There was a need 20 years ago to give a platform for youth voice and the need is just as urgent today. As we commemorate 20 years, our alumni are here to celebrate with us. Here’s what they have to say:
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Shewana Skinner - she/her pronouns - is a Wide Angle Board Member and Chair of the Business Advisory Committee, with an interesting Covid-19 experience that connects to her passion for supporting Wide Angle. She is an Intellectual Property lawyer in Washington DC specializing in Patent Law and Founder of SDOT Solutions LLC a management consulting firm providing Service, Delivery, Operations and Technology solutions to small businesses. Shewana is a graduate of Howard University School of Law in Washington D.C., and holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University in Greensboro, N.C. And she has a 7 year old fur baby named Prince Rogers Nelson (named after her favorite artist).
Read MoreBeth Holladay - she/her pronouns - is a Baltimore-based artist and teacher with over a decade of experience with community arts programs, art education, and freelance photography. After receiving her MA in Art Education from the University of Louisville, she led a public high school art program by initiating community partnerships, diversifying the curriculum, and creating avenues for student work to be exhibited in local galleries. She uses her experience and expertise in graphic design and photography to engage students and community members in art projects focused on inclusion and social justice. She maintains an independent art practice of hand-cut collage.
Read MoreThe question of what art is, remains a commonly debated intellectual argument. One thing that is inarguable however, is that art is a platform for communicating and sharing information. Whether its content inspired from the soul or from a textbook, we create to share. Art exists to communicate and connect, ultimately forming community; and the communities which art creates are integral for our existence as a species. As social, visceral yet intellectual creatures, art becomes fundamental.
Read MoreA great song can carry us through, take us away, and remind us of the extraordinary things discovered within the human spirit. Some of my favorite memories are tied to the music that was playing when those moments occurred. Tunes like The Climb by Miley Cyrus, the song my class sang at high school graduation and The London by J. Cole, a song that was coincidentally released the same day that I arrived in London for my senior class trip have become elemental in the soundtrack of my life. Anytime I hear Nonstop by Drake I flashback to when I heard the song playing in my neighborhood of Charles Village. My mother, driving in her car behind me with her windows rolled down and radio turned up, honked her horn the whole way to ensure everyone knew that it was a special night, senior prom.
Read MoreThe Kirwan Commission is named after the chairman Dr. Brit Kirwan. The purpose of the Kirwan Commission is to recommend policies that enable Maryland schools to reach the levels of the best performing school system in the country. The Commission also recommended changes to current funding formulas for schools in the state of Maryland. What they recommended became the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future.
Read MoreChris Holloway - he/his pronouns - specializes in editing, 2D and 3D visual effects, and graphic design for film, commercial, tv, and games. He recently returned to Baltimore after training at Full Sail University and a year of working on visual effects for feature films (like Catz!) in Montreal. Chris was first introduced to media making in Wide Angle’s Baltimore Speaks Out (BSO) program at Cherry Hill when he was 12 years old. Before Covid-19 hit the US, he was working for Outlook VFX, a new startup visual effects studio started by Trevor Price, a retired Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos linebacker. Outlook VFX is working to put Maryland on the map for visual effects.
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One Love Foundation is a national organization that educates young people about healthy and unhealthy relationships, helping them to identify and avoid abuse and learn how to love better. One Love was founded in honor of Yeardley Love: A young woman who tragically lost her life at 22. Her death was completely preventable. Their mission is to make sure that it doesn’t happen to others.
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This winter, our Design Apprentices took on Wide Angle as a client to create custom temporary tattoos for our annual Valentine’s Day mailing. We use this opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to the supporters in our community. If you received a tattoo in the mail, snap a pic, post on social media and tag Wide Angle! We’d LOVE to see them out in the world : )
Learn about the creative process and design inspiration for each one below.
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In mid-August, members of Wide Angle Productions had the opportunity to visit Video Production Consulting, Inc. (VPC, Inc.) in Reisterstown, Maryland. VPC is a production company that specializes in content creation, live event production, digital signage, and A/V systems integration. This was VPC’s second summer hosting WAP for a Job Shadow day, and our team had the pleasure of meeting many members of their incredible staff!
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This summer, Wide Angle Productions Producer, Tahir, completed a summer externship with Exelon’s Creative Media department. This was a 40 hour/week paid position that runs from June through August as part of Exelon’s summer intern program. Tahir, a Senior at Morgan State, has been with Wide Angle Youth Media since 2013. This post includes reflections from Tahir and Mark Colegrove, Video Producer at Exelon who worked with Tahir this summer.
Read MoreThis year Wide Angle launched its first Student Planning Committee aimed to share more ownership of the annual screening and exhibition with students - after all this event is about sharing their voice! The group met bi-weekly for four weeks over the summer. They used human-centered design, a creative process dedicated to understanding people’s needs and designing interventions that better serve people’s needs. This included interviewing different event stakeholders (parents/caregivers, students, teachers, etc.), finding themes in the research, identifying opportunity areas, brainstorming ideas, and testing them with prototypes. Student Planning Committee member Bryce spoke with us about his experience.
Read MoreListen. Amplify. Repeat. is our 2019 exhibition and screening event. The night will feature an exhibition of photographs and design projects, premier new films and include commentary from youth presenters as well as esteemed community leaders. We are thrilled to have youth media makers involved in every stage of the event. In this post you will hear from our youth designer, Aiara, about her process creating the visual assets for this year’s event.
Read MoreDestiny Brown - she/her pronouns - is a young filmmaker and actress born and raised in Baltimore, MD. She began at Wide Angle as the lead actress for a CSX train safety video, and over the years has transitioned into an Assistant Producer and Youth Ambassador. She is also part of the Youth Advisory Council and wants to be on the Board one day. Destiny has created a national award-winning film, traveled to South Africa to film internationally, and has spoken on numerous panels including Light City and Grantmakers for Education. She will be entering her first year at New York University (NYU) this fall, studying acting and theater, while also working as a Video Generalist at the Stern School of Business at NYU.
Read More#IamMoreBmore is a social movement for the youth, by the youth that launched in June 2019. Through media, this campaign aims to change the narrative of youth - specifically in Baltimore - to highlight positive stories that often go unheard. This blog includes a Q&A with two of the leaders of this movement, Chamia and Lacee. They were both Urban Alliance interns placed with Wide Angle Youth Media for spring - summer, 2019.
Read More“BlackStar is a gathering of filmmakers, supporters, and enthusiasts who attend screenings and participate in panels, workshops, and conversations to expand the vision and understanding of the global experience of communities of color. Acknowledging the diversity and complexity of identity within several diasporas creates space for dialogue and opens the opportunity for a greater perspective of what it means to be Black, Brown, and Indigenous.”
This was the second year in a row that a Wide Angle Youth Media film was featured in BlackStar Film Festival. Thanks to support from BlackStar, Communications Assistant, Hannah Shaw, and Youth Producer, Israel McNeill, travelled to Philadelphia to attend the festival. Below, Israel reflects on his experience.
Read MoreMediaWorks Journalism Team worked with the Capital News Service at University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism, to write five blog posts and create a photojournalism package about climate change, environmental racism, and health. This summer collaboration was a continuation of partnership that started in the 2018-2019 academic year.
Read MoreSakinah Bowman - she/her pronouns - is a Multimedia Apprentice for Wide Angle Productions (WAP). Originally from Philadelphia, Saki moved to Baltimore to study Screenwriting and Animation at Morgan State University. She is a 22-year-old filmmaker, poet, curator of frequency, and a woman of many talents.
Read MoreThis spring, Wide Angle’s Design Team collaborated with the LGBTQ+ group GLSEN (pronounced "glisten") and the Baltimore City LGBTQ Commission on a project about how transgender and gender nonconforming students are treated in schools based on their identity. Every day, these students are ostracized for who they are, and not just by their peers, but by their teachers and administrators as well.
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The timeline displays our history and the effects of school segregation on black youth in America. It all started from an idea that my team had and brought to life. I hope that the reader can view this timeline and take a lot from it because it is important to know your history and learn from it in order to be aware of the present and improve it.
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