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Creative Media for Communities
Creative Media for Communities
Creative Media for Communities
Lena Richardson, Monday Oct 06, 2008, 12:00 am
At Global Action Project (G.A.P.), we use media as a strategic tool for creatively engaging young people in community struggles for justice. Young people, specifically those most affected by systemic inequalities, are the next generation of cultural workers and leaders who can and will, with the right training, make media that supports progressive social movements. We are intent upon giving them the kind of training they demand, which will help them position themselves to disrupt dominant narratives, tell untold stories, inspire public debate, and support popular action.
G.A.P.’s Media in Action is just such a training, designed as a national workshop series for organizers, activists, educators and youth who want to gain analytical, technical and creative skills for making and using media to advance their social justice campaigns. But more importantly, they want to use media as a way to increase youth participation and leadership in their organizations by having a creative and fun avenue for young people to contribute to organizing efforts. Media in Action also features traveling workshops and a year-long local NYC program for youth organizers.
A free, cross-generational workshop series, Media in Action takes the best of what we have to offer as a youth media arts organization and offers visual storytelling, basic production, and an advanced analysis that examines media’s power and relevance to social movements. Since we began this initiative, Media in Action has reached over 200 individuals from 100 organizations, and most recently with those organizing for immigrant justice.
To share and exchange practices, ideas and strategies with those of you who engage with art, media, and culture to build community power, we offer this description of Media in Action as a way to generate critical feedback, questions and suggestions for assessing the impact media can have on the long-term social change goals of those on the ground.
Our Recent Training: Telling Stories. Building Movements.
During the last three days of July 2008, immigrant justice organizers from across the country gathered in New York City at our space in midtown Manhattan to explore how they could use media to energize their base, engage young people in their work, and increase the impact of their campaigns. Participants included staff members and youth organizers from the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR) from Denver, CO; Khmer Girls in Action (KGA) from Long Beach, CA; Latinos Progresando from Chicago, IL; and the New York State Youth Leadership Council (YLC).
Facilitated by a team of G.A.P. staff and youth, Media in Action kicked off after a welcome dinner and a morning of team-building. On the first day, participants were introduced to G.A.P.’s popular education approach to youth media, and explored the relationships between power, media and ideology. Specifically, they focused on mainstream media’s negative framing of immigrant communities and its power to shape public perception and policy, and took their analysis into a production activity that had them interview people on the streets of New York. On the second day, they developed their own media power by using G.A.P.’s media strategizing tool to identify their audience, sharpen their messaging, and define impact. The third day was dedicated to one-on-one resource clinics in which each organization developed an implementation plan for their media work.
Many participants walked away from Media in Action with a renewed sense of urgency and conviction that their organization must prioritize media as a key creative strategy for engaging young people in campaign work through a vibrant use of art for impact. And since their training, here’s what some participants from our immigrant justice-focused Media in Action institute have been doing:
1) New York State Youth Leadership Council is gearing up to share what they learned through Media in Action with their media committee and is applying for a grant to expand their media work.
2) Khmer Girls in Action is using G.A.P.’s “Framing & Messaging” tool to work with their youth to produce a commercial for a teen health campaign.
3) COLOR used G.A.P.’s “Framing & Messaging” tool to plan a 10-year anniversary film that they will produce this fall. They will also present a Media Justice workshop at the Latina Health Summit using tools and techniques from Media In Action. COLOR now actively integrates media activities (e.g., exercises, definitions, explanations, and energizers) into their youth workshops.
The Future of Media in Action:
While we are very excited about the progress made to date, there is so much more to do and learn if we are going to develop a sustainable model of how to use youth media as a compelling, creative pathway for youth engagement in community-based social justice campaigns. One of our biggest challenges in integrating media work into organizing is dealing with capacity issues. Organizers are busy enough, and taking on more work can be very taxing. And certainly, producing media, though potentially rewarding, is time consuming. To understand what “success” looks like over time--do young people take on more media work inside their organizations? is media being used to further campaign work? is it well crafted with stories that are compelling?--we will follow up with these groups to see what has been of value, and how they think about and create media differently as a result of the workshops.
About G.A.P.:
Based in NYC, Global Action Project works with young people most affected by injustice to build the knowledge, tools and relationships necessary to create media for community power, cultural expression and political change. G.A.P. plans to facilitate more national institutes in the upcoming year. Please contact our outreach director, Binh Ly, if you are interested in learning more (binh@global-action.org). Media in Action has been made possible with support from The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The Ford Foundation and the Surdna Foundation.
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