The Spaces Between Grassroots Documentary ... - Ezra Winton

and agreement on the invaluable place of distribution and exhibition of domestic media.
Challenge for Change was a program that implicated this, and showed the importance of
documentary practices beyond production, and in doing so, revealed how media could be
harnessed to advance progressive goals around the democratization of media and the
participation of citizens in creating media, sharing media, and imagining and articulating
community with the use of media as an agent for social change. In short, what CFC (at
least partly) produced was counternarratives with its films and counterpublics with the
practices around d/e.
George Stoney, the Executive Producer of the program, said of the complex
relationship between government, artist and the larger community in a Winter 1968-69
CFC Newsletter: “…if a program entitled ‘Challenge for Change’ is to be more than a
public relations gimmick to make The Establishment seem more in tune with the times,
we can’t be too concerned with peace of mind.” Indeed, these are strong words from
someone whose paycheques were stamped with the seal of the Canadian government.
This tension is at the heart of Challenge for Change, and at the heart of a multiplicity of
grassroots cultural practices that define Canada’s diverse mediascape, where power of
resources is negotiated with power of voice or representation. Understanding these spaces
where media is produced and disseminated in order to build strong communities and
contribute to a democratic public sphere requires the understanding of past attempts to
achieve social transformation by way of proactive policy. There are many examples of
the use of documentary film toward such ends, but few come close to capturing the
breadth, the international acclaim, and the radical collaboration between state
bureaucrats, artists, and community activists as Challenge for Change. As a media
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