Be Communications LLC

Be Communications LLC—publishers of Be Magazine, Be Teen Scene, and Be Kidz Scene—is the communications partner of the City of Chattanooga Department of Education, Arts & Culture to further expand opportunities for creative expression, community dialogue, and innovative communications on a local level that ripple out and connect with other communities and cities around the world.

Our Products and Services:

Media and Communications

Be Magazine
Inspiring change and connecting one community, one city, one country at a time—to make a difference around the world. Together we are the change!

Be Magazine is an online publication launched on November 11, 2009. Inspired by Gandhi’s famous quotation “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” Be Magazine celebrates and spotlights positive change and creative vision and the people and places that are making a difference in communities and cities around the world.

Be Teen Scene
A grassroots media collaborative in its third year as the voice of teens—building opportunities for creative expression, community dialogue, and innovative communications on a local level that ripple out and connect with teens in other communities and cities online via Be Teen Scene a web-based affiliate of the online publication Be Magazine (www.bemagazine.org).

Chattanooga Teen Scene ‘zine
A collaborative community-based ‘zine project spotlighting local teen writers and artists in a quarterly print publication available for download via MagCloud.com and print copies are available in limited quantities through the City of Chattanooga Department of Education, Arts & Culture (www.chattanooga.gov).

Teens design their own PDF ‘zine page with text, photography, artwork, and graphic design to be included in a collaborative ‘zine issue uploaded each quarter.

Be Kidz Scene
A biannual publication in its third year engaging parents in kids in creative conversations about social issues through the arts. Be Kidz Scene is a magazine for kids and parents and reaches out to elementary and middle schools twice a year. The Spring Issue “Kids Changing the World” is a launching point for kids’ creative ideas for addressing environmental and social issues and changing the world. The Fall Issue “Think & Draw and Talk about it” is a powerful communication tool that opens dialogue between kids and adults about important social issues kids are facing today and how they can make positive choices.

Education, Arts & Culture
Create. Connect. Collaborate. Communicate.
Connecting the dots one artist, one social service agency,
one community at a time—an Unbroken City of Compassion

Education, Arts & Culture Founding Administrator Missy Crutchfield says, “In four years, we have created a unique city department—perhaps the only one of its kind in the nation. We’re known for ‘Connecting the Dots’ and creating innovative partnerships that engage learners of all ages. It all goes back to the original vision we built this department around—Remember Your Dream—addressing social issues through the arts. We’re connecting the dots, one artist, one social service agency, one community at a time—creating an Unbroken City of Compassion.”

CREATE.
Remember Your Dream – Remember Your Dream is the Education, Arts & Culture signature program—using the arts to address social issues—which include mentoring and arts programs, issue-driven literacy programs, purpose-driven social networking events, and gender-specific programs for boys and girls emphasizing healthy relationships and peer-to-peer programs. Education, Arts & Culture is driven by the mission to offer a broad base of programs that will give residents of all ages, incomes and ethnicities a chance to connect the dots between social issues and the arts. Education, Arts & Culture’s programs and events are open to the entire community.

Sisters Speak Out – An original three act spoken word play and workshop experience Education, Arts & Culture Administrator Missy Crutchfield created after being inspired by The Clothesline Project, an international movement that provides domestic violence victims with a plain, white t-shirt as a canvas for speaking what is on their hearts and beginning the healing process. “When I became acquainted with the t-shirt project, I was so moved by the words,” Crutchfield says. “I remember thinking, ‘This stuff is good—how do we bring it to life?’” And “Sisters Speak Out” brings The Clothesline Project to life through “Sisters Speak Out Against Violence,” “Sisters Speak Out in Empowerment,” and “Sisters Speak Out—Making a Fashion Statement.”

ANTS – Art in Non-Traditional Spaces is an Education, Arts & Culture program showcasing student art and photography in non-traditional public spaces such as the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport, the City of Chattanooga City Hall, the City of Chattanooga Development Resource Center, and Chattanooga Housing Authority headquarters. In 2007, ANTS launched with the premiere of “I Believe I Can Fly,” an art exhibit at the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport displaying the works of students from Rivermont and Barger elementary schools. In 2008, ANTS showcased musical talent from Barger Academy and the Normal Park Museum Magnet Upper School at the airport in “Songs Take Flight for the Holidays.”

CONNECT.
Connecting the Dots Summit – Each April Education, Arts & Culture, in partnership with United Way of Greater Chattanooga and Allied Arts of Greater Chattanooga, hosts the Connecting the Dots Summit to engage artists and nonprofit agencies in a community dialogue on addressing social issues through the arts. This is a first-ever partnership between United Way and Allied Arts (Chattanooga’s “United Way” of the arts). Keynote speakers have included Rick Lowe (Project Row Houses), Claudia Cornett, Ph.D. (author of “Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts”), and Earl S. Braggs, M.F.A. (poet and UC Foundation Professor, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga). Each year’s summit includes break-out sessions focusing on “Arts & Economic Development,” “Arts & Healing,” “Arts & Education,” and “Community & Race Relations.”

Unbroken – Unbroken is a community-based initiative headed up by Education, Arts & Culture and partners—engaging youth in communities across the city to build literacy and address social issues through the arts. No one is broken. As we connect and heal through creativity and compassion, we find ways to rise above the challenges that pick away at us and break us down and we discover that we are—unbroken. Unbroken is creating movement in East Lake, East Chattanooga, North Chattanooga, and other neighborhoods across the city.

COLLABORATE.
Chattanooga Leadership Think Tank – Chattanooga Leadership Think Tank Roundtable gathers a roundtable of Chattanooga’s leadership program directors to network, share best practices, and combine efforts to mutually support each other in growing the city’s leadership development programs. Co-founded in 2007 by Missy Crutchfield (Education, Arts & Culture) and Diane Parks (Leadership Chattanooga and Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce), the Chattanooga Leadership Think Tank is an outreach to connect, collaborate, and communicate exciting leadership programs, build support, increase participation, and build sustainable outcomes for future classes. Future events will include community forums in fall and spring, as well as an ongoing participation in future workshops with the Aging in Place Initiative. This year’s focus for the Chattanooga Leadership Think Tank Roundtable will address ideas around “Choose Chattanooga” as the think tank looks at all generations living in Chattanooga now and in the future.

COMMUNICATE.
Be Communications LLC—publishers of Be Magazine, Be Teen Scene, and Be Kidz Scene—is the communications partner of the City of Chattanooga Department of Education, Arts & Culture to further expand opportunities for creative expression, community dialogue, and innovative communications on a local level that ripple out and connect with other communities and cities around the world.

  • Be Magazine
  • Be Teen Scene
  • Be Kidz Scene
  • Speak Out with Missy Crutchfield on WUUQ Radio 97.3/99.3 FM (available on podcast)

Be Communications LLC Consulting

Be Communications LLC—publishers of Be Magazine, Be Teen Scene, and Be Kidz Scene—is the communications partner of the City of Chattanooga Department of Education, Arts & Culture to further expand opportunities for creative expression, community dialogue, and innovative communications on a local level that ripple out and connect with other communities and cities around the world.

Together Be Communications LLC and the City of Chattanooga Department of Education, Arts & Culture are driven by a mission to create, connect, collaborate, and communicate through innovative partnerships, replicable models for change, and sustainable development for the future.

Representatives from Be Communications LLC and the City of Chattanooga Department of Education, Arts & Culture are available for speaking engagements and consulting services targeted to media and communications, government, business, and education.

For more information send inquiries to becommunicationsllc@gmail.com. [subject line: consulting]

Be Communications LLC ©2009 www.bemagazine.org | becommunicationsllc@gmail.com

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