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MEET BARB ALLARD
I produce videos.
I think globally and work locally. My platform is independent
media. In 1996, I became a founding director of Rainbow
Bridge Communications Company, an owner-operated video production
company based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I produce, direct and write
videos and web content. I can do basic videography and video editing,
though I prefer to collaborate with talented specialists in those areas.
I am an
environmental communications specialist. I have been studying
environmental problems and solutions from an Albertan perspective for 18
years. My strong suits are problem solving, dedication to seeing a
project through to completion, a background in activism, and being
ultra-creative on a budget. I can write educational and promotional
materials, organize events and organize video coverage of events.
I have been
fortunate to learn on the job through collaboration with many
talented people. My network includes those working at the forefront
of electronic media, media activism, boreal forest conservation, new
energy solutions, and sustainable lifestyle promotion. I have benefitted
from evening classes in public relations at Grant MacEwan Community
College and would one day like to continue studying communications at
university. Being mom to my son has been my greatest
learning experience.
I am a founding
member of Edmonton’s Bike Month Coalition, producer member of
Film and Video Arts, Alberta (FAVA), parent volunteer with 25th
Edmonton Scouts Group, and board member of the Solar Energy
Society of Canada, Inc. – Northern Alberta Chapter (SESCI-NAC). I
currently manage a staff of two employees and several private
contractors.
VIDEO
PRODUCTIONS
2008 Moving Edmonton – Celebrating 100 Years of Edmonton
Transit
ETS
hired me to document some of their centennial celebrations, interview
current and retired personnel and create a video to commemorate the
occasion. I was pleased to provide them a stylish and engaging,
fifteen-minute tribute to this important public service that has moved
us through our evolving society for a century. I also created a
five-minute short version for the web.
2008 Barb’s Bike Shorts
I
produced five 22-minute selections of local shorts - bike news, bike
art, bike activism, bike-lectica - to screen at Metro Cinema on Bike
Movie Mondays in June (which I also coordinate). This year, in addition
to pulling shorts from RBCC’s extensive archive, I produced some brand
new ones to showcase Bike Month 2008 events.
2007 Green Monday – pilot
I
produced a ten-minute pilot for a weekly national program to highlight
Canadian new energy initiatives. Based on the success of
Made-in-Alberta, and my 18 years experience as an environmental
communicator, “Green Monday” is an innovative model that allows for
ongoing, regionally based coverage, shared through a national
network of independent producers, and ready to go whenever Canadians
want to document our transition out of the fossil fuel age.
2006 Interactive Voice Response Training Video for DATS
Personnel
I
produced this instructional video for Edmonton Transit’s Disabled
Adult Transportation System to use in training their operators on a
computerized system. In creating this video, I scripted and directed a
fictional sequence, merging clearly defined technical information with
human drama.
2004- Made-in-Alberta – New Energy Stories - series
Energy, water and climate – these are hot topics for the 21st
century. In this weekly series of four-minute stories, I investigate and
document the new energy future being built right here in Alberta. So
far, I’ve co-produced, written and directed 48 episodes and counting.
Made-in-Alberta is broadcast 48 times per week by my partner, Shaw TV,
and sponsored by the Solar Energy Society of Canada, Inc. - Northern
Alberta Chapter and many other businesses and government agencies.
2005 The Pipes and Drums of ETS
This eight minute promotional video was commissioned by Edmonton
Transit, Community Relations to celebrate the achievements of their
pipes and drums band and to help drum up new members. For a reasonable
price, I produced a sharp looking video for viewing at public events, on
DVDs and on-line.
2003-2004
Is Edmonton Growing Smart?
This seven-minute video was commissioned by the Sierra Club of Canada
- Prairie Chapter to teach about urban sprawl and its antithesis: a
collection of urban planning initiatives called Smart Growth. Fast paced
and informative, “Is Edmonton Growing Smart?” grabs the average viewer
and hands them the information they need to make smart choices for urban
sustainability.
2003 Watching, Listening and Understanding Changes in the
Environment
- Community Based Monitoring in Northern Canada
A
group of researchers at the University of Manitoba, Natural Resources
Institute, Centre for Community-based Resource Management had
collected several hours of amateur footage, including interviews and
community monitoring activities, and written a draft script. They hired
me to adapt the script, direct the narration and postproduction, and
create a 30-minute educational video that showcases three aboriginal
monitoring programs in Canada’s Arctic.
1997/2000
Winter Cycling Basics
This is an entertaining and informative, half-hour guide to winter
bicycle commuting. The Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society, a local NGO,
commissioned me to create a video to enhance their safe cycling
campaigns. Although we had to shelve it for two years due to a shortage
of funds, I stuck by the project and was able to secure more funding to
complete the editing in 2000.
1996 Poisoning Paradise - A Native View of the Swan Hills
Waste
Treatment Centre
This 42-minute film tells the story of the Lesser Slave Lake Indian
Regional Council’s battle to save their traditional hunting,
trapping, medicine gathering and spiritual quest territory from
contamination by the Swan Hills Waste Treatment Centre. The video was
used as a communications tool when the operators of the treatment
centre sought to cooperate with the Woodland Cree in the creation of an
aboriginal environmental monitoring program.
1994 Protection Force
This award-winning documentary series, produced by the National Film
Board and CBC,
chronicles the day-to-day drama of the Canadian peacekeeping mission in
Bosnia. There was 100-odd hours of raw footage and new non-linear
editing programs to contend with. I helped the producers work out
protocols for handling the data, reviewed and logged the tapes, and
prepared reports for the editors.
1994 January
I produced, wrote lyrics, and directed this four-minute music video.
One
of the more artistic pieces I’ve done, I now see that January was an
early step in my quest to understand how the broadcast media is used to
persuade public opinion. The lyrics, “We watch a war on TV, but are we
really learning?” is a question about the power and responsibility of
modern communications and media that keeps me seeking an answer while
improving my skills to this day.
1993 A New Leaf - A Sustainable Direction for Boreal
Forestry
I co-wrote and assisted in the editing
of this 55-minute educational environmental video. Produced by the
Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Boreal Forest Office, A New
Leaf makes a persuasive case that small scale and selective logging,
value-added manufacturing, and enhanced tourism are viable economic
models for Alberta’s forests, preferable to the widespread clear cutting
that is going on.
ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATIONS / EVENT PLANNING &
DOCUMENTING
2008
- Bike Movie Mondays in June
I coordinated
our film selection committee and worked with Metro Cinema Society and
the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters to create and promote Edmonton’s
premiere bike film event – five evenings of bike movies and local bike
shorts. I organized community speakers to introduce some of the films.
This year my staff created all of the video and print promotional
materials for Bike Movies and Bike Month
2001
- Bikeology Festival/ Edmonton’s Bike Month in June
I
coordinated the first Future Fair alongside the North American Cycle
Courier Championships on the U of A campus in July 2001. This event
morphed into the Bikeology Festival, now held annually in downtown
Edmonton. “Edmonton’s Wild Ride Festival” helps to raise the profile
of people-powered transportation and sustainable urban living. In
2004, we expanded to a month of bike-oriented fun and activities in
June, and in 2006 Edmonton’s City Council made it official.
partners: Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society, City of Edmonton
2003-2004
Sustainable Communities for Mill Creek Project
I
helped recruit 150 participants for this yearlong, community based
social marketing project. I was the liaison between the participants
and the project manager, securing their attendance and volunteer
help when needed, and communicating their feedback to the PM. I
co-organized the Mill Creek Eco-fair. This was a one-day fair, which
featured many speakers, displays and workshops on sustainable living. At
the end of the project, I designed, implemented, and reported the
“Mill Creek Sustainable Living Survey”.
partners: Green Communities Edmonton Association, City of Edmonton
2002
Group of Six Billion Peoples’ Summit - Video Archiving Project
I co-organized video coverage of this four-day summit
at the University of Calgary as an “Indymedia” organizer with
enough experience to handle 60 odd hours of highly sensitive material.
We coordinated the set-up of a media centre on campus, complete with
video equipment, dubbing and editing facilities, craft services and a
list of protocols for Indymedia volunteer videographers. We then made
copies of the archive and sent them to speakers all around the world.
partners: International Society for Peace and Human Rights,
2001 - 2003
Green Communities Edmonton Association (GCEA)
I
assisted in the planning and implementation of promotional
strategies for GCEA’s environmental and energy audit programs,
the Green Home Visit and the first Energuide for Houses being
done in Edmonton. I organized a low-budget, high-impact display
at the Edmonton Home Show, with photovoltaic equipment, a pedal
powered light bulb display, a video of our work, and all sorts
of energy saving products. This event was key in meeting our
sales target for the year.
partners: City of Edmonton, Natural Resources Canada, Solar Energy
Society of Canada, Inc. - Northern Alberta Chapter
1990-1991
Greenpeace Canada & Concerned Citizens Coalition
My
first experience with the environmental movement was as a
door-to-door canvasser for Greenpeace Canada. I learned about
nuclear testing, endangered wilderness, industrial pollutants,
and the first scientific warnings about global warming. I worked
with local activists to protest forestry mega-projects in
Alberta. Although an end to widespread clear-cut logging was not
achieved, we did raise the bar for Alberta forestry companies by
making them acutely aware of the need for environmental
“management” of their operations.
And because
environmental communications and independent media don’t always provide
a steady paycheque...
2000 - 2006
Roosevelt Manor, Co-owner and Manager
Along
with the usual management responsibilities, I oversee what
became an ongoing project to improve the energy efficiency and
structural integrity of this lovely, 74-year old, 12-suite
apartment building in central Edmonton. This experience added a
whole new dimension to my work in advocating for energy
efficiency and environmental “retrofitting” of our built
environment.
1993 - 2006
Dr. Michael J. Allard, urologist, part-time assistant
As
assistant to my father’s executive secretary, I transcribed
letters, booked appointments, managed files, and helped with
numerous other jobs to make her life easier. In my early adult
life, I worked as a temp at many different clerical jobs, from
data entry to accounts payable to reception. This experience has
proven invaluable in the setting up and management of my own
business.
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