To the editor: It’s a challenging moment for Arlington Independent Media (AIM). This little community-media organization I’ve fallen in love with over the last few years has a very uncertain future.
And what’s probably getting lost, if you’ve only been following this casually, is why it even matters what happens to AIM.
You’re likely to hear from a lot of animated people as this all unfolds. People who all want a place to come together and share their music and ideas, and tell stories that could have only come from right here, in Arlington.
Some of these people carry the memory of what AIM has been, who remember putting together the Rosebud Film Festival, TV shows and live concerts, or who met their best friend in a cinematography class, and who collectively volunteered thousands upon thousands of hours broadcasting local town hall-debates, high-school football games and homegrown programs in dozens of languages.
There are also new people in the picture who can imagine possibilities for what this center could be. People who want to make sure that everyone in Arlington has the skills and the platform for their voice to be heard, and who have visions for how this space can be newly vital and relevant.
We have never needed community media more than we do right now, in 2024, so that we can tell a shared story that’s by and about and for us.
We have an embarrassment of riches in Arlington. We’ve got people who came here from every corner of the globe. We’ve got people connected to centers of power and people with the kind of clarity that only comes from being left out of those centers of power. We’ve got all sorts of energy here focused on investing in young people and people who have been historically marginalized.
And, for the moment, we still have this incredibly rare little low-power radio station that’s just for us, and this weird little pool of funding from the cable franchises that was set aside explicitly to give residents a voice.
What can we do to avoid losing those forever? And what can we do with them next?
Kristen Clark, Arlington
[Clark is a former director of community engagement for Arlington Independent Media.]