Half Wild event, featuring filmmaker Chad Brown

Chad Brown, a black, disabled, and decorated US Navy veteran with service in the Gulf War/Desert Storm and Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, has made significant strides as a conservationist, creative director, art director, photographer, and distinguished filmmaker. Chad has worked with leading design firms and ad agencies, and is celebrated as a professional creative. He has served as an editorial photographer for the New York Times, and has worked with leading hip-hop culture business moguls such as Russell Simmons, Rev Run VP of Run Athletics/ Phatfarm.

Chad has personally experienced the transformative power of nature in his battle with PTSD with his discovery of fly fishing. His mission is now to ensure that everyone has access to this healing power. Brown is not only the creator of one nonprofit but two. Alongside Soul River, which facilitates mentorship experiences for veterans and inner-city youth on wild rivers, he established Love Is King (LIK), an organization dedicated to advocating for the rights of marginalized and vulnerable communities in outdoor spaces. Chad is also a Board Member of Alaska Wilderness League, which has supported his work with BIPOC communities, with veterans for Soul River Inc., and with Love is King, via engagements to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in collaboration with Indigenous communities.

Chad will share excerpts from one of his films, Blackwaters, and discuss plans for his next film. The mission of LIK Operation Roam (Rapid Ongoing Advance Missions) is to empower BIPOC leaders to engage in public land and freshwater conservation initiatives, disrupting the historical exclusion of BIPOC voices from government decision-making on land, wildlife, and indigenous conservation policies. Chad will also speak in his capacity as a Board member for Alaska Wilderness League, and share how we can support his work and the work of Alaska Wilderness League.

Chad infuses creativity into the realm of social and environmental justice storytelling through his work in film and photography. He challenges outdated narratives, birthing new, profound truths about social and environmental justice. By amplifying the voices and experiences within BIPOC subcultures, he crafts empowering and engaging stories. Through his art, Chad offers a fresh perspective that seeks to correct misconceptions and educate a broad audience. His mission is to transform long-standing, disruptive outdoor narratives, with a keen focus on the conservation of wildlife, freshwater, land, and on the rights of Indigenous communities.

Half Wild (https://halfwild.earth/) is a community grounded in a deep respect for the land, for nature, and for wildness. Join Half Wild.

Half Wild thanks Propulsion Network for contributing their space for this event! Propulsion Network enables cultural and educational programs to support development of low income and minority groups affected by socioeconomic factors.