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Communication and
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Communication and Community
By Paula Kirman
Paula Kirman is an Edmonton-based freelance media and communications professional, digital content specialist, and storyteller who has been working with non-profit organizations, community media, and small businesses for the better part of three decades. Her website is called Words – Pictures – Music for good reason. Kirman is a writer, editor, photographer, videographer, website designer, social media strategist, musician, and community organizer. Most of her clients are in the non-profit sector, including organizations involved with labour, interfaith learning and dialogues, peace, and the advancement of rights for women and girls. “I like to work with clients whose values align with my own,” says Kirman, who has received a number of awards for her community involvement and activism, including the Edmonton Social Planning Council’s Award of Merit for Social Advocacy in 2018; the Human Rights Champion Award from the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights in 2016 for being a pioneering media arts activist; being named a Daughter of the Year in 2014 at the annual Daughters Day celebration for being a role model to for women in activism; and receiving the Salvos Prelorentzos Peace Award in 2012 from Project Ploughshares Edmonton for her work connecting Edmonton’s activist community through social media and for her documentation of Edmonton’s activist scene.
Documentation of local progressive and grassroots movements is something about which Kirman is very passionate. She has posted photographs and videos from hundreds of protests and rallies since 2005 at her blog RadicalCitizenMedia.com. Her work appears regularly in a variety of print and online publications, and can also be seen (and heard) in Voices of Protest and Reform, a permanent, curated exhibit in the Visitor’s Gallery of the Alberta Legislature’s Federal Building.
Kirman is also passionate about community media, and has been involved with hyper-local publications throughout Edmonton, particularly Boyle Street and McCauley, where she has edited Boyle McCauley News (bmcnews.org) since 2006. “Independent community newspapers are important because they give people a voice who otherwise may not have the opportunity to access the media,” she says.
Her involvement in the inner city has been the inspiration for several of Kirman’s short films, including one about social housing, as well as her music. Kirman is a folk singer/songwriter who writes original songs and performs at a variety of venues and events. “Summer,” a song about an unhoused woman, was a finalist in the 2017 International Songwriting Competition, the largest songwriting contest in the world. Her most recent release is the three-song EP Losstending, which can be found at Kirman’s Bandcamp site: paulaevekirman.bandcamp.com. The songs were inspired by conversations Kirman had with people who reached out to her to share their stories of grief and loss as part of a community care initiative in the spring of 2021. A full-length digital album is planned for release next year. Always looking to pursue opportunities with clients who share her passions, Kirman can provide a variety of services at competitive prices to meet your communications and marketing needs.
