The Arab American Institute Foundation (AAIF) held its 2014 Kahlil Gibran "Spirit of Humanity Awards Gala" in Washington, D.C. on April 25th. Naya Salah began the evening event with her beautiful rendition of America the Beautiful in Arabic. http://www.aaiusa.org/blog/entry/naya-salah/ Honored at the event were Ambassador George Mitchell, who received the Najeeb Halaby Award for Public Service, Martin Luther King, III, who was given a Special Service Award, and Participant Media, which received the Award for Corporate Citizenship. Participant's CEO, Jim Berk, accepted the award on behalf of the company. Established in 2004 by eBay founder and philanthropist Jeff Skoll, Participant Media is responsible for more than 50 films, of which 36 received Academy Award nominations and 7 earned Academy Awards, including "Good Night and Good Luck," " North Country," "Syriana," "An Inconvenient Truth," "Lincoln," "State 194," and "The Square." Participant has pioneered the ground-breaking marriage of entertainment media and social activism, using film as the cornerstone of campaigns to facilitate social change. One campaign, in conjunction with the release of "Food, Inc.," prompted nearly 250,000 people to petition Congress to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act of 2010. This year, Participant Media and Ms. Salma Hayek will debut an animated film based on Kahlil Gibran's world-renowned book "The Prophet." William Nix, an Executive Producer of the film, attended the AAI event and, along with Dr. Scott Field, Middle East Manager for the Skoll Global Threats Fund, and author, Dr. Jack Shaheen, worked with Participant on the sizzle reel of Participant films, which included film clips from "Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet," in their first public exhibition at the event.
News & Events
Creative Projects Group® Chairman, William Nix, has joined the National Advisory Council of Journeys in Film, an educational organization led by its Founder and Executive Director, Joanne Ashe. Other Advisory Council Members include National Spokesperson, Liam Neeson, Actors Brooke Adams, Ted Danson, Tony Shalhoub and Mary Steenburgen, as well as Harvard Professors Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Alan Dershowitz. Aligned with various prominent national initiatives, Journeys in Film helps America's youth develop the kind of worldview and understanding that should be a primary 21st century educational goal. Its educational program has proven to be effective in connecting cultures, broadening world-views, teaching for global competency and building a new paradigm for best practices in education. Journeys in Film and the USC Norman Lear Center are committed to seeking new alliances and fostering partnerships that address further advancement of global education programs, as well as those promoting the power of film as a tool for teaching. The Norman Lear Center is a nonpartisan research and public policy center that studies the social, political, economic and cultural impact of entertainment on the world. The Lear Center translates its findings into action through testimony, journalism, strategic research and innovative public outreach campaigns. On campus, from its base in the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, the Lear Center builds bridges between schools and disciplines whose faculty study aspects of entertainment, media and culture. Beyond campus, it bridges the gap between the entertainment industry and academia, and between them and the public. Through scholarship and research; through its conferences, public events and publications; through its role in the formulation of the academic field of entertainment studies; and in its attempts to illuminate and repair the world, the Norman Lear Center works to be at the forefront of discussion and practice in the field.
For more information, please visit: journeysinfilm.org
Creative Projects Group® has become a Coalition and Creative Partner of CreativeFuture, an organization that promotes the value of creativity in the digital age. CreativeFuture embraces expanded audience access to content in ways that reward creativity and hard work. It is united in opposition to for-profit theft of creative works, which jeopardizes the rights of all creative individuals, puts jobs at risk, and undermines new business models and distribution platforms. CreativeFuture's mission is to empower the creative community to speak out with one collective and powerful voice – advancing a positive, dynamic vision of a digital future that better serves audiences and artists alike.
NYT - Hollywood's Ant Piracy Efforts Add a New Voice
150 and Counting: CreativeFuture Adds to Growing List of Coalition and Creative Partners
Creative Projects Group® Advisory Board Member, Claude Johnson's Black Fives Foundation was featured in a "New York Times" review of its Black Fives exhibition at the New York Historical Society in Manhattan. The exhibition is open through July 20th.
Producer Susan Cartsonis, CEO of Storefront Film Group, was featured in the March 19, 2014 issue of "LA BizWomen Journal" for her work to promote women in film and films that appeal to the underserved women's market. Creative Projects Group's investment banking strategic partner, Avalon Group, is working to help with the financial underwriting of her company's slate of feature film and other productions.
Creative Conflict: Resolving and avoiding conflict in group art projects. Putting together a school play, writing a group composition, or creating a class mural can be an incredibly rewarding and fun experience for students. But with grades at stake, artistic differences, and varying levels of commitment, conflicts between students are par for the course. Here are ten tips to help you avoid and resolve conflicts in creative group projects.
William Nix, Chairman of Creative Projects Group®, was a Roundtable Participant in the "Education: Disrupted Enhancing Creativity & Learning Through Music, Media & Technology" hosted on Pepperdine's Malibu campus by Craig Detweiler, Professor and Director of Pepperdine University's Center for Entertainment, Media & Culture, and Frank Fitzpatrick, Creativity Expert & CEO/Founder of EarthTone.
Dr. Scott Field, an expert in international affairs and the Middle East, has become a Production Advisor to the biographical feature film "Gibran" . Dr. Field has worked and traveled widely in the Middle East region since the early 1990's. He has been a conference speaker and otherwise involved with the Skoll Foundation and the Skoll Center for Social Entrepreneurship. Dr. Field is currently the Middle East Manager at the Skoll Global Threats Fund, where he has led the development of philanthropic initiatives aimed at mitigating conflict in the region, particularly in Israel-Palestine and Syria. In this capacity he has also acted as an advisor to Participant Media on the films "State 194"and "The Square."
BroadThink Founder and CPG Advisory Board member, Cynthia Cleveland, has been appointed to the Board of CPP, Inc. an industry leader in research, training, and organizational development tools including the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) assessment. See: Press Release
Creative Projects Group®, LLC (CPG) and Avalon Group Ltd. (Avalon) announced the formation of a strategic alliance with one another. 
As part of this new alliance, William Nix, Chairman of CPG, has become a Senior Advisor of Media, Entertainment & Technology Investment Banking at Avalon.