Black Outside

(Re)connecting Black youth to the Outdoors. With the knowledge that only 1% of Texas state park participants identify as Black/African-American, Black Outside, Inc was founded with the mission of expanding access, programming, and relevancy to both Black and Brown communities across Texas. We seek to not only diversify the outdoors but unleash a new generation of outdoor enthusiasts reflective of our country and state's beautiful diversity.

THE PRODUCTION STORY

Even though Black Outside is based out of San Antonio, TX, the production came together from volunteers all around the country. Our Director Kyle Berkompas came up with the concept and wrote the script from Portland, OR. He had writing assistance by Ali Lu and production support from the Crews team in Los Angeles, CA. From there we needed a local Filmer in San Antonio, due to travel restrictions from COVID. Local filmmaker Russell Reed was kind enough to volunteer his time and drive out to the woods for an afternoon to capture the magic of what Black Outside does. Despite the moving pieces hundreds of miles apart, this project came together because of the professionalism and dedication of our volunteers. We were blown away on the first edit by Kyle along with the VO work by Onika Rouse, and that’s basically what is on the screen today.