A Summer Update from ACG!

Allison Grant
Jun 26
4 min read

Hello! We’ve been keeping very busy this second quarter and I’m so excited to share what we’ve been working on.

CENTER FOR ENRICHED LIVING

We were thrilled to work with the Center for Enriched Living this year to create two videos for its 25th Annual Chefs’ Night fundraiser. Over one and a half days of shooting, we interviewed CEL Members, their families, and staff, as well as captured b-roll of the various programs CEL offers. We created an intro video that played at the start of the Chefs’ Night program, which featured many CEL Members answering questions about their CEL experience. What is their favorite thing to do at CEL? How does CEL make them feel? Kicking off the program with supporters hearing directly from Members immediately pulled people in. Later in the program, the mission video played and featured two CEL Members who shared their story of belonging at CEL. The goal was to show how CEL Members find and create community at CEL, all while CEL staff support Members’ passions, interests, and ideas. Both videos are powerful storytelling tools that CEL will use beyond the Chefs’ Night event. Take a look at both of them below!

ONE MILLION DEGREES

Throughout the year, we’ve created social media videos for One Million Degrees to support its marketing efforts. By attending a couple events, we were able to get interviews and b-roll that we used for the social media videos each month. Topics included how OMD’s Coaching program works, why Scholars like having a Coach, what Scholars gain from being an OMD Scholar, what Scholars plan to do after OMD, and more. We were even able to create a series titled “OMD Asks” which the organization is featuring now on its social media channels. Check out one of the videos below!

In addition to the social media work, we also created a video for OMD’s Degrees of Impact Gala. This year’s video featured three different Scholars who shared their college journeys and how OMD helped them along the way. We also attended the Gala and made an exciting recap for social media! Check out the mission video below.

HIGHLAND PARK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

Allison interviews a woman during a video shoot

We just completed a shoot with the Highland Park Community Foundation to update its brand story video. We had a full day of shooting interviews with HPCF grantees and Board Members and getting b-roll around the Highland Park and Highwood community. The video will premiere at HPCF’s Gather for Good event on September 26, 2025. Click here to learn more about the event and purchase tickets!

CHRISTINA AND ANDY’S SURPRISE WEDDING

In April, we had the privilege of shooting a SURPRISE WEDDING for Christina and Andy. As wedding videographers, we absolutely love a challenge and enjoy capturing unique wedding days, and this wedding was just that! On April 5th, Christina and Andy got married at Mount Carmel Chapel surrounded by about 30 of their closest family members and friends, and then surprised more than 100 other people with the news later that night! To pull this off, Charlie and I filmed the whole day for them — getting ready, having their first look, the wedding ceremony, the dinner after, and more. That evening at Village Tap during their “engagement party” we played a video for everyone that shared the news. Everyone was so shocked and excited! A few people might have had suspicions something was up, but I think most of the group was very surprised. It was such a great moment and we captured all of the surprise on video too! Christina and Andy not only have the surprise video we made for them, but we also created a longer video that recapped the entire day, including interviews from their loved ones. It was such a special wedding and we’re incredibly proud of the videos we created. Take a look at both of them below!

Our wedding season is about to really kick the final weekend of June! We are shooting Marisa and Harry’s wedding at Cheney Mansion in Oak Park, then in July we have two more weddings, one in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the other in Chicago. It’s about to be a very busy summer but we’re so excited for all of the amazing weddings to come!

FEITH LEGACY FILMS

We just completed a series of Legacy Films for the Feith family. I met with Paul (shout out to the Association of Consultants to Nonprofits for making this connection!) and he saw that we do Legacy Films. He said that he conducted legacy interviews with his Mom and Dad, but never got around to editing the footage. I told him to share the footage with me and I’d take a look! The footage looked great and I knew I could easily edit this for him. I ended up editing his Mom’s Legacy Film, his Dad’s, and then a short video of the two of them together. They turned out very nice and Paul was very happy. His Mom has sadly passed since her interview, and Paul let me know that his Dad watches her video weekly. I really can’t think of a nicer comment to receive and this is why we are so passionate about Legacy Films. Watch the Feith Legacy Films below and reach out if you’d like to learn more about this special service.