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Vera Amaya

@_veraamaya

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The 3rd annual Justice for My People Film Festival by @justice4sister was a success! And here are some CDI ladies in attendance! 🎬

Thank you @kimbidybautista for creating a beautiful safe space for filmmakers to grow and connect. 🥰

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One year of supporting our grantees.

During last year’s launch, we began our programming with a grant program to support talented artists, filmmakers, creatives, wellness practitioners and community leaders to create impactful moments centered around caring for the planet and ourselves.

We welcomed eight creators to this grant cohort, and together created eco-music experiences, film screenings, and cultural and community wellness events.

For the next year, EARTH CALLING is eager to create more opportunities to grow culture for nature ✨

Swipe right to learn more and hear from singer-songwriter Dianna Lopez @_diannalopez on her experience with us.

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Been a long time coming. 🧡
@sambrano
@brynne.other
@ina_peters
@biancaramirez02

DP: @frankietej

THINKINGOFYOU
coming soon.

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sometime the step we need is just saying yes 🧡

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Spread love and support whenever possible. A gentle reminder that time is precious, so create meaningful relationships. Open your hearts and don’t forget to have fun while doing all of this.

Following are the rest of the photos from the open studios that helped raise awareness, support and love to Venezuela.

As always, all love. ❤️❤️

Talent @g.abrielagm @sqmsunq @_veraamaya @virgiliography
Shot on @hasselblad @kodak @kodakprofessional
Studio @margaretjonesstudios
Dev/Scan @arthousefilmlab

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For the past few months, the amount of love I’ve received from my community is unbelievable. It’s so beautiful to see the fruits of your labor and love come into fruition from the love humans beings in my community and people who I’m grateful to meet.

A conversation I had last night, was about life’s purpose, what is it that you’d want to leave the world with. Do you want to have people remember you for you as a beautiful human with great heart or do you just want to make something art and leave it so some estate can do what they want with it. These days I feel like I’m working more on trying to be a better person than an artist.

Recently, an unfortunate incident happened in our community, the devastating earthquake that destroyed so many homes and people’s livelihoods in Venezuela. A friend of mine sent me a devastating video of her home which triggered this impulse to create this small gathering of people to come together to fight and support for the aid of some people back in Venezuela. It’s true that we can always contribute something on our own behalf but once you get the support and love of a people family of community, it’s so much more meaningful and rewarding.

Following are some people who are just that, these people contributed to raising some funds for some aid and support to help the people in Venezuela, though the amount of people isn’t quite something we should focus on, it’s the big heart that we need to keep growing.

Appreciate everyone who came and supported to raise some funds for this cause in such short time, wanted to highlight the beauty of these amazing artists in our community. Shout out to my brothers Tony and Sky at @margaretjonesstudios for making this possible.

As always, all love! ❤️❤️

Talent @g.abrielagm @groovytonee @sqmsunq @_veraamaya @skyquajusturner @virgiliography
Shot on @leica_camera @leicacamerausa @pentax_us with @arthousefilmlab 500T @kodak @kodakprofessional
Studio @margaretjonesstudios
Dev/Scan @arthousefilmlab

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TFT Posada 💫🎬💕🪅

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Such a special event last Friday as we celebrated the very talented @christopherfromqueens birthday! 🎂 🥳

We read exciting, inspiring, and funny scripts by @tanishacaple @tristeguey and @nerris.la. Thank you all for sharing! 🙏🏼 And we chowed down on Zuni bowls (picadillo, frijoles colorados, and galletitas cubanas). 🇨🇺

Thanks to everyone who joined us and see you all next month!

P.S. shout out to @geeo21 for the awesome live drawings!

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Carnaval came to CC! 🇧🇷🥁🎉 Tasty Brazilian feijoada, arroz Carioca, and vinaigrette were on the menu, followed by our house cocktail, the Courier Cachaça with guava and lime. Then we read some exceptional scripts by @aminisienna and @brandon.burkhart. 💃🏽 Thank you to our packed house of readers for coming and the house we love to pack @telescope_studio for having us. See you next time Cumbianos! ☀️

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“The biggest thing was truly accepting that I am an artist.”

We discover through healing, shares Vera Amaya, a filmmaker and recipient of one of EARTH CALLING’s intimate event grants. Amaya began directing films in college, inspired by a professor’s joyful urging and her own creative observations. Becoming an audience member to the spaces around her, Amaya creates with her experiences, her history, and the many healing – and sometimes brutal – lessons of her heart.

“We all possess an innate form of storytelling, whether we choose to express it through sound and image or by sharing our hearts with someone. That’s why we have to maintain this softness in the heart, because even when there might not be great things happening around us, there’s something really beautiful in that tension. There’s a story there. I ask myself, ‘How can I be open, soft enough to write this story and share this really vulnerable thing?’”

A decade into her filmmaking career, Amaya’s work has screened across the United States and internationally, earning recognition for her quiet clarity and layered narratives. She premiered her latest short film, “almost.” at her grant event on December 5. Vulnerable and poetically interwoven, “almost.” invites watchers to mourn the loss of what ‘almosts’ they have had in their lives.

“Memory isn’t linear. The way I put the film together was to be a little bit everywhere and intertwined within each other. The idea of resolution isn’t so much about closure in the ways that we want, but in the ways we’ve been given.”

Through what she describes as “time traveling”, Amaya sets a story’s landscape by journeying through the spaces that hold her and her emotions. ‘The natural world remembers you’, she shares, nodding to the images that are only made visible by how we’ve woven ourselves within them.

“Sometimes there’s something else you need to heal from or go through so that you can tell that story. Be grateful for what you have at the moment, because the next season will bring something different.”

Always evolving, always flowing.

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Reflecting on 2025.

As we shift into another calendar year, our team is grateful to have connected with so many brilliant minds and creative communities in 2025.

We launched EARTH CALLING in July, an initiative to connect people to the natural world by supporting their creative work. Powered by our grant program and creative network, we provide artists with the resources they need to create with intention, supporting nature, culture, and the arts.

We inherited this platform from our Creative Advisor, Leah Thomas (@greengirlleah), merging “Earth Sessions” with our mission. Though our presence is fairly new to this community, we’re excited to see how we’re rooting into this space.

“By fostering this creative community we are planting possibilities for our future. Creativity is an energy, not a talent. We welcome all artists to intentionally collaborate with in 2026, rooting ourselves deeper to Earth and her abundance.”
— Founder, Joanna Curbishley

Swipe right to learn more about us and review our 2025 highlights.

Thank you for growing with us through the seasons. Let’s keep this energy flowing into 2026 and beyond.

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