Digital Arts Service Corps - youth

In the merry, merry month of May...

Elizabeth Goussetis — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:25:35 +0000

I wrapped up a 20-week long after-school outreach I’ve been teaching at an elementary school. I worked with two groups of students: the older group made a documentary about the experiences of their classmates who have moved to the U.S. from other countries, and the younger group made a collection of short instructional videos on topics of their choice (drawing, making a paper airplane, counting to ten in Japanese, making farting noises with your armpit, etc.).

Both videos were screened for parents at the after-school program’s year-end showcase. The kids were excited to see themselves on the screen, and it was really cool to talk to all the parents whose kids appeared in the film or who worked on it.

But the highlight of the month was taking a group of kids to a fancy, televised awards ceremony.

The Blue Chip Cable Access Awards are given out each year to recognize the work of volunteer producers of cable access programs in Greater Cincinnati. A short documentary made by one of last summer’s video camps I helped with at Media Bridges was nominated in the “student K-5” category. So, I rounded up the kids and parents to go to the award ceremony, which was held at a grand old restored movie theater. When their group was announced as the winner, I ushered a bunch of mostly shy kids up on stage, where they all got big rounds of applause for their acceptance speeches. One girl’s was, “Thank you, people.”

Here's the group photo, complete with shiny award plaque: http://ctcvista.org/files/IMG_7496b.JPG

Both events were good reminders of how important it is to follow through on projects that involve people in creating media. If we want people to realize the power their voices can have through media, we should involve them in the distribution, not just the production. When you put a piece of media “out there,” others will see it, and that is an important media literacy lesson. I see a lot of light bulbs turn on when kids see other people reacting to their work, whether those people are their parents or an entire theater full of people. Distributing one’s work can be an encouraging ego boost, but it can also be humbling and intimidating. Either way, it promotes responsible media-making.

The award-winning documentary was about an awesome, kid-friendly art museum where you can touch and interact with the artwork. It is called the UnMuseum, and it is housed in Cincinnati’s Contemporary Art Center. You can see the video in the youth section of the Media Bridges Web site.

Those of you looking to hone your armpit farting skills will have to wait. I haven’t been able to put those videos up yet. One problem that we constantly have with younger groups is that the instructor always ends up having to do additional editing after the outreach or class is over. Does anyone has a good model for this or any advice?

Piece by piece

Elizabeth Goussetis — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:38:29 +0000

The Youth Channel is online! Or rather, evidence of the Youth Channel’s existence is online. But that’s pretty exciting. It's one of the small but encouraging pieces that seem to be coming together with the Youth Channel.

We just revamped the Media Bridges website, and the new one is clean and easy to use. The old one looked like it was from 1994, and there was no mention of the Youth Channel. On our new site, I created a page of info about the youth channel and posted our meetings on the Web site calendar. In the next few weeks I’m hoping to set up a blog feature on the Web site so we can add updates about the Youth Channel and announce current projects and ways kids can get involved. Also, we have a Twitter account! We’ll see how that goes. You can follow us; our name is CincyYouthTV.

Currently airing on our Youth Channel time slot are several youth-produced videos from the Mobile Film School in Austin, Texas. Thanks, Amy! If anyone else has youth-produced videos they wouldn't mind having on TV in Cincinnati, please send them my way.

We have several shows in production. Whether this is my doing, or just happened without my help, or a combination, I don’t know. An adult producer here is working with kids from a performing arts high school on an entertainment show, one of our interns is putting together a youth talk show, and a middle school club is planning a regular talk show about manners (yes, manners). I also have a high school student finishing a documentary project, and I am working on a documentary with students at a local elementary school.

I am also having an opportunity every week for kids to come to orientation for the Youth Channel. The goal is to get kids in the door and show them how they can get involved at Media Bridges. I’m hoping that this will help get more youth involved at Media Bridges, hopefully some who can be peer leaders in the future.

We are starting to talk about plans for our summer camp program, which we do every year, but the funding situation is kind of up in the air, so we can’t plan too much. The program we’re hoping to do will be pretty awesome, and I’m excited about it.

Outreach and Collaborate!

Janet Vo — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:59:48 +0000

What to do when you have a no show for an event?

You just have to accept and learn from your mistakes. This past Saturday, our organization planned for a youth forum and introductory workshop to get students acquainted with our upcoming Spring Media program (Dorchester Initiative for Youth). We waited for over an hour and no one showed up. I along with the college students who helped organized the project had a strong feeling that this might happen when it was 12 noon.

We spent over a month organizing a youth forum and introduction workshop and to see our efforts go to waste was disheartening. We had youth express interest in the program, however never committed to showing up for this event.

Lessons learned? Outreach more and utilize networks best as possible. We outreached through our community networks, but we may not have generated enough hype for the program. And my one weakness is that I, myself don't have too much credibility in the community when outreaching because a lot of people do not know me as well. I have to problem solve on my own networking strategies for outreach and event planning purposes. Some things though, are out of your hands- winter break, students with no interest and busy schedules. We will be working harder on encouraging them to apply to the program in March.

A massive workload is piling on for me, as I take on more projects. I am continually connecting to other organizations who express interest in utilizing media to educate youth on topics such as domestic violence and immigration. I am hesitant to collaborate because I don't know if I have the capacity. At the same time, I know I will have to go with my gut and just run with something that sounds good even if I will only be around for 6 more months. So I will pursue these opportunities. It's funny because I've always seen other people take on more work than they can handle and ask why they would do that to themselves. Just have to go with my gut, these issues are important to me and the longterm needs of my org.

On a personal/career note, does anyone have suggestions as what to do post-service? I am thinking of maybe staying on with my organization part time, but would love to keep my options open.

so what have you been up too

Stewart Blair — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:19:09 +0000

In October-November, AMI started, its fall media lab. This time around we’re not doing so much media as community leadership. We’re planning an art show this January. We’re taking in local youth art for said art show. The reason for all this, is a lot of the youth here(like most other small towns) complain about how there’s nothing to do. AMI will be bring in some people to talk the AMI students about community leadership. We’re working on organizing for the art show. Also I started working on an Appalshop video brochure.

November-December-January, now we have signed different tasks to the students(music,art,etc). We’ve started a myspace account and started promoting the show. Also we’ve started to collect art. I’m really pumped about this I hope there’s a good turn out

http://myspace.com/appalachianyouth

The end.

lauren bratslavsky — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:38:28 +0000

It's been one year. And all the should ofs and could ofs are now expired. But I think I've accomplished a lot of good things, learned a lot and definetely had a great experience.

Sure, I could have blogged more, or made more programs, written more grants, etc etc etc. At least I can say that I have followed most of the workplan and hopefully instilled a foundation for a strong youth program at Media Bridges down the road.

Since the last blog, I have taught another great class - Ad Attack! The kids were middle schoolers and very receptive to learning about advertising and the NMMLP's list of persuasion tools. They knew they were being marketed to, but only to the obvious level. Hopefully they'll keep in mind the other marketing techniques and persuassion tools and practice being smart consumers. For anyone teaching such a class, I would suggest recording some recent commercials from the kids stations and also places like BET and MTV. I thought some of the commercials would be too mature for them, but these kids watch a lot a lot of tv. One student really liked the "bow chic a wow wow" commercial - the Axe one. So I also threw in info on sex appeal, since they already were aware of those commercials. Also, when preparing for such a class, come up with a tv/media watching survey and throw in some questions also about what they think advertising is. Then that will take you into a discussion about their favorite commercials and all that. Anyways, that class ended with some short videos that were, eh, ok. But I think the main point about ad techniques was well recieved.

The rest of my month was rather boring, tying up loose ends, making an end of year binder and all that. The highlight was going to Washington DC, courtesy of Danielle and that Housing Network conference. I presented with Nettrice Gaskins about Digital Media. I think it went well. And it sure was fun to go to DC for free and hang out with the ol' vista leader!

So thank you CTC VISTA project for exisiting and providing such a phenomenol opportunity. This has been the ideal situation for me, being between schooling and not quite sure what to do. I was actually able to utilize previous education, gain knew knowledge and experiences and of course look impressive on the resume (seriously). Future plans (which is basically now) are to move to Oregon. I'm in Ohio, so it's a serious excursion. I'm going to the University of Oregon for masters in communication and society. Maybe I'll continue down the path of media literacy, community media and media reform, as I have been doing the past year. But who knows where this will take me! And here's a note - if you are applying to school anytime following the VISTA year, whether you believe it or not, you are an impressive candidate for being in Americorps. And depending on your duties and experiences at your site, you may be able to translate that into a full ride! I'll be a graduate teaching fellow (fancy for ga) because I have Photoshop and Final Cut Pro experience, so I think I'll be teaching or assisting with those in some way (still don't know for sure). So if you're going to school, try to find the department (even if it's not what you are going to school for) that can utilize your experiences, and hopefully you too will be offered an assistantship.

Take care all! Rock out, don't crack out.

Dropping off the face of the vista-planet

Julie Bohnlein — Mon, 14 May 2007 04:45:41 +0000

It's recently come to my attention that I have disappeared from the face of the vista planet. So I have a small update.

Since March, this is what I have been doing at BNN:

- Taking inventory on new equipment

- Going and presenting our summer teen program at summer opprotunities fairs

- Learning how to use the new equipment

- Editing a BNN program called "Early Works" which is a compliation show of footage from recently trained producers

- Helping set up logistics for our summer program (how many teens, how many groups, how many supervisors)

- Mailing out applications

- Recieving applications back

- Setting up and updating spreadsheets on everyone we sent applications to and ones we've recieved back

- Updating BNN's Community Bulletin Board

- Helping with various mailouts BNN has because I'm apparently a mailout-machiiiiiiine.

Instead of being at the Multimedia center in Roxbury everyday, I'm now there four days a week, and spend one day a week at the cityplace location, mainly for updating the community bulletin board and collecting applications.

Youth Entrepreneurs Shine in Chicago

Shaneka Smith — Thu, 10 May 2007 22:05:04 +0000

Illinois Institute for Entrepreneurship Education hosted the 2007 Youth Entrepreneurship Conference from May 3 -5, 2007 at the Lincolnshire Marriot Resort. Youth throughout the Midwest attended this grand event to showcase their businesses and to compete for monies to promote and expand their companies. Opportunities were also granted for youth to sell products or services in the Expo. The innovation of young minds was evident with businesses ranging from custom auto parts to Caribbean Cuisine. IIEE provided youth the chance to show everyone what they got in accordance with the event’s theme.

Westside Youth Tech Entrepreneur Center (WYTEC) located in the West Garfield Park community on Madison and Keeler took four youth developed businesses: Delectable Desserts (Meoshii Young, 17, ACT and Alex Watt, 16, Prosser Career Academy), Christie’s Photo Service (Letitia Jackson, 14, Thorp Scholastic Academy), Chi-Town Finest Stylez (Starnisha Ewing,16, ACT and Shatoya Haper, 16, Al Raby School for Comm/Enviro), and Baskets by Brittany (Brittany Richmond, 16, ACT) to participate in the Expo, Start-up Business Competition, and Jumpstart Grant competition.

WYTEC is proud to announce that Chi-Town Finest Stylez, a youth based corporation offering custom-made T-shirts and accessories, and Delectable Desserts, a partnership creating desserts for everyone including those concerned about the waistline bulge, competed and won a $150 Jumpstart Grant to invest into their businesses. The hard work and determination of all the attendees paid off as others were in astonishment at the creative ideas they displayed.

These individuals are shining in a community written off as one of the worst for teenagers. Youth are aware that they can develop successful businesses using their talent, drive, and determination. They are trendsetters of youth entrepreneurship in the West Garfield Park community. WYTEC has shown itself to truly be an incubator for inventive minds.

Back in hizzy!(thats house for those that don't speak hood) lol

Ramon Myers — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:20:43 +0000

I'm back on the blog tip. We didn't have the net for a few weeks due to some funding issues. I had my own funding issues and I'm holding on with my finger tips, but its all good! We are in full effect at Jordan high located in Watts and I'm proud to be apart of such a life transforming project. The kids are really picking up video production fast and Ill post some of the project's as soon as they are done.

Today I picked up a donated computer which will be used for a community information Kiosk. I'm still in the process of creating some content for the Kiosk. It will be information that will help serve the community here... you know ...health issues, where to find help and government services, local sports and the finished video projects from the students in the program. we gettin it crackin (done, for those who don' speak..you know) LOL

Youth Development

Colleen Kelly — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 16:38:58 +0000

Tips for Teaching

There are many methods and approaches but the ones that work best are youth-centered and hands-on. On subsequent pages are several methods and approaches for planning and getting started with your DAY program, including project-based learning, portfolios, after school and in-school activities. Also, creating the space (DAY studio) is important, as well as developing the actual activities for your program. Upon request are some great lessons for teaching digital art (on CD).

Digital Art Youth Program (DAY)

In 2000, three community-based technology centers across the country launched "ArtTech", a five-week summer program that introduced youth to multimedia. Soon after the project was renamed the Digital Art Youth Program or DAY. Nettrice Gaskins created a resource guide for practitioners that was made available upon request. She also ran a local DAY program at the Boston Neighborhood Network from 2001-2004, with the help of an AmeriCorps VISTA (Derek Hixon). The Boston program served nearly a hundred local youth between the ages of 13 and 18. Additionally, Nettrice worked with a public high school in Dorchester to create school-based curriculum for teachers and students.

Creating the DAY resource guide has been a labor of love for Nettrice (she did not profit from it). For more information about the guide visit the DAY web site.

Computer Animation

In 2005, Nettrice taught three computer animation classes at the Massachusetts College of Art. Two of the classes were for 12-18 year olds and the other was for high school students. For these classes Nettrice developed a web site and curriculum. The activities culminated in a CD/DVD and screening of youth work. The work can also be seen on the web here: Digital Media Channel.

Youth Entrepreneurship

Wikipedia defines entrepreneurship as "the practice of starting new organizations, particularly new businesses generally in response to identified opportunities."

Organizations such as National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship have the mission "to teach entrepreneurship to young people from low-income communities to enhance their economic productivity by improving their business, academic and life skills."

One of CTC VISTA Project's participants, The Young Entrepreneurs Society (YES), has a mission of "North Quabbin/Franklin County youth unlocking their potential through entrepreneurship, job readiness, financial and technology education and action" and does so with programs such as a buisness center, cyber cafe, and social service marketing projects.

What other projects or ideas are floating around about entrepreneurship? Here's a place to start!

40 Developmental Assets

Catherine Moore — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 21:58:58 +0000

http://www.search-institute.org/assets/40AssetsList.pdf

This is a great link for anyone working with youth. It's a list of 40 Developmental Assets as compiled by the Search Institute... you can check out their site for other youth surveys, studies, and information.

Looks like I'll be learning how to use Audacity to do some music editing with charter high school students in Middleton, I'm excited to learn more about it!