Stories have the power to to change the world, and it has never been easier to get our stories out there. In today’s fast-paced, content-driven world, the first steps to using story to enact great change are simple: create compelling content and put it out there!
Photo Credit: Forbes Magazine
Take as an example Caine’s Arcade. In 2011, filmmaker Nirvan Mullick walked into a used auto parts store in East L.A and stumbled upon a cardboard arcade run by a dedicated, entrepreneurial nine-year-old, saw the story behind the boy and asked to tell it. (Read about Caine’s Arcade Here) Then, he put it out there.
Mullick uploaded his eleven-minute documentary on Caine’s Arcade via Vimeo, thus lighting the match that would spread Caine’s story like wildfire. To get the word out about his film, Mullick simply used the free marketing tools we all have at our fingertips. He posted it on Reddit as well as a few social media sites and the video went viral (as videos sometimes do) and on the first day it was posted, the film received over a million views and raised over $60,000 for the Scholarship Mullick had set up for Caine before releasing the film.
Rather than ride the wave to temporary internet fame before fizzling out, Mullick and the team behind Caine’s Arcade decided to do something bigger.They leveraged the movie and started The Imagination Foundation, a non-profit that FINDS and fosters creativity and entrepreneurship in children all over the world.
Within 5 months of launching over 100 schools in 9 countries had participated in their School Pilot which “used the film and cardboard arcade building to teach kids math, science, engineering, art, entrepreneurship, storytelling, creative thinking and more.”
Photo Courtesy of http://www.imagination.is/
The foundation then launched what they call, the Global Cardboard Challenge in which kids are challenged to create and build using cardboard, recycled materials and imagination. At the close of their second annual challenge on October sixth, 270 events had been organized in 41 countries. That is HUGE, and they aren’t done. Their new goal? To engage 1 Million Kids in 70 Countries in creative play through the Challenge. They are changing the world.
Obviously, this doesn’t happen for every person who uploads a story online, so what keeps people creating content?
Photo credit:
www. employeelearningatdepaul.wordpress.com/
Belief that their story is powerful enough & their content is compelling enough to penetrate the noise and shine.
The thing about a good story is that you never really know when you might stumble upon one. My takeaway from this? Keep your eyes open and if you think you’ve found a good story, tell it. Put it out there. Or you could miss out the chance to change the world.
No Comments