{"557271":{"#nid":"557271","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Rio Film Events during 2016 Olympic Games Highlights Innovation by and for the World\u2019s Poor","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMedia reports on the 2016 Summer Olympics offer a grim portrayal of host city Rio de Janeiro and what the world will see and experience there August 5\u0026nbsp;\u2013\u0026nbsp;21. In the midst of the relentless bad news, a Georgia Tech professor worked with world renowned film directors to focus in another direction \u2014\u0026nbsp;innovation and success in Rio. Those stories originate where they might least be expected\u0026nbsp;\u2014\u0026nbsp;amid the heartwrenching poverty of the city\u2019s\u0026nbsp;poorest slums. Starting August 11, the Reimagine Rio Festival will present films about local leaders and the kids whose lives they are changing through innovative sports and arts programs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EReimagine Rio is the brainchild of Kirk Bowman and the partners and students in his non-profit organization Rise Up and Care! As the Rio Games begin, Bowman\u2019s team will take to the stage premiering five documentaries that profile innovators, or \u201csuperheroes\u201d as Bowman calls them. Bowman\u2019s group sought out the most inspiring mentor programs in Rio\u2019s favelas \u2014\u0026nbsp;those that are creating sustainable change. The films (whose trailers are available on\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/riseup.care\/\u0022\u003EReimagine Rio\u003C\/a\u003E\u2019s\u0026nbsp;website) highlight a range of successful neighborhood programs that feature activities ranging from\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rs-Mny1TUcY\u0022\u003Ebadminton\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;to\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rTRrr-h_U1Y\u0022\u003Edancing\u003C\/a\u003E, from\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yw64uqumxfI\u0022\u003Emusic\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;to\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/youtu.be\/5hY4fZHgsYs\u0022\u003Ecircus\u003C\/a\u003E, and even\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ufZ_RNHZRpo\u0022\u003Efilmmaking\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;itself.\u0026nbsp;These stories showcase the incredible transformation of youth and communities in the face of great challenges, and they display Rio\u2019s favelas in a way that is rarely portrayed by global news media.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn \u201cBad\u2019\u0026nbsp;and the Birdieman,\u201d Brazilian film directors Lili Fialho and\u0026nbsp;K\u00e1tia\u0026nbsp;Lund (acclaimed co-director of\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003ECity of God\u003C\/em\u003E) explore the Miratus Badmintion Association in the favela of Chacrinha. Miratus founder,\u0026nbsp;Sebasti\u00e3o\u0026nbsp;Dias de Oliveira, set out to help the youth of his community who were mired in crime and drugs. Alongside a friend, Oliveira began Miratus 17 years ago, building the badminton facility brick by brick and the program day by day. Sebasti\u00e3o created his own training system using the homegrown samba dance to develop the fast footwork needed for badminton. His innovative approach keeps kids interested in the sport while also\u0026nbsp;producing some of Brazil\u2019s greatest badminton players \u2014 including two 2016 Olympic competitors. At the same time, the program also provides education for the local children. But perhaps most importantly, it succeeds by nurturing the aspiration to live beyond the crushing poverty, drugs, and crime so prevalent in the favelas.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Reimagine Rio Festival is a product of Bowman\u2019s research on sustainable community development and local innovation. A professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Bowman was named the inaugural Jon R. Wilcox Term Professor in Soccer, Global Politics, and Society in 2014. The financial support of this position allows him to apply more resources to his research, which focuses on identifying locally originated community development. The funds also enable\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/riseup.care\/\u0022\u003ERise Up and Care\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;to broadcast evidence and conclusions from that research to the world at large.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBowman\u2019s team of partners, supporters, filmmakers, and local leaders will premiere the five documentary films via 300 free screenings in more than 60 locations throughout Rio and its Baixada Fluminense region. The purpose of these screenings is to celebrate the achievements in situ to audiences living in the struggling favelas across the city first. The films unfold the personal stories about the program leaders, their innovations, and the multitude of youngsters whose lives they\u2019re effecting. They also highlight Bowman\u2019s assertion that local, grassroots solutions \u2014\u0026nbsp;in contrast to ideas originating from outside communities \u2014\u0026nbsp;are the key to success and sustainability in developing countries. The films demonstrate that dreams can become real for those in the favelas, that change is possible. Bowman hopes that the Festival will carry that message beyond the favelas as well, showing Rio and the world a new model for sustainable development. So far, the audience is robust with more than 1,000 people slated to attend and dignitaries including\u0026nbsp;Liliana Ayalde,\u0026nbsp;the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBowman\u2019s model of sustainable change operates on what he calls \u201cthe three I\u2019s\u201d: Identify, Invest, Inspire. He identifies local organizations around the world that have made lasting, long-term impacts on their communities via organic innovation. Rise Up and Care invests capital in those organizations so that they can grow and increase their influence. To inspire the world and the communities about these leaders and innovation, Bowman and Rise Up co-founder Jon Wilcox produce film-festival quality feature documentaries with top local filmmakers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Bowman, the more traditional model of development, which entails outside sources creating new organizations to assist developing communities, is outdated and simply does not work.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=W51BsasAx8I\u0022\u003EIn a 2015 TedxPeachtree talk\u003C\/a\u003E, Bowman revealed outcomes from his own experience with a decade of well-intentioned start-ups, as well as his research conclusions on what it takes to establish sustainable change:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn the global south, abandoned tilapia farms, or play pumps, or sports clubs leave behind donor fatigue, distrust, and hurt feelings, and litters the environment with the carcasses of failed projects. A banker friend convinced me that there is a better way: the community bank model that can have success rates as high as 99 percent.\u0026nbsp;How does a community bank model increase success rates from 25 percent to 99 percent? First, instead of investing time and money in startups, provide expansion capital to existing successful organizations. And second, instead of investing in the next great idea, invest in long term relationships with effective local leaders.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat banker friend is Jon Wilcox who is the co-founder, CEO, and director of California Republic Bank. Together, Bowman and Wilcox want to flip the classic model on its head.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThose from advantaged countries need to abandon notions of playing the \u201csuperhero\u201d coming in with their ideas to fix things and instead adopt the role as \u201csidekicks\u201d supporting local innovators. This new way of approaching sustainable development relies on already successful organizations that already work within developing communities and thus hone in on a much more specialized and personal level.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese specialized and personalized successes are the stories that will be presented in the Reimagine Rio Festival. Bowman is excited to be premiering the films in the favelas that gave birth to those stories.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTypically people would premiere a film festival like this in theaters where the wealthier people live. Rio is huge; it has all these poor neighborhoods and they would never go to those theaters. They couldn\u2019t afford to. Because our films are about people in these marginalized communities that are doing these incredible things, we want the people in those communities to feel the power and emotion of the film experience, not the downsized version on someone\u2019s phone or a laptop.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBowman believes that by celebrating the successes of their own neighborhoods, the films will spur more innovation in Rio\u2019s favelas. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe want to show off the kids in the badminton, circus, dance, and the other programs so that other kids see kids who are just like them. By tapping into the hopes and dreams of these children, their hearts will be inspired to pursue their ambitions in a way they might not have thought possible before.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMoving forward in such a manner requires innovation, but Bowman asserts that our preconceived notions of innovation need to change:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cInnovation is not only the domain of the university, corporations, and start-ups. Often the most effective innovation isn\u2019t even with products. It happens in the grassroots and on the ground. It\u2019s process innovation from people who know their communities.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs the Rio 2016 Olympic Games begin, Bowman presents the five films about innovations in five favelas of Brazil and, through them, asks the world to consider a new model for enacting positive, sustainable change.\u0026nbsp; To see the trailers, Reimagine Rio Festival schedule, and locations, visit\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/riseup.care\/\u0022\u003ERiseup.Care\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMore about Kirk Bowman\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Kirk Bowman, the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EJon R. Wilcox Term Professor in Soccer and Global Politics\u003C\/em\u003E, joined the Georgia Tech faculty as an assistant professor in Georgia Tech\u0027s Sam Nunn School of International Affairs in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts in 1998 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2004 and Professor in 2014.\u0026nbsp; He directs study abroad programs in Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay.\u0026nbsp; A specialist in Latin American politics and political development, he is author of\u003Cem\u003EMilitarization, Democracy, and Development: The Perils of Praetorianism in Latin America\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;(Pennsylvania University Press, 2002),\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EPeddling Paradise: The Politics of Tourism in Latin America\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E(Lynne Rienner 2013),\u003Cem\u003ELessons from Latin America: Innovations in Politics, Culture, and Development\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E(with Felipe Arocena, Toronto 2014) and numerous journal articles, book chapters, and reference chapters. His current projects include a book that uses\u0026nbsp;soccer to explore the theories and concepts of comparative politics. For the full bio, read\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.inta.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/7bf6991b-0003-5cf4-94e3-f8796ef47a04\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Reimagine Rio Festival Highlights Homegrown Sustainable Community Development"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBy utilizing a new form of development strategy, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs Professor Kirk Bowman is revolutionizing what it means to assist struggling communities.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Professor Kirk Bowman uses local groups to instate sustainable development in struggling communities."}],"uid":"32716","created_gmt":"2016-08-01 12:53:48","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:22:12","author":"Hayden Russell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-08-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-08-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"557301":{"id":"557301","type":"image","title":"Reimagine Rio Graphic","body":null,"created":"1470071678","gmt_created":"2016-08-01 17:14:38","changed":"1475895358","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:58","alt":"Reimagine Rio Graphic","file":{"fid":"206674","name":"800wcompressedforlistpage.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/800wcompressedforlistpage.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/800wcompressedforlistpage.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":165747,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/800wcompressedforlistpage.jpg?itok=W7mRLTxr"}},"70350":{"id":"70350","type":"image","title":"Kirk 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