WSO Mission Statement & Vision
Click the link above to download a PDF of our updated Mission Statement packet (9 pages). It is complete with our vision, methodology, sample curriculum, sample budget, history, and more as of March 1, 2009.
WSO’s Kenya Film Industry Report
Click the link above to download a PDF of our report on the Kenyan film industry. Written in September of 2008, it provides a general overview of the current state of the industry and suggests what steps it might take to further its development.
In short, it all begins with education.
WSO is wrapping up 2008 with the satisfaction of accomplishing our goal for the year.
About a year ago this month, Justin Edwards, WSO’s Founder and Director, began synthesizing ideas for what would eventually become the World Story Organization.
By March of 2008 it became clear that establishing WSO as a non-profit, educational organization was the way to proceed. WSO filed for tax-exempt status in April, with Edwards moving to Kenya in hopes of tapping into the budding film industry in East Africa.
WSO’s goal for the calendar year was to find interested parties in Kenya that would be willing to partner with WSO in bringing film production and storytelling education to prospective students.
We have proudly established contacts within Daystar University, the Kenya Film Commission, and Hot Sun Foundation, with plans for collaboration in the near future. We hope to hold formal screenwriting and production workshops in the spring of 2009.
It is WSO’s hope that these workshops will serve as pilot courses for further implementation of the curriculum we have been developing specifically for Kenyan film students.
To begin the new year, WSO will be meeting with a film professor from the University of Southern California who has been working with the Hot Sun Foundation in Kibera. We hope to discuss curriculum building techniques and the viability of starting a film school in the Kibera slums with the Hot Sun Foundation.
We hope your year wraps up well, and we look forward to continued success in 2009!
This week WSO attended a showcase of the Hot Sun Foundation short films in Nairobi. The work that they do in Kibera (Kenya’s largest slum) is inspiring.
HSF is dedicated to social transformation through media and art. They provide education and training opportunities in video production to aspiring artists in Kibera.
They are currently in the pre-production stages for the first-ever Kenyan-made feature length film to be produced in Kibera, based on the short, Kibera Kid.
WSO plans to soon tour their offices and witness the work they do first hand, and to perhaps collaborate on some training workshops in the spring.
We are excited to be in talks with Daystar University in Nairobi, Kenya, to support them in their efforts to launch a Film Production bachelor’s degree program, the first of its kind in Kenya!
We will be meeting with the Dean of Arts next month to discuss curriculum building and faculty training opportunities for WSO.
Stay tuned for further details on this exciting collaboration!
