It's funny that the topic about associations had crossed my mind because lately I have been thinking that I really need to join one. The staff pastors at the church I work all belong to some sort of association or group where they attend monthly meetings, webcasts, phone conferences and conventions as part of their continuing development. I had thought to myself on many occasions that I wished I belong to something like that so I could get a few days off, just kidding. But seriously, I really thought about trying to find an association or group to join. I found that there are not many in the Christian realm but there are a lot in the secular one. Upon doing a Google search I found two Christian organizations that look to be of some interest to a Christian media professional. The first site is the International Christian Visual Media Association, which is a networking site for those who are involved in production and distribution of Christian visual media. In looking through the association's website, I find it to be a really good association to belong to. One of the benefits of being a member is that the association offers help in international distribution, which to me is amazing. The membership fee for International Christian Visual Media is $99 a year for an individual or $199 a year for a media organization. The second site is the Christian Media Assocation, which is also a great resource to have available to you. The benefits for joining this group are good but does not offer the international distribution help like ICVM. The membership fee is reasonable, it is $25 per year for an individual and $99 a year for a media organization.
I know as Christian media professionals you want to keep your ties to the faith but let's face it, unfortunately, the Christian realm tends to fall short in the technology side of things. With this in mind I believe it is good to belong to non-Christian organizations. In just being apart of the VideoMaker Community I have found a wealth of knowledge that I can apply to the situations that I face in church media. I have come to realize that video production and media is all the same whether it is in the Christian world or the secular one. With that said, I have found a few organizations that are worth checking into. The first site I found that I think is really good is the Association of Video Professionals. AVPro offers a lot of benefits including weekly conference calls and training sessions but is pricey in terms of membership. The membership fee is $99 a month, with a 15% discount if you choose the yearly option. The second site is the Digital Video Professionals Association. The DVPA offers a lot of information and benefits to their members. One of the benefits is the many discounts to companies like Dreamstime that makes effects and filters for editing systems like Final Cut Pro. The membership fee is somewhat affordable but worth it, depending on what package you choose. The DVPA offers four packages, individual, educational, user groups, and corporate. The individual package starts at $19.99 a month and the educational package starts at $15.99 a month. The other two packages are based on a number of people within a group that wants to join, for information on those prices check out their website.
We have all seen the PSA's that say, "The more you know the more you grow," well that is definitely true and one of those ways of gaining more knowledge is to surround yourself with those who are wise in their professions. So, what associations do you belong to?
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