Da CHNL - The Channel
Da CHNL is a streaming service geared towards tapping into need for creative, innovative, inclusive and, informative programming for the Disability Community, which is one of the largest groups in the country with 1 in 4 Americans having a disability. Da CHNL’s early programming content will tap into the international creative network of Krip Hop Nation, encompassing over 400 artists. Da CHNL will launch as a streaming channel and app based on the Roku platform, which will result in a monthly subscription fee of $4.99/mo.
What makes Da CHNL unique outside of its amazing content? Often when services bring programs to air, communications access is an add-on—the programs that will air on Da CHNL will air with built-in communications access (ASL, Audio Description, Language, and Closed Caption).
NOTE: Original content will be created incapsulating the values and standards the community has requested—To ensure that these are met, our programming will be rooted in a full commitment to presenting humanity in its most authentic self.
Black Future ’22: See it. Shape it. Own it. is an inaugural online event that celebrates, educates, and takes ownership of the experience of Black disabled people in America.
In this special time, these few, treasured days, we look ahead, lucid dreaming our future, supported by the reality that where we are is never who we are, and where we come from does not mandate where we can go. It is with that urgency that we hope that you will join us in supporting and expanding this effort. Our initial target goal is $175,000.
The Black-Future-Month.Org initiative offers talented and motivated content creators an exclusive staging area for their shows, along with advanced training in production, sponsorship, and marketing. These independent producers are asked to submit three episodes of their show for consideration; those who are selected to join the project will have their work featured on our network hub.
Once online, each show producer will be offered creative training to advance their practical skills in filming, sound, titling and graphics, and editing, in addition to business mentorship. This training initiative will help producers reach the goal of procuring sponsors for their brand, enabling them to expand their creative tools while creating and adding an additional 3 episode season.
The goal is for each creator to establish an independently funded creative channel, which can be sustained through local business partners, and then built upon. This scalable and dynamic program serves as a mentorship and entrepreneurship development course, complete with a digital business model and talent incubator. Working with marginalized schools, our business model of talent development can direct deliver on the potential of self-generated content to generate equality in the digital world.
While we run our offering with efficiency and thrift always top of mind, maintaining our modest practical operating budget requires partnership with businesses wishing to invest in inclusion by creating opportunity. Through enabling this exclusive and unique work training, supporters become producers of art that, without their help, would never be revealed, created, or exhibited. Your support creates a new base for next generation accessibility. We bridge the digital divide by providing a simple and scalable architecture for the creation and display of original content, amplifying voices seldom heard even in this age of media ubiquity.
The core of this project is our talent; it is their initiative that has influenced the initiative of Da CHNL. Our first three featured creators will share their shows beginning in April; many more creators have submitted incredible work and will join them this year, establishing a catalog of exciting offerings from this unique and powerful voice within the Black experience. Season One of The Black-Future-Month.Org initiative was collaboratively created by Keith Jones, co-founder of Krip Hop Nation and Soulful Media Works, Safiya Eshe Gyasi, Tameka Spruce, Diana Elizabeth Jordan, and editor Trelanda Lowe.
Keith Jones will represent and curate and expand the black-future-month.org slate, and Michaels Adams will assist BFM producers in focusing their offerings and sharpen their skills. Become a part of our future. Directly support Black voices, talent, drive, and vision. To become a sponsor, contact Keith Jones at kjones@black-future-month.org.