With our country under siege, we at The LAMP have decided our revolutionary actions are in the work that we do with our students and educators. Check out some of our spring program highlights:
ReACTION!
Currently, we are working with middle school students at CMSP 327 in the Bronx to create a YouTube series called, ReACTION! In five short episodes, students are shedding light on the Bronx in a different way by highlighting its hidden histories, vivid present and vivacious future with interviews from community members, artists and organizers. This upcoming bi-weekly show will explore the history of the Bronx, and the best part of it all is that the students have been working hard to write, interview, film and produce it all. In an attempt to activate youth voices, they are using media to create a platform for reimagining the Bronx. Stay tuned for the launch of the series on YouTube!
Students interviewing tour guide at The Point in the Bronx
Digital Career Path
In our Digital Career Path program at Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow (OBT) in Brooklyn, out-of-school youth are learning to responsibly and purposefully manage their online presences through digital resumes and portfolios while learning about data security. They’re using Adobe Photoshop to create graphic design projects, working with clients to produce promotional materials, integrating feedback, and delivering on deadline. As a culminating project, students are collaborating to design digital entrepreneurship projects while producing media to support these projects. This semester we took our Industry City students on a tour at Chipotle where they visited the interior design development lab and got to learn how the decisions made in the board room make design choices that are appealing to the eye of a consumer.
Students at Chipotle Offices in Industry City
This year, we’re also back collaborating with Hudson Guild, students are participating in our Digital Career Path/ TechUp program where they are exploring their relationship with online media as well as expanding their skills through video editing and podcasting. At MECA students talked back to traditional advertisements, to see how it impacted them please look at the student spotlights from Shana and Marc.
Professional Development
This spring we’ve been doing a lot of professional development in NYC as well as in Chicago. In P.S. 195 in Queens, we prepared teachers with our Making Public Service Announcements (PSA) program. As the teachers focused on understanding how media messages influence young people by comparing commercials aimed at boys and girls, one teacher spoke of how the objectification of women in advertising starts at a very young age for girls. Then teachers created their own PSA, and came up with many ideas of how they integrate media making in different subject areas.
In Chicago, we conducted Professional Development in collaboration with Yollocalli Arts Reach with 20 educators around Chicago challenging media messages about immigration and immigrants. Educators created remixes and critiques of the language in news stories that portrayed immigrants as dangerous criminals and challenged them by creating positive affirming images representing the voices of immigrants themselves. In turn, they are going to take back these tools to their students-–many who are from fearful and vulnerable communities challenge the media through creation using our MediaBreaker Studios.
Thanks for checking in with us and out spring programs. Please stay tuned to our Spring Wrap up post highlighting the rest of our programs!
