The People’s Media Record (PMR) is an archival and educational hub that practices cooperation, raises critical awareness, and builds collective agency through local workshops, fellowships, and programs centered on the creation, documentation, preservation, archiving, and analysis of community media.

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. 

Since 2020, PMR has centered its focus on cultivating a sustainable infrastructure and support system for the long-term stewardship of community media in Philadelphia, carrying out in 2022 the Philadelphia Audiovisual Collections Evaluation (PACE), a needs assessment of the state of archiving and preservation of local community media collections, which led to a workshop series for community media creators and stewards in 2023, and the creation of the Preserving and Archiving Community Media Fellowship, a nine-month program that seeks to build power and capacity for Philadelphians to save and share their stories on their own terms. 

For news and updates about what what we are up to, please join our mailing list. We also welcome donations to support our work.

Who We Are

Winter Rae Schneider (they/them) – Director of Strategic Planning and Resource Mobilization
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.

Lila Chaar-Pérez (she/they) – Director of Archiving and Preservation
Lila 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 Director of Archiving and Preservation, 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.