Youth Media Programs
Though it is only one minute long, the production of the video to the right required spending a full day with Kato: navigating Prospect Park to find each other, scouting a location, filming the interview, laughing off every noisy airplane that disrupted the audio, glaring at curious passerbys who would stand in the frame, eating chicken sandwiches at Wendy’s, listening to his music and understanding why it matters to him, talking about responsibilities we have to our families, discussing what is important in life, and overall learning more about each other.
Youth media projects are more than just the media they produce, they are the conversations and social processes, practices, and bonds that uphold them.
“Filmmaking and storytelling provide chances for young people to articulate their reality. ”
The following is a collection of Youth Media Programs that offer inspiration and logistical insight for the capacity of youth media production—as well as the social and creative processes embedded within— to expand understanding and social engagement. These projects are planting the seeds for a future that is more socially and culturally equitable by equipping marginalized youth with digital technology skills, professional development experiences, creative educational outlets, and the support of encouraging mentors. Instead of having their stories told through someone else (whose lived experience may be far removed from theirs), these projects aim to give young people the means to represent themselves, push back against harmful narratives, and carve space for their creative, curious, and intellectual voices to be listened to.
What is youth media?
Any effort created, planned, implemented, and reflected upon by young people in the form of media, which could take many forms including websites, newspapers, television shows and publications. Youth Media programs give young people the means to have their experiences and concerns heard in a public forum. The goals of youth media programs tend to lie within and overlap the following themes:
Social change through the promotion of youth voices
Personal youth development
Media and technological literacy
Career development
Improving education
Teaching Artist, Jordan, demonstrating monopod techniques to students of the In-Transition Program at Hook Arts Media.
Hook Arts Media
Hook Arts Media
Providing a wide range of opportunities including theatre, dance, music production, drumming, poetry, and filmmaking primarily for NYC transfer high school students, Hook Arts Media utilizes the power of arts education to engage community change. Their youth filmmaking programs work with high school students and recent graduates to increase media and computer literacy, provide technical training with cameras and editing software, and foster professional development to better their job prospects. Working with talented and experienced mentors, the students learn the ends and outs of the film industry as well as how to navigate professional work environments and responsibilities. What is incredibly unique about their specific programs is that all the students are PAID for their time. By doing so, they are addressing issues of social inequity and bridging gaps in educational resources and opportunities in the area. In addition to their socially engaged documentaries, students and film fellows also develop narrative films that implore creative writing, crew building and coordination, auditioning actors, organizing shoots, and creating set designs—all of which are valuable experiences that bolster their confidence and creative voices.
“Hook Arts Media is proud to have established a pipeline to support young people to develop their filmmaking skills, cultivate soft skills for professional work environments, and find paying jobs in the film industry.”
Appalachian Media Institute
“AMI strives to enable our participants to become informed, tolerant, and engaged citizens and to recognize the interconnections between Central Appalachia and the rest of the world.”
Appalachian Media institute
As a branch of Appalshop, the multi-media arts and cultural organization in Whitesburg, Kentucky, AMI has been training and creating local youth filmmakers for over 30 years. Their mission is to encourage students to be “initiators of dialogue and social action around crucial community issues.” AMI gives rural youth the platform to educate national audiences about the specific challenges facing their community, while also equipping students with technical and job transferrable skills. In addition, they also showcase the diversity in the hills and complicate the narrative of Appalachia as a white monolith. Check out recent films exploring drug addiction, the significant role women play in the community, or the legacy of the coal mines here.
Echoes of Incarceration
Echoes of incarceration
As an award winning documentary initiative, Echoes of Incarceration is reimagining the criminal justice system by giving a platform for those most affected to speak—the children of incarcerated parents. Teaching video production and advocacy training, their goal is to bring visibility to the issues embedded within the criminal justice system. Making personal development and self care central to their work, Echoes of Incarceration uses mindfulness exercises and restorative justice practices to encourage and support those in the program. Their media pieces have been used to educate criminal justice stakeholders about the needs of young people who interact with the justice system, creating a platform for their lived experiences to be heard by the institutions that shaped them. Additionally, they actively seek out job experiences for their participants.
“The goal is to explore all the ways the criminal justice system interacts with, and misunderstands, young people, while harnessing the intelligence, energy, and creativity of youth to rethink our understandings of crime and punishment.”