ReMedia teaming up with Vanguard CDC youth on media EJ projects
April 6, 2012
NORTH END,
Detroit – EMEAC's ReMedia program is about half way through a
four-month series of workshops on media production skill sharing with
the Vanguard Community Development Corporation Youth Program in
Detroit's East Side North End community. EMEAC Associate Director
Lottie Spady, who also directs the ReMedia program, has been
conducting a pair of three-hour workshops each week focusing on
helping North End youth create their own video projects from an
environmental justice perspective.
“I'm really
excited to be working with the youth at Vanguard on an environmental
justice media project that focuses on the Northend neighborhood,”
Spady said. “The group I am working with has a wide range of skills
and talents from spoken word poetry, graffitti art, and rap to dance,
and long-boarding which should make for dynamic short film that truly
reflects youth voice and is relevant to their concerns, opinions and
solutions to the wide variety of environmental justice issues in the
Northend.
So far, youth
have identified areas of concern around violence, safety,
homelessness, abandoned houses, air pollution connected to the
Detroit incinerator, littering and the potential around alternative
transportation.”
Joining Spady in
conducting the twice-a-week video production workshops has been
ReMedia fellows DeRaina Stinson, who grew up in the North End and
Cass Tech High School junior Torrin Clay. The Remedia team is
coordinating with Vanguard Youth Coordinators Domonique Baul and
Dontai Mitchell in helping the youth shape their visions, find their
voice and tell their stories for the project.
“My
goals for this collaboration are to create at least three videos that
can be submitted to the Green Screen Youth Environmental Film
Festival in November,” said Baul. “We want to create a videos
that directly addresses issues in the North End, and lastly create a
dynamic video that can be used to attract artistic youth to the
program.
“So
far things are good. The young people are coming around and are
learning some needed skills. Dontai has been working with some youth
doing a video about the blight in their hood. I am looking forward to
seeing these ideas become our finished projects.”
In
addition to gaining experience throughout the entire video production
process, ReMedia aims to teach young people the value of media making
from an environmental justice lens. While it's important to teach the
technical aspects of video production, Spady says youth should also
come away with a broadened educational perspective as it relates to
their environment.
“My
goals for this collaboration are to share skills with young people
that will empower them to share their stories in order to counter
what is oftentimes a negative and stereotypical representation of
youth and their activities,” Spady said. “Such representations
are seen in the media and influence the way youth are treated in
school, in community, by adults, and by peers.
“Another
goal is that of leadership development and peer education so we can
develop relevant and timely solutions to the issues and educational
materials that position youth as experts in these areas. Lastly, I
believe that video exploration can help youth redefine their
community in positive terms and reconnect to a sense of place.”
EMEAC's
ReMedia program empowers community members, youth and adult, with the
skills and technological tools to tell their own stories about
environmental issues in SE Michigan. These can be public service
announcements, music videos, short films, digital art works or
documentaries about air quality, water access and affordability, land
use or food security. ReMedia also has an environmental justice media
fellows program where program participants are hired by area justice
organizations to meet their media needs around documentation and
promotions.
“ReMedia
has stand alone lesson plans which are flexible in order to flow with
the class size, which can vary,” Spady said. “The media lessons
also fit together so that by the end of the program there is a body
of media work with which to create final videos. Participants
practice interviewing skills, video techniques, and every aspect of
video production. They also review other youth produced environmental
media for deconstruction and inspiration.”
Spady
also expressed appreciation for the efforts of her youth support team
in Stinson and Clay. Stinson was a member of ReMedia's initial group
of fellows while Clay joined the program last fall.
“My
teaching assistant and ReMedia Environmetal Justice Fellow, DeRaina
Stinson, grew up in the Northend and has a long history with Vanguard
CDC,” she said. “It's really good to see youth come back to their
home-base and share with their community. Her insight and connections
to the Northend are really an asset and I appreciate the way her
facilitation and leadership skills continue to grow.
