About Us

Who We Are

The project founders are David Rane, Jeanne Cashin, PhD and Ed Humm

David Rane is a BAFTA winning producer, who has 14 years experience making social documentaries, and for the past 6 years has also been Festival Director of Guth Gafa Film Festival. He has an M.A. in Film & Television from Goldsmiths College, University of London, and has previously taught film and television documentary at University of London and Dublin Institute of Technology (D.I.T).

Jeanne Cashin, PhD, is a social psychologist specializing in trauma and the multi-generational effects of trauma. Jeanne has 20 years experience at University level as department head and as a degree course/program designer, up to PhD level. She also worked for many years as a trauma and addictions counselor, and studied Global Mental Health: Trauma and Recovery at the Harvard Program for Refugee Trauma, with an emphasis on mental health and human rights.

Ed Humm is an outdoor activities trainer and social entrepreneur. From a theatre background, having worked for many years as a lighting and sound designer, Ed moved into working on film and television (RTE’s Teens in The Wild), and set up the Donegal School of Rock in Kerrykeel. He has worked previously with David Rane and Jeanne Cashin on a Peace III funded cross border Media Training programme for young people and a VEC-funded workshop on trauma and acting.

The artists from North-West Donegal who are currently involved in The Centre are:

  • Caren Blaney – Artist
  • Guillaume Beauron – Composer & Sound Artist
  • Rónán Ó Dochartaigh – Writer
  • Sarah Power – Artist & Yoga Teacher
  • Neasa Ní Chianáín – Filmmaker
  • Sancho Gallilei – Storyteller
  • Kloe Humm – Singer/Songwriter
  • Anna Pawlak – Visual Artist

History

The Centre for Social Action Media (SAM) is an artist-led initiative, set up at the end of 2010 by Dr. Jeanne Cashin, a social psychologist, and David Rane, director of Guth Gafa Documentary Film Festival. They invited concerned individuals living and working in the arts in North-West of Ireland to join their project.

The SAM Centre plans to host exhibitions, events, arts and media projects in the North-West of Ireland with the aim to communicate, educate, and challenge people to take creative action on climate change, economic injustice, and other social problems in their own communities and nationwide.

The aim of the SAM Centre is to create powerful partnerships between Irish artists, writers, educators, scientific experts, ‘thinkers’, and media communicators. In this way, we hope to instigate and inspire the creation of works of significance and impact, and to encourage collaboration between skilled media practitioners, social entrepreneurs, and activists.

The SAM Centre will also provide networking/mentoring and training facilities for individuals and organizations, who work as social entrepreneurs, artists and writers with a social change agenda, and who want to collaborate with other artists and media arts practitioners in film, radio, print, or new media in order to share and develop new media arts skills for their project.

Objectives

To find cultural and artistic solutions to the devastating realities of Climate Change, Poverty, Social Inequalities and Economic Injustice in Ireland and around the world.

To work with artists, scientists, experts, social entrepreneurs and communicators to create art and media projects that effectively expresses the scale and urgency of these problems.

To challenge the best creative minds and thinkers in Ireland to develop a vision and a plan for a Sustainable Future on this planet.