Emmy nominated series on PBS that explores life through the lens of the world's artists,
artisans and keepers of culture.
Our Sponsors
And now, a word about our sponsors. I realize talking about sponsors isn't the sexiest thing in the world, but they all took a big leap of faith getting involved with this new series, seeing value in what we were trying to create - and they made it financially possible to put this whole circus of a series together. I can't thank them enough. So if you have a few moments, check them out.
Gustavus Adolphus College is a liberal arts school in southern Minnesota and my alma mater (I'm Ian Grant, the guy that produced this series). They were by far the first to jump on board with this series as our main funder. They also let us create a fall semester course for three classes based on the series: one art history, one Asian art history and one political science class called Peace Studies. It will take too much time to describe all that this course took on, but the very short version was the students from each class were able to follow us virtually from the classroom as we
traveled around filming the series: asking questions via a blog site we created, and I would meet with each class in between shoots. It all culminated with the students interviewing - via zoom video - similarily aged people in our various locations around the world. People like Mongolian Nomads in the Altai mountains, a rebel fighter in East Timor, a musician and producer in the Aboriginal community of Yirrkala. I can't thank Gustavus enough for not only being a big reason this series exists, but for entrusting us to be a part of the coursework at the college. If you have or know kids looking at colleges and like the sound of a place that thinks this far outside the box, check them out here: https://gustavus.edu/
See International does incredible work around the world preforming any and all variety of eye surgeries with a core goal of ending preventable blindness. They do this all through the help and dedication of countless volunteer doctors and nurses, not to mention See employees based in some of the farthest flung places you can find - including 30 miles from where we filmed in Western Mongolia - one of the most remote places you will ever find yourself in. So if you care to throw some money at a great cause, have a look at what they are doing: https://www.seeintl.org/
American Forests does amazing work around the country keeping ecosystems alive, revitalizing others, social equity, and trees are the best thing to battle rising carbon levels, and as habitat for all variety of animals...and they look nice and you can build forts in them, take naps under them. So if you care to support a great organization with a little of your hard earned money, check them out: https://www.americanforests.org/
Tourism Northern Australia dedicates itself to bringing awareness about the people and places of the Northern Territories. This is a culture that anthropologists recently did DNA testing and date Aboriginal culture to 50 thousand years old if not older. Tourism NT ensures that the Aboriginal groups there are able to live their traditional lives without having tourists coming in and turning their land and lives into a Disneyland caricature of themselves, while at the same time letting the world have a very real, first hand experience with the land, the culture, the
history that permeates every fiber of this place. Helping to create opportunities for a 50 thousand year old culture to share their lives on their own terms with the rest of the world. It's an experience unlike any other I have had traveling around the world: https://northernterritory.com/us/en