06/05/20

This Week: #BlackoutTuesday

TRENDS THIS WEEK

☞ YouTube: Meek Mill - Otherside of America
☞ Letterboxd: The Vast of Night 
☞ TikTok: #blackvoices
☞ Spotify: Rockstar - DaBaby
☞ Netflix: Space Force
☞ Twitter: #JusticeforBreonna


LIFE & CULTURE

All across the world, people have taken to social media to spread information, activism, and awareness more than we’ve ever seen before, from Facebook, IG, Twitter, to even TikTok. The #BlackoutTuesday initiative garnered over 28.9 million unique posts on IG alone. 

That said, it’s been a week of trial and error, as users collectively try to correct for algorithm flaws and ensure resources for protestors and others aren’t lost in the sea of black squares. Though social media activism is high this week, general rhetoric is pushing people to identify more tactical ways to support BLM and social justice initiatives to create meaningful, permanent change. 

A recent study reports that kids in the US ages 4 to 15 now spend an average of 85 minutes per day watching YouTube videos, compared with 80 minutes per day spent on TikTok. Overall, the study found that kids today watch twice as many videos per day as they did just four years ago. Check out the rest of the study here. 

In the heels of snagging Disney’s top streaming executive (and a presumed contender for Bob Iger’s throne), Tik Tok issued a new draw to subscribers with #LearnOnTikTok, an educational initiative that connects its users with celebrities and high-profile experts on everything from gender identity to cooking tutorials.  

This Houston-based musician is guaranteed to uplift your weekend with impeccable violin covers of R&B’s best hits, from 90’s classic “Candy Rain” to Summer Walker’s “Playing Games.”

TECH

Creativity has always been — and always will be — hugely important for effective marketing, but “Data also plays a massive part in helping to connect emotional storytelling with beautiful craft and intelligence." Download this white paper from DigiDay to learn about creative data, and how it can be used for optimizing creativity.

Certain apps have grown in popularity this week. Citizen is an interactive map to chart movements of protests and is ranked 11th in downloads on iOS software.

Softbank has announced that it is launching a new $100 million fund called the Opportunity Growth Fund that “will only invest in companies led by founders and entrepreneurs of color.” The fund is the largest capital reserves ever dedicated to solely supporting businesses run by people of color.


COMEDY

INSECURE is more poignant and urgent than ever (though it really always has been). Take it from creator Issa Rae herself - “we hope this celebration of Black life, love and community can provide some solace to anyone who’s hurting or needs a laugh. Black lives are beautiful. Black lives are complex, and Black lives matter.”


THEATRE

The Public Theater’s critically acclaimed production of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING is available for streaming through Monday 6/8! The Kenny Leon-directed production is set outside Atlanta just before the 2020 election and features an entirely black cast. Link to watch through PBS here. 

Through the end of June you can also listen to NATIVE GUARD, an audio drama that centers on Natasha Tretheway’s Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of poetry by the same name. Native Guard is both an elegy to her mother and a journey into Mississippi’s Civil War history. In poetry and song, she reflects on her mother’s passing while contemplating the former slaves who became soldiers in a regiment known as the Native Guard. You can listen to the recording here.


PODCAST

Here are a few podcasts we feel are important to listen to now (in addition to CODE SWITCH, a podcast we previously highlighted):

On POD SAVE THE PEOPLE organizer and activist DeRay Mckesson explores news, culture, social justice, and politics with fellow activists Brittany Packnett Cunningham and Sam Sinyangwe, and writer Dr. Clint Smith. They offer a unique take on the news, with a special focus on overlooked stories and topics that often impact people of color. 

REVEAL is a Peabody Award-winning podcast that goes deep into the pressing issues of our times--from prisons to protests, immigration to the environment. Reveal is a project of The Center for Investigative Reporting and is co-produced with PRX. The show is hosted by Al Letson and partners with reporters and newsrooms around the world, including The Washington Post, ProPublica, APM, The Marshall Project and The Investigative Fund. Reveal is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and has won many broadcast journalism awards, including a duPont and three national Emmys.

THE STOOP digs into stories that are not always shared out in the open. Hosts Leila Day and Hana Baba start conversations about what it means to be black and how we talk about blackness. It’s a celebration of black joy with a mission to dig deeper into stories that we don’t hear enough about.  
 

SHORT FILMS

WE ARE GEORGE FLOYD by Julian Marshall. This film showcases NYC's response to the murder of George Floyd. Julian uses incredible footage shot from his neighborhood and overlays the voices of Cornel West and Killer Mike. It's hard to distill what has happened over the past few weeks into a film, but Julian comes pretty close to doing that. It's aching, heart-wrenching, beautiful and hopeful. Check it out.

Be kind, stay healthy, and as always, stay creative. ツ

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