Six creators participated in the showcase: Carla LynDale Bishop, LaJuné McMillian, Fabiano Mixo, Bayaté Ross Smith, Tamara Shogaolu, and Leonardo Souza. Moderated by Lisa Osborne, BPM’s Director of Emerging Media, BPMplus Showcase was hosted on Hopin, a virtual event platform. Rarely do I find tech-centered spaces where I feel represented as a Black woman, but virtual BPMplus granted me access to such a space and liberated me from my own preoccupations about belonging. I am a Black maker who recognizes the value that emerging technologies can bring to traditional forms like film, but I feel out of my depth when exploring new technologies. Prior to 2020, PitchBLACK was a physical event in New York City.īPMplus Showcase is a special section of the Forum dedicated to projects using emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (XR). I was able to attend the event for the first time thanks to the new online iteration. This year, BPM awarded $410,000, the highest amount ever, to five creative teams competing in the Forum. Now in its fourth year, BPM’s PitchBLACK Forum is a competition for makers to secure funding to take their projects to the next level.

Black Public Media is a non-profit organization that supports, develops, and distributes content that centers African American and global Black perspectives. Last month, Black Public Media’s (BPM) inaugural BPMplus Showcase was the bright spot on my ever-growing roster of virtual events. Artists are tackling access-related challenges in their work with renewed vigor. For many of us, the pandemic sparked deeper contemplation about what true access and representation look like in motion. Thanks to pandemic-era norms of holding hybrid or virtual events, I have attended more conferences, film festivals, workshops, and classes this year than ever before, all while saving my vital resources. In-person iterations of film festivals, conferences, and forums are not always feasible for me. Still, I am not mad because online events have opened the world to me in ways that did not exist before quarantine. Yes, it has been a year of online work and events for which my eyes, lower back, and social life have suffered. While my peers complain of Zoom fatigue and organizations hatch plans for getting back to a decidedly dysfunctional “normal,” I am fully appreciating my unprecedented access to just about everything as a result of the pandemic. A dispatch from the new VR/AR/XR section of Black Public Media’s annual PitchBLACK Forum

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