Momentus International

We aim to bring groups of youth and artists together to create a continual, and ever-changing international film and performance art project, which promotes personal understanding, global awareness, peace and nonviolence, and international communication.

Anya Kandel, director.

Movement

Momentus is a movement for creative collaboration across borders. It began as a project called Momentus International, founded in 2007, and traveled to Ghana, the Netherlands and California. In each country, local artists teamed up with youth to help them develop original work that expressed their voice--the way they wanted to be heard! From these projects, we have developed a unique approach to transcultural communication, collaborative development and intercultural education. Despite moving our separate ways, we learned a lot along the way. Momentus has become more than a project. It is a way of thinking, an approach to problem solving, and a point of inspiration, a network and a movement.

Collaboration

This page is meant to honor the hundreds of young people and dozens of artists involved, a meeting point for participants to get in touch with each other, and a place to share the talents of the founding members and eventually the artists as well.

Reconnect with the Momentus crew, artists and partipants by joining us on Facebook.

Conversations

Most of the collaboration in Momentus is live, which makes it difficult to document. But here are a few projects that we did capture.

Why Do White People Have Black Spots?
(Ghana)

In this film, Youth in Ghana ask questions to their peers around the globe. The film has been featured in several film festivals, including the Media that Matters Film Festival 2009 in New York City (where it received the International Dialogue Award), and the DocPoint International Film Festival 2012 in Helsinki. Black Spots is also being used in curriculum by World Savvy's Media and Arts Program and DocPoint's national documentary film event for children, DOKKINO. The film has inspired other groups to make their own films, for example, "I Want To Tell the World," from a high school class in Helsinki.

En Mis Ojos
(California )

This film was made by youth from the Momentus California Project. This film was featured in their live shows and gallery exhibits in their community and used to foster conversation with a group of youth in Nicaragua. They wonder what the world looks like, through your eyes...

Flag of Intention
(California)

The Momentus California youth decided their message to world would be that positive change starts with the intention of each individual. With the help of artist Pacha, they created a string of flags that brings personal intention to their community in through a collaborative art project.

The Box Project
(The Netherlands)

What does it mean to be boxed-in? What does it mean to step-outside-the-box? A group of artists in Amsterdam collaborated to explore these ideas with the Box Project, an interactive art piece using "The Amsterdam Hustle", an original song by Momentus artists Marko and Joep Van Rhijn.

Consultation

We have gathered a stellar network of individuals who are innovators in their fields. If you are interested in receiving consultation in...

  • transcultural communication
  • collaborative innovation workshops
  • strategy and project development for humanitarian aid
  • data science and business development for good
  • digital projects that matter

... feel free to send us a line.

Anya Kandel

Collaborative innovation strategies, coworking environments, youth-centered research and development, workshop design and implementation for transcultural communication and group mediation.

anya (at) momentusinternational (dot) org

Anya has spent the last ten years coming up with creative solutions to bring different people, groups and ideas into conversation with each other. If you are interested in strategizing about community building and transcultural communication, she'd be happy to offer consultation or put you in touch with a specialist in your field of interest.

Maaike Jonker

Strategy and project development for humanitarian aid and international development in post-conflict zones, workshop design for youth and community development.

maaike (at) momentusinternational (dot) org

Maaike has traveled the world working to make sure development projects serve communities in an integrated and thoughtful manner. She is happy to be of service to those who are looking for advice or consultation.

Aman Ahuja

Business analysis and data science.

amanahuja.me
aman (at) fenristech (dot) com

Aman focuses on helping organizations better utilize their data, and is an experienced technical project manager. He is an avid reader, interested in geopolitics, science essays, and historical fiction.

Dan Vallentyne

User experience, visual design, information architecture.

kidconcept.com
me (at) kidconcept (dot) com

Dan believes the internet can be used as a transformative power for good. If you have an interesting digital project that you believe matters, drop him a line. He will be happy to answer questions, give advice, or bid new projects.