To Organize Hosting a Screening +/- Q&A
with director & subject Suzanne Crocker contact us
So, you’re considering hosting a screening of “First We Eat”. Great!! But wouldn’t it be even better if you could use the screening to promote action that supports your local food movement? Read on.
Use the ideas below as starting points. Brainstorm with other people in your area to think of creative ways to make the best use of local resources.
Be Bold. Think Big. Partner with others.
Make it fun!
And if you come up with a great idea not mentioned below, feel free to share it with us so we can add it to the list!
1. Provide resources
- Offer the Personal Action Pledge after a screening
The Personal Action Pledge has been designed to help start the conversation on what folks can be doing in their own communities to support local food systems and food sovereignty movements.
- We suggest giving folks a printable version they can post on their fridge, as a daily reminder of their pledge (5×8 is a good size)
- Consider giving folks the option to email their forms back to your organization to be emailed or mailed back to them in 6 months time to remind them of their pledge and check in if they need any support! It is a great way to stay connected and keep the conversation going.
- Use the standard one-page Personal Action Pledge found HERE
. Display or share the QRcode (below) that will take people directly to the First We Eat Personal Action Pledge PDF. - OR Customize it for your community by using the editable two-page Personal Action Pledge found HERE. (You can add your logo to page 1 and add resource links relevant to your community on page 2)
- you can fully customize the categories on Page 2 here
- you can collect responses by using this google form version instead
Offer a list of local food resources after the screening:
- A list of how/where to access local food in your area
- A seasonal eating guide relevant to your area
- A list of stores that stock and highlight local food
- A list of restaurants that focus on using local ingredients
- A list of relevant workshops in the community: canning & preserving, community gardening, how to create a cold room in your house, home cheese making, foraging
- A list of local food organizations in the region and a one-sentence introduction about what they do
- A list of local organizations in your community that support sustainable farming, food justice, food sovereignty, food accessibility
- Don’t forget to include phone numbers and hyperlinks
- If offering physical handouts consider 5×8 (can be put on a fridge) or a bookmark size
- Send folks to “What Can I Do”
- Organize a sign-up after the screening for local CSA boxes in your region
- Partner with a local organization that supplies local food in your region (if you are not one!) so that folks have a direct way to sign up right there!
- Partner with a local organization that supplies local food in your region (if you are not one!) so that folks have a direct way to sign up right there!
- Organize a sign-up option to receive a weekly or monthly email highlighting local producers in your region whose food is in season at the time the email is sent.
- Include a short story about them, high-quality photos of them and their products, where to buy their products, and how to get in touch with them!
- Include a short story about them, high-quality photos of them and their products, where to buy their products, and how to get in touch with them!
- Have a sign up for a local food project after the screening
- Have a sign-up for a local food workshop, e.g. a preserving and canning workshop
- Promote donations to your own or another local food cause as part of your screening
- You can place emphasis on Black, Indigenous and People of Colour run food models as racialized folks are often more impacted by food insecurity and have less access to gaining intergenerational wealth and to land due to systemic racism and colonization.
- You can go beyond our borders and suggest donating to the United Nations World Food Program who promote sustainable local food production in the most vulnerable countries. Winner of a Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 for their work. https://www.wfp.org/support-us/stories/donate
- If you are creating a film series, consider teaming up with your local library to provide a list of books to pair with each film
- If you are not already one, partner with a group or local organization that support local food movements so folks can connect with them right after the screening
- Promote Local Food Producers on Social Media
- Have a staff person, a volunteer or hire a student to create short video clips or other posts that highlight the sustainable local food producers in your area that you can promote on social media when advertising the screening of First We Eat
2. Pair your event with local food
If you are hosting your event in-person, provide food samples as part of the screening to highlight local food in your area.
- Consider having the food producers or chefs present to connect with the audience
- Or have a photo and a brief bio of the local farm/producer with the food
- Provide a hand-out that has the contact info for the local farms/producers of the food
- Consider having the food producers or chefs present to connect with the audience
- Host a Local Seasonal Community Meal either immediately before or after the screening, or maybe a week or month after the screening, and use the screening to sell tickets to it.
- Partner with a community group that already offers community meals, and see if they will help run a special local seasonal meal.
- Partner with a community group that already offers community meals, and see if they will help run a special local seasonal meal.
- If you are hosting a virtual event, offer a ‘dinner and movie’ package in your ticket options.
- Connect with a local restaurant that sources local ingredients to create a First We Eat meal for take-out or delivery on the days the film is screening
- Connect with a local restaurant that sources local ingredients to create a First We Eat meal for take-out or delivery on the days the film is screening
- Organize a food delivery subscription system or CSA, whereby once a month the recipient receives a recipe and all the ingredients needed to make the meal featuring local products.
- Include in the box a bio/photo of where the food came from, who produced it, and links and contact information to each farmer so folks participating can continue to buy their products
3. Host a panel discussion to relate the film to local food issues in your area
Invite local food advocates, farmers, foragers, knowledge holders- Invite Suzanne Crocker, Director and Subject of “First We Eat” and/or contact us about inviting a Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in elder or Dawson Farmer
- Invite decision-makers who you would like to influence (for example a hospital administrator you would like to access more local seasonal food for the hospital cafeteria or a land developer), invite them to the screening and to be part of the panel discussion:
- The Saskatchewan example: The volume of local produce consumed in SK increased from 1000 kg/yr to 1.3 million kg/yr in just 6 years! This was the result of a local food advocacy group bringing a decision-maker into the discussion. In this case, the decision-maker was the person in charge of distribution/procurement for the Co-op Grocery Store chain in the province. As a result, he made the decision to promise the SK farmers that the Co-op Grocery Store Chain in SK would buy all products of specific types that the SK farmers could produce. This provided a guaranteed market for SK farmers for those crops. And the dramatic increase in local produce consumption in SK was the result.
- The Saskatchewan example: The volume of local produce consumed in SK increased from 1000 kg/yr to 1.3 million kg/yr in just 6 years! This was the result of a local food advocacy group bringing a decision-maker into the discussion. In this case, the decision-maker was the person in charge of distribution/procurement for the Co-op Grocery Store chain in the province. As a result, he made the decision to promise the SK farmers that the Co-op Grocery Store Chain in SK would buy all products of specific types that the SK farmers could produce. This provided a guaranteed market for SK farmers for those crops. And the dramatic increase in local produce consumption in SK was the result.
- Quick Pitches
- invite local CSA providers, Farmer Market folks, Farm Gate folks, and restaurants specializing in local seasonal food, and give them each 90 seconds (be FIRM) to pitch people on who they are and what they offer. If your screening is in-person, after the screening can offer a meet and greet (and sign up for CSA)
- invite local CSA providers, Farmer Market folks, Farm Gate folks, and restaurants specializing in local seasonal food, and give them each 90 seconds (be FIRM) to pitch people on who they are and what they offer. If your screening is in-person, after the screening can offer a meet and greet (and sign up for CSA)
- Connect with local food banks and hold a post-screening discussion to consider ways to include fresh local, culturally appropriate food at food banks and decrease food waste.
- Connect with LOOP
- Connect with LOOP
- If you are hosting a virtual event, you will usually see more of an uptake for a virtual panel discussion or Q&A after the screening if it is a synchronous screening (ie folks watch the film from home at the same time and then all go to the link for the discussion/Q&A right after.) This is a great way to connect folks, talk through any questions that came up, and point them in the direction of resources and organizations to touch base with!
- Consider making a film discussion club, similar to a book club, every month or two that focuses on films that inspire social change.
- Use the downloadable First We Eat Discussion Guide to help with the post-screening discussion
4. Offer incentives
Offer a draw for the audience (in person or virtually) for something related to local food, which you can then use when promoting the screening and related events on social media, radio, newspaper, word of mouth. Examples:
- One month of a local CSA
- Two free tickets for a Local Seasonal Community Dinner you decide to organize to go with the screening
- Dinner at a restaurant specializing in local food
5. Time Your Screening Strategically
Winter: Consider hosting a screening of First We Eat and highlighting ways to access local food in your community year-round. This could be especially significant in the winter months when most folks do not think access to local food is still possible – when it is!- Time the screening to coincide with a sign up for local CSA boxes in your region
- Partner with a local organization that supplies local food in your region (if you are not one!) so that folks have a direct way to sign up right there!
Do you have a suggestion we should add to this list?
Please contact us with your idea