City Parks Foundations’s “Youth Made Media” program offers Brooklyn teens free film production and new media skills
Brooklyn teenagers learn to use software to create movies, documentaries and narratives through Youth Made Media (YM2), a program of the nonprofit City Parks Foundation that offers young people, ages 13 to 19 from low-income communities, a structured learning experience in video and audio production, media literacy, new media, academic support and life skills training. Teens master valuable technology skills, gaining knowledge in a broad range of standard and specialized industry software, and explore careers and workplaces. The program gives inner-city youth the opportunity to express themselves artistically, develop leadership skills, discover their talents and learn how to produce original shows for the Public Access Youth Network.
This fall season of the program, Youth Made Media has hired 30 past participants from its summer institute as peer educators. These paid positions, with funding support from The Pinkerton Foundation, will highlight the skills of these driven young teens who have excelled in and been certified through the program. They will share their knowledge and talent with the newest crop of students, offering peer-focused instruction and support. One of the many skills these paid interns will help teach their peers is how to create stop motion animation (such as claymation) using an iPad. The paid internship will also provide the peer educators with the opportunity to pursue externships as television production assistants at their local public access channels, giving these teens a hands-on opportunity to utilize and improve upon their skills as well as providing them with valuable career training.
The fall season kicks off Monday Oct. 21 between 4 and 5 p.m. at the Red Hook Recreation Center, located at 155 Bay Street.
