Clarivel Ruiz

Clarivel is the PRO-TV Program Director at Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV) a television and film award winning organization. She manages the day-to-day activities of the youth media program, one of the longest running youth media programs in the country. For over thirty years DCTV has been providing students the opportunities to give voice to issues and to make changes affecting them, and their communities. She works directly with Jon Alpert, Co-Founder of DCTV and an Emmy Award winning documentarian, to ensure students learn the art of storytelling through different filmmaking techniques. These student works have won Student Emmy Awards, prizes, scholarships to prestigious colleges and showcased in numerous film festivals throughout the Unites States and worldwide affecting thousands.

In 2006, she produced and directed a segment of the “Bullets in the Hood: Anti Gun Violence” Cyber Car Tour based on “Bullets in the Hood: A Bed-Stuy Story”, a 2005 Sundance Special Jury Award film, which documents the availability of guns to youth in the Bedford Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn and untimely death of Timothy Stansbury. The project resulted in using the Cyber Car: a 40-foot bus with a flat screen monitor on its side, capable of conducting town hall meetings. It was used to discuss violence among youth and preventative measures that can be taken in their neighborhoods. The tour involved several New York City high schools and youth organizations. In 2007, she lobbied New York City Council Members to raise funds for the continued efforts of creating a nation wide tour to speak out against gun violence. In 2008, the Ford Foundation gave a grant to research the cities that have been most effected by gun violence. In April of 2009, “Bullets In The Hood” won a New York State Emmy Award.
Also in 2006, the Soros Foundation specifically requested DCTV to propose a youth national reporting assignment documenting the after effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans. Clarivel instructed four young African American women- two from New Orleans and two from New York that resulted in a 2007 33min documentary called “Not As Seen On TV.” The film illustrates New Orleans residents united through the arts to overcome some of their trials and tribulations. Clarivel is also a producer on “Talkin’ Water,” an award-winning short documentary featuring these young women and the behind-the-scenes story of
their journey to make a positive film about post-Katrina New Orleans In 2008, “Not As Seen on TV,” as featured on the Soros Foundation website on New Orleans, won a Webby Award. Feeling a tremendous connection to New Orleans and its displaced citizenry in the summer of 2008, Clarivel traveled to New Orleans to assist in the continued efforts of helping displaced New Orleans revitalize their community through the youth lead organization NY2NO.

In recognition of the wonderful work that is created through DCTV’s youth program Clarivel was asked to participate on the 2008 National Endowment of the Arts: Learning in the Arts panel. She was one of seven people from across the country who helped review over 100 national youth art based proposals defining the standards of educational excellence in the arts. She was requested to participate in 2009.

Also in 2008, she taught an introductory course on digital field production and editing at Queens College, NYC.

There is a crucial need for the continuation of people from the African Diaspora and all other Diasporas to tell their stories in their own unique voice. With that in mind, Clarivel is producing, “Mami y Papi” a documentary about her parents and their immigration to New York City from the Dominican Republic and how their marriage has affected their children’s lives.
Previously, Clarivel helped produce “Gimme Five: History of the Handshake,” a documentary directed and produced with Michael Paul Britto that discuss the reasons behind the creation of intricate hand gestures by African American and other peoples.

She is a 2004 quarter-finalist in the Nicholls Fellowship in Screenwriting and semi-finalist of the 2004 Sundance Screenwriter’s Workshop for the feature script “4 Parts” and the 2003 Fade In Screenwriter’s Competition for her short script, “Grey.”

In 1999 she received her Master’s in Fine Arts from the City College University of New York where she wrote, produced, directed and edited “Bag of Chips”, the film was shown at several film festivals including the Anthology Film Archives, NYC in their November 2002 showcase.
Her poem “De La Vega” is featured in Sidewalk Messiah, a short experimental documentary by Michael Paul Britto that debuted in Season 5 of Reel NY WNET, Channel 13 and "The Art View" at the Rush Arts Gallery in New York City, about New York Street artist James De La Vega.
She studied screenwriting with the late Fred Hudson of the Frederick Douglass Creative
Arts Center in New York City.

Clarivel Ruiz is guided by the belief that one must change your own circumstances in order to help another person believe they can live at their highest potential. Her mission is to guide young people to believe in themselves and to that end help transform society.