Live Oak Collective collaborates with individuals and organizations involved in social justice work to tell their stories to the world.  Our mission is twofold. First, to create dramatically compelling, emotionally resonant films and photographs about the pressing issues of our day and about our partners’ efforts to address those challenges. Second, to distribute these stories to the widest audience possible, and to make sure they are noticed in a crowded media market.

Our combined expertise in filmmaking, photography, web design, organizing, media strategy, and non-profit management allows us to customize projects to our partners’ needs and to reach a broad and diverse audience in an ever-changing media world.

A little about us:

Thomas Bacon

Thomas Bacon is a photographer and web developer who has worked with social justice organizations for over ten years. In addition to his work at Live Oak, Thomas develops websites for a variety of organizations such as United Professionals (UP), a national non-profit founded by writer Barbara Ehrenreich. He also organized some of the first national healthcare reform campaigns launched by UP. Thomas was the national organizer for Voices of Iraqi Workers, which held two historic tours of Iraqi trade unionists, visiting over thirty US cities in 2005 and 2007.  He worked as a union organizer for the United American Nurses and on the campaigns of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Service Employees International Union, and others. As a photographer, he has done extensive documentary work in the Middle East, Latin America, and the United States, often dealing with social justice themes and combining the traditions of documentary and art photography. Thomas’ work has been published in ColorLines, LeftTurn, the Austin Chronicle, and a special publication of the American Civil Liberties Union. Thomas’ photography portfolio can be seen at www.thomasbacon.com.

John Fiege

John Fiege is a filmmaker and photographer. As a director, John works in both documentary and narrative, and his films have played at the Cannes Film Festival, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Miami International Film Festival, and Austin Film Festival, among many others.  His latest film, Mississippi Chicken, was nominated for a Gotham Award for “The Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You.” His film awards include the Princess Grace Graduate Film Award, Kodak’s Eastman Scholarship, the Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund Grant, and the Carole Fielding Documentary Award. As a director of photography, he has shot films that have played at festivals around the world, including Tribeca, Clermont-Ferrand, Edinburgh, San Francisco International, and LA Film Festival. He has also worked on both personal and professional film and photography projects with a variety of local and national non-profits, including the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Center for American Progress, Religion and Labor Network of Austin, and Casa Marianella. He holds a B.A. from Carleton College, an M.S. in cultural geography from Penn State, and an M.F.A. in film production from the University of Texas at Austin. Learn more about his work at www.fiegefilms.com.

Lucas Schaefer

Before coming to Live Oak, Lucas Schaefer was executive director of the Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival, overseeing management of the organization's 20th anniversary season. Previously, Lucas was co-founder and executive director of Fine By Me (FBM), a non-profit dedicated to giving voice to the friends and supporters of LGBT Americans. Through FBM's innovative Gay? Fine By Me T-Shirt Project, Lucas led local organizers across America in helping over 75,000 Americans–gay and straight–stand up publicly against homophobia and in support of equal rights. A graduate of Duke University, Lucas also worked as a field organizer during the 2004 presidential election, raising money and coordinating volunteers for Democratic and progressive organizations in New York and elsewhere. Lucas became involved in documentary work while photographing and writing about the families of death row inmates in North Carolina. He subsequently directed a short film, Follow Me, about one of those families, and has worked on other documentary projects about Brazil, Cuba, and Haiti.