The Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI) is a creative innovation lab and research center that focuses on media for equity and social justice. Our work bridges boundaries between scholars, media producers, social justice organizations, and communication practitioners.
CMSI chronicles the crucial issues facing independent, documentary and public media – as well as the dynamic evolution in the contemporary media era.
CMSI investigates and reports on the ways in which media storytelling sets the public agenda, impacts audiences and shapes the future around the pressing social issues of our time.
At CMSI, we believe that all forms of entertainment have the potential to shape culture. Through our research, we strive to demonstrate the ways in which the media can be a force for public good.
CMSI develops tools to better understand how to employ fair use, the right to use copyrighted material without permission or payment, under some circumstances.
A CMSI project that curates and presents research and case studies about the role of narrative in contemporary movements for social justice -- across platforms and genres of civic media storytelling.
A competitive incubation lab and pitch program that lifts up diverse comedy writers and performers creating new comedy about topics that matter.
The Comedy ThinkTank jumpstarts the use of comedy and out-of-the-box cultural thinking to creatively empower social justice organizations through exposure to the raw, unedited brainstorming of brilliant comedic minds.