Digital Arts Service Corps - vistaspotlight

booya

Sarah Pierantoni — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 02:43:38 +0000

Things are in full swing over at the Grand Rapids Community Media Center. My supervisor is gone this week, which has been an opportunity to show the rest of the staff that I can handle things. I am currently working on a project with a program called ArtWorks. I am creating a PSA in Spanish for the Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts with my new high school aged friend, Brenda, from the Dominican Republic. It is great to be practicing Español again....

In collaboration with the UICA, I recently put together a digital storytellig program for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) youth. It will start Aug. 11th and go for eight weeks, every Sat. for two hours. I am SO excited to begin, and bring these kids to our organization, show them how to create their own stories, use their voice and then exhibit their work at our theater and on our t.v. station.

I found the networking and set up for the program to be easier than I thought it would be. I will be done come Oct. with the first session, but we are looking to have a large number of students who want to sign up. Possibly multiple programs will take place, and reaching beyond the GLBT community throughout the year will hopefully make this digital storytelling program a lasting success.

Have a great day, everybody...

Sarah

My Digital Story

Naomi Jimenez — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 00:43:47 +0000

Hi everyone,

We've started our digital storytelling workshops last week using Open Source software. The first group was from a boys juvenile detention camp. They were cool. They really got into their projects and enjoyed themselves in the process. This week we have a mixed group of kids ranging from 8 to 12 years old. I will post up some examples soon.

I also wanted to share my digital story with you all. I created this story back in April when I went to the Digital Storytelling Center in Berkeley. I had the source files and I revised it a bit. You can check out my revised story at:
http://www.otxwest.org/california_dreaming.html

The original is posted on the Stories For Change website.
http://storiesforchange.net/node/352

You can also check out the news report that was done on us last week. I'm in the first and lost shots.
http://cbs5.com/video/?id=23977@kpix.dayport.com

Well that's it for me. Until next time...

Naomi

Getting in to it.

Derek Maxwell — Fri, 11 May 2007 16:49:39 +0000

So I have finished 1/3rd of my year as a Vista. When I started I was very ambitious ready to sink my teeth into the community and my organization. I was on the brink of a new life and I did not know what to expect. I went to Boston and completed my PSO. I returned to Minneapolis and showed up to my organization on the next Monday. I could not guess what my first day was going to be, who I would meet. So I walk in and say hello to Michael the program supervisor here at PCTV and my mentor and partner. I was ready to pounce at any task he would give me. After I set down my bag and removed about six layers of clothing (This is Minneapolis in January, and I ride a bicycle every year all year; it's not so bad it just takes some preparation and determination) we got started. What happened, what was the beginning of it all. This is what Michael said "Well we should probably get you some keys for the building and all". That is what I had been waiting for, it was sort of a shock to me at first. Then is when I realized that Vista life wasn't going to be a superhero action movie, it was going to be regular life, with a more positive and rewarding purpose.

So the first day passed, I got my keys, met the staff and the after school youth and got my desk in order. At this point I had no idea what was next. What was I suppose to do. The next few weeks were filled with learning Acronyms that I still don't know the meanings of and trying to remember who is connected to which one. I had a meeting with the staff and we started talking about what it was that I was going to be doing at PCTV over the course of the year and when I should be doing it. I started researching, ideating and thinking a lot. It's been four months. I have planned out two new websites, started an after school graphic design workshop, and mostly just gotten adjusted to working in the non-profit world.