Nothing influences and underscores social and environmental progress more than the songs and stories by artists whose works forever immortalize humanity's courage, strength, pain and celebration in the times we leap forward. It is impossible to remember the Civil Rights Movement without hearing Marvin Gaye's, "What's Going On." We still turn to Diego Rivera murals and paintings to teach history of farm labor rights. We hear Joan Baez crooning, "De Colores," when we remember the victories of Cesar Chavez, and we'll forever thank the "Blackfish" filmmakers for bringing an end to the Shamu Show and other animal abuses at Seaworld. 

In a time where Black History books are being removed from school libraries and where illegal occupations of indigenous lands from the Pacific Islands to the Middle East become exceedingly justified, it is crucial now more than ever to amplify BIPOC voices across all creative mediums to correct narratives and give truth a fighting chance. This need is from where the Durga Media BIPOC Creators Fund was born.

Funds donated* to this campaign will go directly to the production expenses of each project, be it equipment or space rentals, professional personnel/ contractors, travel costs, marketing, and more. In addition, funds will go directly to the artists and creators behind each project to enable a sustainable experience during the creative process. Most independent artists work multiple jobs to make ends meet while endeavoring to cultivate their own creativity. It is in this challenge that so many burn out and why so many brilliant, important projects never see the light of day. If a writer has no publisher to advance them for their next book, it is nearly impossible for them to afford any length of sabbatical to write it. If a singer-songwriter is spending half their week performing in smoky casinos and the other half waiting tables, they are given no opportunity for vocal recovery before their own recording sessions. These compromises greatly affect the work artists are able to create. We at Durga Media care deeply to change those patterns and to support a sustainable creative process for each of our sponsees. 

 

Anthony Perez is a documentary filmmaker whose passion lies rooted in cultural immersion and exploration into the indigenous way of life. In February 2024, he embarked on his most ambitious endeavor that is taking him across the three regions comprised of Oceania: Polynesia, Melanesia, & Micronesia. As a content creator and storyteller, he is traversing over 40 different island cultures to document tradition, language, dance, cuisine, and ways of life through various story structures to both celebrate and educate. The intention of this journey is not only to promote pride within the cultures and its people, but to bring to the outside world, an understanding of this region that is sustainable and respectful.

The first film in the series, “Living like a Hawaiian,” premiered February 25, 2024 on YouTube with zero marketing and promotion and has already been watched by over 49,000 viewers and received hundreds of moving reviews. (Trailer here)

 

 

John Paul Hodge is a citizen of, and certified artist for, the Cherokee (Tsalagi) Nation of Oklahoma. He was born and raised in Northern California and is inter-related to family members of Lake County Pomo bands.  A songwriter, recording and performing artist across several genres, John Paul's deep and soulful voice adds weight to the heavy nature of his spiritual songs that connect and strengthen all his relations; songs about salmon, labor, prison, alcoholism and smudging. He can also quickly become a clown and ease the audience with laughter, storytelling and with familiar covers. With his guitar and big voice he reminds the people of their importance, power and connection with what he calls our Great-Grandmother’s Spirit.

 

 

"For over 75 years my people have suffered under a brutal apartheid regime. My family’s lineage dates to the Canaanites. All my ancestors, prior to my grandparents, are buried in Palestine. My family was displaced, and my grandparents ended up buried in separate foreign lands. My father has not been able to see his own sister since his childhood as Palestinians are not allowed to return to their own land. Due to the occupation, my family is fractured and spread around the world like pappus in the wind. So many family members who I don’t know and have never met, and that is due to my family’s displacement. I have been carrying this inherited trauma since my birth, and I hope that I see a Free Palestine in my lifetime and that this trauma is not inflicted onto future generations. This poetry book was born out of watching my people be genocided from across the world. Its words are my anguish, my helplessness, my hope, my fears, my rage, and my tears. It’s my journey through navigating survivor’s guilt in what often feels like a soulless world. It’s allowing myself to feel it all and sit with the full spectrum of my emotions, and in turn giving you a safe space to also feel it all. There is no normal way to feel while witnessing my people be genocided from afar. There is no normal way to feel while witnessing the most well documented genocide in history. This poetry book is my soul laid bare. It’s me keeping my humanity alive and strong in a world that feels like it’s losing its humanity. It is my old self dying and being reborn like a phoenix from the ashes of the rubble. Reborn into a person whose soul is ablaze." - Laura Bader

 

 

Founder and CEO of Durga Media, Alicia Champion is a professional producer/ composer/ arranger and performer with 30 years experience with past credits in music/ film/ tv including, but not limited to Interscope Records, Universal Music Group, MTV, Disney, ESPN, and many more. A vibrant and passionate performer, Alicia's multi-instrumental skills and rock vocal prowess have been endorsed by the likes of Steven Tyler, Melissa Etheridge and more. She's shared the stage with artists including Cake, Talib Kweli, Beth Hart, Metric, and Juliette Lewis, and she's also clocked time on the TV screen, winning VH1's reality-based contest, "You Rock With Melissa Etheridge," and appearing on Fox's musical series, "Glee." Her 2016 single, "Bi," was hailed by HuffPost as "The bisexual rock anthem you didn't know you needed," and was named one of the site's Top 10 music videos of the year. Her current release, "Fan to Flame," is featured as the End Title track in the 2023 award-winning indie thriller, "Follow Her," starring Luke Cook. Alicia is currently in the studio finishing her next single, "Love Bomb" - a song about her journey through codependency recovery - and is now raising funds to produce its music video.