IN Exchange Video Wins Telly Award
Sarah Hava Valley, an educational media producer in the A. B. Freeman School of Business, has received a 2010 Telly Award in the social responsibility category for a documentary she produced about Erica Trani's IN Exchange store.
A documentary produced by Sarah Hava Valley, an educational media producer in the A. B. Freeman School of Business, received a 2010 Telly Award. (Photo by Alicia Duplessis Jasmin)
Hava Valley says that she's excited about winning the award but she's most proud of "helping Erica publicize what she is doing for the city and developing countries."
Trani, a 2007 graduate of Tulane, is founder and owner of IN Exchange, a store in the Lavin-Bernick Center that carries crafts and art created by local New Orleans artists along with fair-trade merchandise from around the world.
Trani received assistance from the business school's Levy-Rosenblum Institute for Entrepreneurship to secure grants to cover the store's startup costs.
"My department was contacted by the Levy-Rosenblum Institute to ask if we were interested in doing a documentary on the store, and that's how this project started," says Hava Valley.
The 28-minute documentary includes interviews with Trani, customers, board members and faculty and staff members who have been a part of the store's development, as well as a few of the local artists who have displayed merchandise at IN Exchange. Footage of international contributors to the store's inventory also is included.
Hava Valley credits her co-worker, Mike Ougel, assistant director of media services in the business school, for his lightning, camera and technical expertise and his "general springboard" assistance on the project.
For winning a Telly Award, Hava Valley received a bronze statuette crafted by the same company that produces Oscar and Emmy awards.
The Telly Awards were developed in 1978 to to honor excellence in local, regional and cable television commercials. A category for nonbroadcast videos and documentaries was added soon after.
