Struggling to Survive

Appalshop’s Appalachian Media Institute

Dana Hall
Ashley Potter
Mary Profitt

Documentary
Short Film

More About Struggling to Survive from Producer Appalshop

Struggling to Survive was produced during the Summer of 2003 during Appalshop’s Appalachian Media Institute, a community-media based training program for Eastern Kentucky youth ages 15-20. During the summer and fall of 2003, Mary Profitt, Dana Hall and Ashley Potter conceptualized, shot and edited this documentary video. In addition to Mary, Dana and Ashley, many other people helped make this video a reality including everyone who sat down for an interview, Appalshop filmmakers and other employees who offered their advice and encouragement, fellow Summer and Fall 2003 interns and the AMI trainers.

The youth were inspired to make this video when they learned about a Letcher County initiative to pass a living wage ordinance. They were surprised to learn that a city, county or state could pass their own minimum wage law that overruled the federal one, and they were impressed by the fact that Letcher County, a small county in Eastern Kentucky where they all lived, was pursuing this idea. While still in the research phase, the youth talked to Carroll Smith, Letcher County’s top elected official and a proponent of a living wage, to get a sense of the history of the proposed ordinance. But it wasn’t until they spoke with Debbie Gibson, a single mother trying to raise two children on a low wage job, that they were convinced that this documentary had to be made.

After the original proposed ordinance failed in 1999, many of the members of the newly elected Fiscal Court, the decision-making body of Letcher County, ran their campaigns on a living wage platform. However, when the ordinance came up for a new vote last year, they succumbed to pressure from local business leaders and voted down the ordinance once again. Carroll Smith has vowed to continue making the successful passage of a Letcher County living wage ordinance a priority. For two years, Debbie Gibson enjoyed a comfy job cleaning office buildings (with benefits), until early last year when she was cut to half time w/o benefits. At the time she appeared in the video she was looking for other work. Since then she has returned to her position as a cashier at the local grocery store, the same place she had worked for 15 years prior.

Struggling to Survive is a winner of the See Change Make Change contest held by YMDI.org, the first comprehensive Web portal for youth media distribution.

Find more films on Economic Justice from MediaRights.

FILMMAKER BIOS

Dana Hall, Co-Director

Dana is in her second year at Southeast Community College. She is 19 years old and lives in Little Cowan, KY. Although Dana doesn’t know yet what she wants to major in, she is looking into going to school to study photography.

Ashley Potter, Co-Director

Ashley, of Whitesburg, KY, is 18 and in her first year at Morehead University. Ashley will study music education at college, with plans to eventually become a music teacher.

Mary Profitt, Co-Director

Mary is 18 and lives in Isom, KY. She is attending Southeast Community College before transferring to Eastern Kentucky University next year. Mary plans to pursue a career in accounting. At the Appalachian Media Institute, Mary has found a new appreciation for her community and their traditions.

Appalshop’s Appalachian Media Institute, Producer

Appalshop is a community-based, media arts and education center located in the coalfields of Central Appalachia. At the heart of Appalshop’s work is the principle that people have the right to control the development of their own communities through active participation in public dialogue. Appalshop artists and media makers produce a variety of collaborative, community-invested projects including: documentary films and videos, a traditional music recording label, a touring theater company, a volunteer-powered community radio station, a national and local festival project, community media work with grassroots groups and a youth media training project.

In 1988 Appalshop initiated the Appalachian Media Institute in response to the growing economic and social crises facing young people and their communities in Central Appalachia. Through an intensive summer documentary institute, workshops in area schools and a new after school media program, AMI encourages young people to use audio, video and new media production and distribution tools to explore critical issues about themselves and their Eastern Kentucky communities.

AMI’s mission is to build the confidence and creative capacity of youth through technical and leadership training with professional artists and media makers; encourage youth to see the arts as a viable vehicle for initiating positive change in their communities and beyond; increase our youths’ educational performance and post secondary attendance; and create opportunities for intergenerational dialogue through the production and distribution of youth-produced media. They strive to help young people see that, rather than leave the region, they can play a vital role in the future of their communities. http://www.appalshop.org.