Youth Media Learns to Mingle with the Big Dogs
If media arts is a new field, then youth media must be in its infancy. Fortunately, at NAMAC’s Taking Liberties Conference, the lines between old and new, young and … older were blurred, as cross-fertilization became the key to learning and growing.
“Although we are young, we have strong histories,” said Helen De Michiel, co-director of NAMAC, in the opening plenary. During the five-day conference, these histories were broken down in a series of panels. The attendees—nearly 70 of whom were from youth media organizations, including nineteen youth scholarship participants—were treated to lessons learned from leaders in the field.
Youth in Action
Amy Lesser made a strong case for youth media in her presentation on
CTCNet’s (Community Technology Centers Network’s) “Youth Visions for
Stronger Neighborhoods.” The initiative involves a series of
collaborative projects that teach media literacy and social advocacy.
She described one example, that of a group of teens from a low-income
housing development in Troy, New York, who created a film about their
mistreatment, including racial profiling, by security in the building.
After a series of community-based meetings and appointments with
security officials, the video was eventually adopted into the training
for all new security guards coming to work at the housing development.
From the Media Justice Network we learned about the international scope of youth media. “It’s not enough for us to be asking for change from one government,” said presenters Amalia Anderson of Fourth World Rising and Tammy Ko Robinson of Video Machete. In November, a delegation of 35 youth and adults from member organizations will attend the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia.
Youth participants were given a chance to shine at the Youth Media Slam at the Asian Arts Initiative. The standing-room-only event featured the world premier of “Schooling Baltimore Streets” by Wide Angle Community Media. An impromptu, self-organized screening took place at the conference center later in the week. Eighteen-year-old Lenah Perez, a three-year veteran of Global Action Project in New York City, announced that her organization plans to collaborate more with community activists, like the Prison Moratorium Project, after the Conference. She said, “We have to take a step further [with our films] and be a different type of activist.”
Developing new youth activists and sharing power were the themes of the panel “Generating the Next Generation.” Thenmozhi Soundararajan of Third World Majority called upon youth-serving groups to provide resources for young people after they age-out, noting, “Right now, there are no connecting institutions when they turn eighteen to give them a transition from youth leaders to community leaders.” Malkia Cyril was inspirational in a presentation of her work with the Youth Media Council, saying, “Policy decisions are not always meant to be won. Sometimes they are just meant to be fought.” Later, her colleague Leslie Ruiz talked about their media justice model, which includes “speaking for ourselves,” “cultural self-determination,” and “majority building.”
Partnering for Growth
The conversation turned commercial during the “Deep Focus Interactive
Roundtable Luncheon.” P.O.V./American Documentary, Inc., has worked
closely with Netflix to offer all subscribers access to P.O.V.’s entire
social documentary library on the rental giant’s online shelves. Miriam
Neptune from the Educational Video Center asked if Netflix or P.O.V.
would be opening up venues for youth media. Cara Mertes talked about
P.O.V.’s Youth Views Institute for young media makers and said that it
would be using the web for its youth media content through P.O.V.
Borders. Ted Sarandos of Netflix noted that his company has Media
Right’s DVD-compilation of its Media that Matters Film Festival
available next to Super Size Me, but also stated that short-form docs
aren’t “as commercially viable” as long-form.
In considering the endless struggle for youth media to create a strong stream of revenue, the “Social Enterprise” panel proved a valuable resource. When the Austin Film Society bought an old airport hangar from the city for one dollar, it built film studios that now bring in thousands of dollars in earned income for the nonprofit every year. This type of entrepreneurship can be both mission-aligned and profitable, according to the Social Enterprise Alliance, a membership organization that “mobilizes communities of nonprofit organizations and funders to advance earned-income strategies.”
This panel helped Conference attendee Antoine Haywood gain insight into how to approach local real estate developers to help his cable access station, PeopleTV, grow. Haywood, an Emerging Leader Scholarship recipient and Youth Media Leadership Institute participant, added, “There are a wealth of ideas here. To be able to take those ideas back to your organization and apply them—that is leadership.”
Since the field of media is constantly expanding with new technologies, youth workers are being creative in how they engage more young people. At the “Digital Creativity” panel, we learned that the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) is creating a social documentary-based gaming system based on girls in juvenile detention. It will have multi-player capacity to manipulate judges, foster care workers, and exes. Panelist John Henry Thompson showcased an interactive technology that made video art out of real-time movement. He said that the key to getting kids interested in learning how technology works is to get them interested having fun, a similar approach taken by Michael Verdi, creator of the video blog site freevlog.org.
Celebrating the Field
The Conference ended on a celebratory note with a 25th Anniversary
champagne toast at the World Café Live. The Outstanding Philanthropy
Award was given to Open Society Institute’s Youth Media Program. In
accepting their award, program officer Anna Lefer and director Erlin
Ibreck said that when they first began their program, youth media was
seen as a “boutique field,” and “youth were not seen as agents of
change through the media they made.” Now Lefer and Ibreck can point to
a professional network, an innovative distribution network, and
thriving field of organizations with a deep sense of purpose and
commitment to community: “Young people are making their voices heard
and impacting policy.”
This power was not lost on the Youth Scholarship recipients. Eighteen-year-old Shannalee Otanez of Spy Hop Productions commented, “What a great community we are in.” Though she said at times she had trouble figuring out who was a kid and who was an adult, in the end it didn’t matter because she was able to learn from all who attended.
KATINA PARON is the editorial/program director of Children’s PressLine, a New York-based youth journalism organization, online at cplmedia.org.
