What’s New at
GATE?
By Stacey Shaw
The Global Alliance for Transformational
Entertainment (GATE) is a dynamic non-profit community that inspires
entertainment and media professionals through education, advocacy and
collaboration to transform the world by transforming entertainment and media.
This has been a year of rapid growth of the GATE organization and strengthening
the community at the leading edge of transformational content creation.
The power of entertainment
and media in our world is vast. We have the opportunity and responsibility to
create content that both supports and inspires the kind of world we want to
live in and pass on to the future; to use our intention purposefully as we
create and distribute the stories that our global society consumes.
The stories we tell impact
our thoughts, actions, perceptions and consciousness. For this reason, GATE
promotes critical thinking about the meaning and impact of story in the
entertainment and media industry.
GATE seeks to identify and
empower the audience that already exists for transformational entertainment,
but may not be receiving the content they truly want; content that uplifts, inspires and supports meaningful insight,
connection and conversation.
The cornerstone audience for
transformational entertainment and media is the ‘Cultural Creatives,’
a group first identified by sociologists Drs. Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth
Anderson. This year, members of GATE have shared information about the Cultural
Creatives with Hollywood insiders and executives to
shed light on this important market group for transformational content,
estimated at $180 billion.
GATE is building a foundation
of advocacy for transformational content in Hollywood and other locations where
large-scale decisions are made about the creation and distribution of media and
entertainment. This advocacy includes building economic projections and
presentations for studio executives, educational events for industry insiders
and the general public, networking opportunities, and regular screenings of
transformational content in Los Angeles through the GATE ‘Theater Within Film Series.’
The GATE Leadership Circle, a
group of highly committed individuals, contributes their valuable time and
insight, as the policy-making body whose primary function is to birth GATE into
the world. Through monthly meetings held in Los Angeles, the Leadership Circle
envisions, discusses and delegates the work needed to move forward.
Beyond the Leadership Circle,
groups of highly-skilled, passionate volunteers currently give their
professional insight and experience to specific efforts in marketing, research,
advocacy, programming and finances. GATE also has teams of advisors,
ambassadors, and executives each offering a unique set of ideas, connections
and skills to the expansion of the organization.
Currently, GATE is preparing
for the upcoming GATE Transformational Story Conference 2013 (StoryCon) and GATE 3 events to be held at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills on Saturday, February 2nd,
2013.
StoryCon will
explore the role of story in promoting meaningful personal, social and global
transformation. Story is explored from a wide variety of perspectives, with
focused emphasis on the human transformational journey, the transformational
arc of life-death-life. StoryCon is an ideal event
for authors, screenwriters, producers, educators and anyone else for whom
storytelling is an essential aspect of their professional or personal life.
The GATE 3 event is a celebration
of transformational entertainment, media and arts. The theme of the 2013 event
is, “Celebrating Meaningful Messages for an Awakening Humanity.” This amazing
evening will be an exploration of what this new, emerging genré
is all about, and an inspiration for attendees to openly share energies of
their personal transformation with the world through their work.
GATE 3 will feature a
multitude of inspiring presenters and talented performers, both
well-known and emerging; all steeped in transformational arts,
entertainment and media. Through a richly-woven program of speakers including
Jim Carrey and Elkart Tolle,
videos, music and arts performances, film clips and other multi-media presentations,
attendees will leave intellectually stimulated, emotionally moved, and inspired
to pursue their work with greater clarity, substance and commitment.
In addition to this already
full array of goals and accomplishments, GATE will see the start of its first
chapter organization in New York City by the second quarter of 2013. GATE has
made great strides on several new exciting initiatives, including ‘The Audience
is Ready,’ which is a goal to deliver one million audience member signatures to
“Hollywood” to demonstrate to content creators there that the audience for transformationally-oriented films and television is massive
... and the desire for them is significant.
Another highlight of this
year’s progress includes the GATE Social Impact Media (GSIM), an incubator to
provide an early-development environment for transformationally-oriented
films and other entertainment projects. This initiative will accept and direct
funding to these projects and help coordinate their early unfolding. GSIM’s
first project is ‘Shot,’ a non-profit feature film being produced by
award-winning filmmaker Jeremy Kagan, along with
GATE’s John Raatz and David Langer. The film stars
Macaulay Culkin.
If the astounding progress of GATE in 2012 is any indication, 2013
is going to be an absolutely phenomenal year for transformational entertainment
and media. To learn more about GATE, StoryCon and
GATE 3 event details, tickets, membership and how you can become involved,
visit: www.gatecommunity.org
Author Stacey Shaw is a
filmmaker and media professional living in Hood River, Oregon. For more
information, visit: www.staceyshaw.com