Guante (a.k.a. slam poet, performer, activist and educator Kyle Tran Myhre)

The focus of this weekend’s Twin Cities Media Alliance 2013 Fall Media Forum is especially timely given the lively public conversation of late surrounding issues of diversity, access and cultural (mis)representations in local arts.

The theme of this year’s daylong conference is “Getting the Word Out: New Media Strategies for Engaging Diverse Communities.” Guante, a hip-hop artist and two-time National Poetry Slam champion, is slated to deliver the keynote, specifically talking about “how nonprofits, artists and activists can better use social media to amplify underrepresented voices.”

Guante (aka Kyle Tran Myhre) is  also a founding member of the Opine Season op-ed co-op, a blogger, social media maven and educator, whose work in various media has been featured in a number of regional and national outlets, including Racialicious, Feministing, The Progressive, The Asian-American Literary Review, Rain Taxi Review of Books, MSNBC, and others.

Panel discussions throughout the day include representatives from a variety of cultural and media organizations and nonprofits around the Twin Cities (see the full list here).  Topics include:

• Media Access, Media Justice – moderated by Lolla Mohammed Nur (Twin Cities Daily Planet)
• Tips and Tools for Keeping Social Media Under Control – Brian Roemen (Backpack Tactics, LLC).
• Local Media Platforms for Engaged Citizens –  Jay Clark (University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs)
• Community Storytelling: People, Place, and Passions – Jen Kohan (Woodshed Consulting)
• Nonprofits Telling Their Story to Make a Difference – A Community Workshop Sampler
• Data and Your Neighborhood: Resources to Create Community Change: Jeff Corn (University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs) and Ruth Hamberg (Amherst H. Wilder Foundation).