About Us

The People’s Media Record was created by the Movement Alliance Project in 2017 as an extension of the belief “that movements begin with the telling of untold stories.” From its founding in 2005 through 2020, the Movement Alliance Project (formerly known as the Media Mobilizing Project) trained hundreds of community journalists in video production and grassroots communication strategies in order to foster unity and build political engagement among primarily poor and working people of color in Philadelphia, including high school students, activists, teachers, nurses, taxi drivers, service workers, artists, and organizers. The invaluable footage that resulted from this work tells a unique story of activism and organizing in Philadelphia. To preserve this work, which spans nearly two decades, a small team came together to create the People’s Media Record. 

When People’s Media Record started, we understood that other community organizations and media makers were facing similar challenges in the preservation of audiovisual materials, from storage to access. Part of our goal is to help build resources, networks, and structures to preserve these stories.

During the last two years, we have also focused internally on developing our metadata workflows and began to work on improving our ability on these processes with the assistance of LEADING Data Science Fellows. Since 2017, the Record has cataloged over 22,000 individual records, which is equivalent to over 1800 hours of raw footage.

Who We Are

Winter Rae Schneider (they/them) – Director

Winter is committed to the practice of memory work in service of building community and moving towards transformative justice and collective liberation. They are trained in critical archival studies, oral history, and Black geographies: their qualitative research analyzes and questions foundational narratives in post-emancipation contexts. They are also a community organizer with a strong commitment to storytelling and creating containers that strive to feel as loving as they are critical. Lately they have been working with coalitions around the fight for fully funded schools and public services in Philadelphia. They received their PhD in history from UCLA in 2018 and are currently completing their first book: Debts of Independence: Rural Accounts of Sovereignty in Haiti’s Nineteenth-Century.

Khalila Chaar-Pérez (she/they) – Digital Archivist

Khalila began with People’s Media Record as a LEADING fellow in the summer of 2021, when she focused on the refinement of descriptive metadata for the archive’s materials. As a Digital Archivist, she is in charge of managing and taking care of PMR’s repository and assisting with PMR’s educational and outreach efforts. As a native of Puerto Rico who has taught and researched Caribbean cultures for many years, Khalila is interested in liberatory approaches to archival work and in how oppressed communities can harness the power of data to their own ends. They hold a PhD in Latin American Literatures and Cultures from New York University and a Masters in Library Science and Information from the University of Pittsburgh. Last but not least, they love hiking, cemeteries, and the beach.