Greetings, ACMi friends and “family” – it’s been too long! We are thrilled to be back with a regular newsletter to share all the goings-on at your favorite community media center.
The weather gods opted to help us all get ready for the change of seasons by providing an end of August that in many ways felt more like fall than summer. That’s fine with us, because we know from long experience that September brings an abrupt change of pace, thoroughly banishing any memories of those lazy, hazy days of summer… With Town Day, a new batch of energetic college interns starting up, and the flurry of activity this month in Arlington schools and government offices, ACMi will quickly fall into our accustomed busyness. Good thing we love our jobs!
Town Day
The biggest event on ACMi’s annual calendar is right around the corner, coming up on Saturday, September 20th. As always, the ACMi crew will be all over the event – welcoming folks at our booth, providing technical support for the musical acts on the main stage, and presenting live TV coverage of the entire event! We certainly hope to see YOU there, and invite you to visit with us at our booth, where you could sample our podcast equipment or some of the other technological goodies we’ll have on hand. And if you can’t make it there, but don’t want to miss the action, you can follow our coverage on either our Public channel (Comcast 8, RCN 629, Verizon 31) or via the livestream on our website at acmi.tv.
Let The Games Begin
The new school year has barely begun, but the Fall Sports Season is already in full swing, and ACMi’s dedicated and accomplished sports crew is gearing up to supply the extensive coverage of football and boys’ and girls’ soccer that the community values so highly. Making use of multiple cameras, instant replay, in-game graphics, and professional-grade commentary, we are excited to allow our audience in town (and beyond) to share the exploits of Arlington athletes in real time. The games will often be aired live, and will always be available for viewing on our YouTube channel and in regular re-airings on our Education channel (Comcast 9, RCN 613, Verizon 24).
Youth Filmmaker Gets a Fine (and Well-Deserved!) Sendoff
As he heads off to Ithaca College, longtime ACMi member and gifted filmmaker Mazen Abukhalaf added one last award to the accolades he has received for his creative work. The New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recognized Mazen’s short film “Mayor!” (which premiered at ACMi’s A-Town Film Festival in the spring of 2024) with the 2025 Student Award For Excellence in the category of High School Fiction – Long Form. Mazen has been a pillar of ACMi’s youth program for the last seven (!) years, and we simply can’t wait to see what the future holds in store for this tremendously talented filmmaker! Congratulations, Mazen – we will certainly miss you, but couldn’t be prouder of all you’ve accomplished already!
Meet ACMi’s Newest Staff Members
We are much better poised for the action to come thanks to the addition of two key staff members. Please join us in welcoming Stuart Roelke, our Production Manager, and Iasmina Birleanu, ACMi’s new Youth Coordinator.
Iasmina started her career as the Youth Outreach Coordinator at North Andover CAM, and is thrilled to be continuing to work in community media at ACMi. She holds degrees in Cinema Production and Theatre Studies from Ithaca College and always tries to incorporate that experience into her work as Youth Coordinator. Outside of ACMi, she enjoys reading, playing Magic The Gathering, board games, video games, and pretty much any other nerdy thing in that realm.
Stuart is a multidisciplinary artist with six years of experience in community access—fixing cameras, tuning up mics, keeping the show running. He’s also spent over a decade wrangling high-end cinema gear for film and TV. His roots in graphic design and visual storytelling give him a great sense of what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to audiovisual production. When off-camera, he can be found sewing clothes, fermenting mead, or poking around in the woods like some kind of folklore hermit.
Staff Video Picks