Laura Deutch
Laura Deutch is a Philadelphia-based artist, educator and mom, committed to using media as a tool for social justice, creative expression and community organizing. She uses media to build relationships and imagine new worlds. She develops place-based projects to create connections between people, places and their stories. Her practice ranges from designing interactive websites to curating events and pop up public interventions, all of which strive to spark alternatives for more just ways of living and being in community. Currently, as the Education Director at PhillyCAM she support members with skill building and tools for making their own media and works closely with nonprofits and city partners to produce media that amplifies their goals. She is an active member and serves on the board of Termite TV, and holds an MFA in Film and Media Arts from Temple University. Her work can be viewed at www.crackingopen.org.
Awarded Grants
2024
Media Artist + Activist Residency (MAR)
Related grantees
Overview
Laura Deutch and Ella-Gabriel Mason are two members of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Philadelphia who will lead and build with the rest of the chapter's volunteer membership to create media-based educational and advocacy materials for use in JVP’s Israel Bonds Divestment Campaign. Through shorter form video, Laura and Ella-Gabriel will also create media that will help shift cultural narratives that conflate Jewishness with support for Israel and Zionism. Additionally, they want to use this residency to train a small group of members with media skills to build JVP Philly’s documentation capacity.
Partner
http://phillyjvp.org/
2010
Art and Change Grant (ACG)
Related grantees
Overview
Inspired by grassroots organizing and education models, Laura will produce a tour, Messages in Motion: Securing Communities, which will visit model neighborhoods in diverse communities such as East Mt. Airy and the Oka House of Huntington Park. Laura will then work with four local sites to produce ten short videos to show how communities are addressing the interconnected issues of physical safety, food safety, and water safety to create safe spaces in their neighborhoods. Laura will spend a few weeks observing, participating, and interviewing community members about what security and safety means to them as well as how they are creating sustainable models of community life. Through the production, distribution, and public presentation of these videos, Laura hopes to build relationships and make connections between groups, while starting a dialogue about what it means to have security and create a sustainable future.
