful
social commentary. The very
nature of the conditions these
youth face daily makes for
compelling viewing – but we will
showcase their spirit, resilience,
bravery and joy amidst these
challenges.
Look At Us! will expedite change by
giving teens a direct positive
experience, initiating a viral social
campaign of human hope, dignity
and joy that will take hold across
the globe.
impact
Doing Nothing is not an Option
“Think about what happens when we
choose to do nothing: we allow
hundreds of millions of these teens to
continue living with their hopes,
dreams and potential suppressed
and extinguished. Let us not be
indifferent or ignore this situation
any longer. The time to act is now. If
we can inspire and support these
youth, and potentially redirect the
course of their lives, how can we say
no? Is it not our responsibility to at
least try?”
Dr. Prea Gulati, Founder Look At Us!
The impact Look At Us! will have is clear and intentional.
Local Impact
We will impact these teens during
a critical time in their lives when
the opportunity for change is
greatest.
The adolescents, working with the
core team, will choose which
aspects of creating the
performance they would like to
work on and thus get experience
and training in potential future
careers.
Look At Us! will complement and
enhance other more targeted
education, health and
development initiatives already in
place.
Look At Us! will offer a full month
of laughing and playing, joy and
confidence-building amid the
hardship of ghetto life.
Wider Impact
We will directly involve
approximately 100 teens, but the
impact will be far greater as Look
At Us! brings into focus the global
potential of all adolescents and
the need for action.
We will bring global attention to
underprivileged adolescents.
Because the stories will entertain,
inform and inspire, the
documentary will generate a large
viewership and we will shine a
light on the needs of urban poor
youth.
We will highlight the potential
these teens have to impact their
communities and to contribute to
the world economically,
intellectually, creatively and
socially.
Process & Deliverables
The deliverables :
A professionally choreographed music
video, 3-5 minutes long, suitable for viral
distribution
Lead by Dr. Prea Gulati, an
internationally recognized consultant
and public health expert and former
professor of Public Health at George
Washington University, a team of
award-winning creative professionals
will spend 30 days in an urban slum,
accompanied by a film crew.
We will audition for a core group of 5
to 8 talented adolescents to create a
modern, choreographed music video.
For 30 days we will follow this
process day and night, filming every
phase to get an intimate look at the
challenges and breakthroughs, defeats
and triumphs of these young people.
The core group will be the featured
performers but we will be engaging all
youth in the community throughout
A 30 minute documentary that follows the
lives of these young people and every
phase of the project.
the process.
The youth will be working together to
create a world-class performance and
in this process they will interact and
work with some of the best local and
global talent. They will gain skills and
experience in dance, music,
cinematography, make-up, set design,
fundraising—whichever aspects of the
project they are interested in learning
about. The products we create will be
informative, entertaining and
relevant, leveraging the excitement all
people experience around music and
dance.
The final outcome will result in a
product that the participants will have
ownership of, can be proud of, and
that showcases the talent and
potential of these youth to the global
community. The short-term benefits
of working together, building
community, creating a wonderful
performance are obvious. But the
long-term benefits of being inspired
and having a support system to help
them build their dreams is
unparalleled.
Following our pilot episode in
Bangalore, Look At Us! will be
replicated in poor urban communities
all over the world offering vast reach
and impact.1 We will be continuing
the series in ten urban sites, with
large concentrations of
underprivileged youth, around the
world including Dhaka, Rio, Lagos, and
Detroit.
the program team
Dr. Prea Gulati
is an internationally recognized expert in public health. She has keynoted in
conferences, and taught on urban health, all over the world. She was until recently a Professor of
Public Health at George Washington University; and is a Visiting Professor at BRAC University. Dr.
Gulati has led projects for various UN organizations and diverse Non Governmental Agencies, for
the last fifteen years, in countries such as Afghanistan, Mexico, Ghana, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, China
and Kenya. Dr. Gulati is a Senior Technical Lead, for a multi-million dollar USAID project, TRAction
(“Translating Research into Action”), that focuses on effective implementation, scale-up and
replication of public health projects, globally.
Mudita-Social M edia
Maha - Fundraising
Devika-Communications
Caroline-Communications
Nihar-Videography
Asha-Web & Graphics
Erin-Prospectus
Nikita-Illustrations
Production Partners
Swarathma
(http://swarathma.com/)
Based out of Bangalore, Swarathma is one of India’s top folk rock bands
known for their infectious onstage energy. The band is inspired by Indian folk
traditions as well as rock, folk, blues and reggae.
Stem Dance Kampni (http://stemdancekampni.in)
As one of India’s leading contemporary dance companies, STEM (Space.
Time. Energy. Movement) is known to experiment with Indian movement
disciplines, original music, rhythm and interactive design.
Pradipta Ray is an Animation/ Film maker based in Mumbai. Pradipta is
an artist, animator, filmmaker, and painter. He is a visiting professor at the
prestigious National Insitute of Design in India. Ray has written and directed
three short films, developed many TV promotions and animated games, and
has worked as a visualizer for several Bollywood box office superhits such as
Rang de Basanti, Heyy Babyy and Kambakth Ishk.
Production Partners
Bindhumalini Narayanaswamy comes from serious musical heritage,
granddaughter of Kalaimani Seetha Doraiswamy, Bindhu grew up in a home where music
and art were just a way of life and not something one 'did'. She teaches music and travels all
over over India performing songs of Kabir and other mystic saints of India.
Chris Berry (http://www.chrisberrymusic.org/)
is a Grammy award winner, an eclectic singer and songwriter, multi-instrumentalist virtuoso,
and high-energy performer and teacher. Chris has toured extensively around the globe; and
has taught music and culture as a guest faculty member at various institutions as well as his
own Panjea Foundation for Cultural Education. He has released over a dozen albums; scored
the soundtrack for three films; and has been collaborating and performing with some of the
World's best artists.
partners
Meghshala
(http://www.meghshala.org)
Meghsala is a platform that leverages cloud in equipping teachers to supercharge their
teaching potential and educate students to be empathetic leaders, innovators and
problem-solvers.
Shankar Mahadevan Academy (http://shankarmahadevanacademy.com)
The Shankar Mahadevan Academy provides innovative and fun ways for people across the
world to learn classical Indian music online, with over 2000 students pursuing their passion
from more than 34 countries.
LaughGuru (http://laughguru.com)
Laugh Guru is an innovative e-learning product currently launching in India that uses a
humor-based curriculum to deliver lessons that are impactful to any audience.