The Bridge Project will be highlighted March 22 in the opening plenary of Katrina @ 5: Partners in Philanthropy, a special convening of the philanthropic community, nearly five years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, to explore the lessons of response, rebuilding, and transformation in the Gulf Coast, and how they apply to communities around the country. Leah Mahan will participate in the conference with the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health, a key partner in developing The Bridge Project.

The Bridge Project Web site bridgestoryproject.org will be developed at the Producers Institute for New Media Technologies May 28 through June 6 at the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) in San Francisco. Leah Mahan and the Gulf Coast Fund will work with technology experts to connect The Bridge Project library of digital stories to interactive, multi-layered maps of the Gulf Coast that link to regional and national issues of cultural survival, environmental preservation, and sustainable development. Generously funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation with additional support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Nathan Cummings Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment, and general operating support, the Producers Institute for New Media Technologies helps independent producers expand the impact of their socially relevant storytelling by connecting them to multiplatform models of storytelling and distribution.