Youth Arts Award

I'm now tracking, recording and documenting the project not only for my professional development, but also with teh aim of achieveing a Silver (or possibly a Gold) level on the Young Person's Arts Award: a recognised qualification to GCSE and A-Level for Silver and Gold respectively.

BRILLIANT!

It's ace because it actually has examples of how to complete the criteria in a handbook, you get a mentour, and it can be put in perspective.
It's given me so much clarification already. Since, let it be known, I am a little bit scatty (in the memory department - I will stand up for my organisational skills).

I'd also like to be a Youth Arts Award moderator in the future.

So, full steam ahead.

Now I just need to find the time to put into all that I'm doing. And to get the internet at home....I t make such a big difference to things


ALSO

I had an excellent meeting at York CVS last week with The Khaoz Radio project and a representative from BBC Radio York. The possibility of developing future Youth4Media Media Teams in collaboration with other local institutions such as York CVS, BBC Radio York, Khaos Radio, York TV, York St John, York Uni seems very real: and there's a GREAT DEAL of interest.

I also had a chat with someone form York St John who is a councellor for Young people who showed interest....Networking, networking (all for the greater good)

Intercult Workshop Documentation - Blog#1

Before The Sessions

I’ve spent weeks preparing for the workshops. I’ve done hours of work, and have been heading down to Council office everyday for the last week to make sure that I have all of my preparation complete.
One thing that I have learned before is that there can never be enough preparation, always have a plan B and always have a plan C.

My feelings are very mixed…on one end of the scale, I’m confident in myself, my colleagues and the support I have to achieve the full potential of the workshops.
I have no idea what to expect, what obstacles I will encounter, whether I have prepared everything I should have. I wish I had more faith in myself. It feel like the workshop will carry itself, but I have some role in that. Although I know I the work I have already done will benefit the workshop, I still feel lost and have played worst case scenarios of no one turning up in my head. I’ve also imaged such excellent responses tah I don’t know which mental image to believe. I suppose I can take comfort in the fact that the only way to learn and improve is to DO what it is you want to improve.
And that I’ve overcome similar obstacles in past.Ultimately if I don’t have faith in myself, who will?

So….Hopefully the 1st session will go off with a (positive) bang, we’ll all be happy, we’ll develop a great plan, and as a team we’ll be happy!

During The 1st Workshop.

19th April 2008

So, I’m sat in the 1st session, it’s nearing the end and things are slowly winding down.

Some people didn’t turn up, and the session seems to be going slowly which is making me nervous.You may also be asking yourself, how am I finding time to write this during the session. Well, the internet is down, so we can’t do the research we intended to do.Below is what we discussed during the workshop:

Expectations

• We decided, mostly, on which roles we would like to have in the team.
• What we would like to film before and on the 5th May
• How can we manage this? In terms of kit, people, time etc (the producer had to leave early though)
• Introduction to editing
• Introduction to camera skills and capturing
• Research into official statistics to use during the magazine, if we so desire.

What we couldn’t do, due to the internet being down is was:

• Create a mood board to demonstrate ideas of visual styles, themes and colours etc for the project.
• Research some official statistics

Next week, we’d like to do the following:

• Some pieces to camera
• Script and running order basics
• Create a mood board to demonstrate ideas of visual styles, themes and colours etc for the project.
• Consider the visual style of the piece and the design for the product
• Develop a real IDEA of what to film, capture and cut . Something interesting…

What I forgot (oops) and will do/improve next week

• I didn't get Feedback forms, a feedback discussion
• I need to get feedback for the space - which is great apart from renegade static electricity
• Next week I'll ask

1) What was good about the session

2) What was bad about the session

3) What would you suggest to improve the session

York's 1st 2008 Youth4Media Intercult Project

PROJECT INFORMATION:

Date of first workshop: Saturday 19th April 2008

Venue:Basement Media Centre, City Screen, Coney St, York (see 'extra venue information' about where it is based in City Screen).

Time: 12pm - 5pm (12 - 3pm will be practical workshops run by Professional Y4M Media Mentors. 3 - 5 will be group led practical production work)

Project contact person: Mike Cooper

Workshop Leaders & Professionals:

Simon Collins (http://www.whereareyousimon.co.uk)

Dan Axon (http://www.axonaudio.co.uk/)

Dates of project: April 19th - 24th May 2007

Pre production: Saturday April 19th, 26th & May 3rd

Film Production day: Monday 5th May

Post Production: Saturday May 10th, 17th, 24th

Production team project Brief:

InterCult 2008 is a project involving youth media projects from 10 countries (England, France, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Latvia, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Bulgaria).
Your brief is to produce a 10 minute TV magazine programme and a DVD which explores culture, cultural diversity, inter cultural communication and what this means to young people and the general public.

The final production will be broadcasted on Open Web TV and be showcased at the InterCult 2008 youth media festival, Munster, Germany in October 2008.
Participants from each production team will have the opportunity to travel to Munster to participate and be involved in the festival.

You will experience all elements of media production from camera work to sound production, editing, producing, reporting, presenting and journalistic skills aswell as other media skills. You can pick and choose what YOU want to do.

Other Youth4Media Projects

If you would like to see an example of past media productions by Y4M Network in York check these out: These were made as part of the last Y4M project called 'LYTnet' (Local Youth Television Network - see attached info).

Board Bites Back - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj2qR18s6GE

5 elements - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RB-o79cbEs

From the u to k - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m2TZUtG7WE

Progression Forwards (hand in hand with Technology)

  One of the difficulties of having European members of the Youth4Media Network in 22 countries is the problems arising through communication.

  For such a project to work we need clear, understandable and regular communication.  Dave Fleming brought forward the proposition of using a Wiki for communicating.

The Wiki is still in a development stage for us, but we are working on it all the time.  hopefully in the future we will have lots of information on the Wiki, in a more dynamic and accessible way than on many websites. Essentially our Wiki should eventually be a central hub for information and contact within the network.

using pbWiki, Skype and blogs, we aim to improve the efficiency of communication and the clarity of web published information relating to the youth4Media projects.

Please take a look at our Wiki, and feel free to request to become a contributing member or to suggest any ways of improving it.

A link to our Wiki can be found here

Mike Cooper on The Intercult "kickoff" Meetings (23 - 27th jan 2008)

Day 1 - Wednesday 23rd Jan

(travelling, discovery, and the cold)

I have already flown to Poland and am in Warsaw. I have seen the old city, the magnificent classical looking buildings (many re-built since the second world war), some amazing cultural sights and I still can’t put my finger on where else I can compare Poland too. As a Brit abroad in Poland (or the land of “those Poles” - as the British media constantly, unhelpfully reminds us) I can not feel anything other than slightly embarrassed at my lack of understanding of the culture that many polish people have left behind to emmigrate.
I find myself asking, "why?" This country seems magnificent, I want to learn more.

I feel at the present moment in time I could possibly imagine how someone might feel at the start of a mammoth task such as climbing a mountain like Kilamanjaro or Everest - maybe just “charged” is the best way of describing it.
For certain things you can only prepare so much. You can only pray for a fair hand to be dealt by fate for your time on your journey and that your decisions will have the positive effect you most desperately want them to have: ultimately resulting in conquering the said challenge.

At the start of my Youth4Media experience I feel a mixture of excitement, fear, anticipation, freedom, claustrophobia and everything else in between. I am swinging from one end of the emotion spectrum to the other from moment to moment and I don't know what to expect. My stomach is in knots.

I have been subjected to a sudden rush of information about Youth4Media which has me geared up for anything. I’m questioning my own ability.

After so long of trying to convince the world (any myself) that I can do so much; I now have the opportunity to prove it.

Can I prove it? I think so but there’s still doubt.So.

To refer back to my consideration of climbing a mountain, I find myself stood at the foot of the mountain I recognise as “Youth4Media”, I feel overwhelmed in every way, with many opportunities potentially round the corner, I feel acutely aware of the fact that now is "make or break" to start proving myself to a wider audience so i can follow my dreams.
Hopefully i can avoid opportunities that could ruin this excellent experience and leave my future prospects jaded.

I think I can serve my superiors and peers well. Lets hope I can.

"The only thing I find myself thinking is “lets do this”The rest is left to fate"

Day 2 - Thursday 24th Jan

(meeting and meals)

Another day of some further travelling, except this time in this beautiful country I feel privileged

to be seeing it as a volunteer and with a purpose. What I have seen has been glorious.

A quick tour around Warsaw en route to the train station provides me with a real view of the stark contrast that this country offers. Statues of the Virgin Mary stood in high contrast next to communist esque statues which enforce rigidity and discipline. Old Italian replica buildings stood next to new ultra modern complexes.
For a country that has ceased to exist for at least 200 years of its history and that has been tossed around like a juggling ball, the sense of individual culture and history is overwhelming and evident everywhere.

Later we arrive at our host institution for the next 4 days - The Nowy Staw Foundation- 20 minutes drive from Lublin (90 minutes drive from Warsaw) in the South of Poland. I can’t even begin to explain how lovely this place is. Some shy exploration reminds me how close we are to extremely cold regions such as Russia. This building is a European beauty; very large and very warming. Four days here should be very enjoyable.

Regardless, we had to begin our meetings so we sat down and starting discussing various potential for the Intercult project and for the first time I felt like I was starting to understand why I was here. I now feel a fantastic feeling of “anything can be done”…..With the right amount of paperwork. (So that is the secret: master the paperwork)
Enough of that for now. It’s time for an introductory evening meal in a fantastic traditional Polish restaurant (lots of bread, Rye Bread, soups with sausage and hard boiled egg, various meats, dumplings)

The full diversity of the project is about to hit me over my meal.

It's all well and good to list countries that are involved. Now I have names and faces from these countries. I found out that a country called Belarus exists - which I find quite striking as I could be considered as well educated. Now I could be considered ignorant or stupid.

Belarus is sometimes known as White Russia. It’s also the last dictatorship in Europe. DICTATORSHIP. This fact leads my thoughts naturally to consider, if Sadam Hussein was such a problematic ruler then why don’t we know about this country over in the UK? I’m starting to question (even more so) the full extent of my so called knowledge of the world. Education in a class room can only teach you so much. Cultures can only be experienced, not taught.
Poland has just thrust a new country and culture into my mind. Transforming my starter into a metaphorical Culture soup you could say.

I also had my first real conversation with a Russian, I got by in Polish, I spoke to someone in German - again, my attitude has changed. I just wish I had more opportunities to practice other languages in England.

The people I have met are all very interesting, I wish I could speak more to them. However, it seems language is not always such a huge barrier as we may think.
One person in particular stands out to me and in 5 minutes I felt like I had made a friend for a life in the potentially kindred spirit of this individual. Despite speaking very little of each others languages, we had a great conversation all night. meeting this person has shattered any feelings of language barriers and insummountable cultural differences I may have.

I love travelling, I love the world. Now I love it even more. It’s insatiable, it’s overwhelming, it’s big. I feel that my small life won’t be long enough to make a difference. It’s mind boggling.

"Can I make a difference in the world? I think now, through Youth4Media, I have more of a reason to try."

Day 3 - Friday 25th Jan

(exploration of meaning and meetings)

Intercult 2008: in short it’s about intercultural awareness - understanding and appreciation of other cultures. Our aim is to explore ways of effectively communicating with the see other cultures through media. Our first meeting on serious business after yesterdays brief introduction was to literally discuss our cultural differences between us. This was highly enlightening. Followed by previous projects and ways we have explored intercommunication in the past.
Following this, we moved on to introduce ourselves, the institutions we represent and what projects we have planned in 2008 with Intercult. This task highlighted our similarities in the types of projects that we do in our own countries. The task was made more dynamic and interesting when we split into groups in order to write down a flipchart presentation of the tasks we have planned so we could discuss the ideas as a group and contribute to each others projects by simply communicating - suggesting improvements or ways of managing them. This was an excellent opportunity to share our varied experiences and approaches to the work we do.
I feel that this is the foundation of Youth4Media and effective communication between institutions that will ensure we are all working from the same page.

Day 4 - Saturday 26th Jan

(technology and communication)

The main focus of today’s talks were to discuss and decide upon the best way of keeping in touch and the best way to communicate what Intercult stands for through a logo.

The group made special efforts to make a contact list so that we all knew how to get hold of each other. Dave joined in a lengthy discussion concerning the evolution of technology and how we can utilise new technologies to our best advantage. With so many participants across many countries and time zones it has always been a huge challenge to stay in touch, however this is becoming easier for us with software such as Skype which many institutions already use and is excellent for keeping costs down as it can be used for free if someone else has a Skype phone.
One thing that I found profound was the general opinion that E-mail was no longer sufficient. Many people considered it clunky and not to good for managing masses of information and keeping in touch. It has been superseded by much more manageable technologies such as Wiki.

A Little About PBwiki: New Communication

pbWiki is something we have just recently discovered. A new technological explorative venture for Youth4Media....Will pbWiki work for us?

The initiative to introduce Wiki (we use “pbWiki“) to the group was taken by Dave Fleming who led a demonstrative discussion with all members of the group. This was excellently recieved and if everybody contributes to the Wiki we should be able to easily arrange almost anything and have all information in one accessible place.

The concept of a Wiki is basically a web authoring tool which is very WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). It’s a concept based on multi authoring which means that anyone who knows the password to the Wiki can contribute to the Wiki.

Wikis could be described as an evolution of the blog and forum which could also be seen as a sister to messenging services. Wiki deviates from Blogs because instead of creating a longer page like this , every time someone posts, you can create new pages for new subject matters.

This will eventually lead to a cross linked spider-web esque set of pages which contain all relevant information that is all interlinked. You can also attached Widgets such as a calendar, or table, a slidewhow, RSS feed, a forum and more.

Wikis are not only just extremely easy to use and accessible but a Wiki can also be an excellent tool to manage a mass of data that in the past would have required downloading software or using multiple software applications.

"The simplest online database that could possibly work"

Ward Cunningham

An example of how useful a Wiki can be and some background on Wiki can be found here, or could be is as follows: If many people who work in different cities, regions or countries want to organise an event, in the past they would most likely have sent out many emails which would have been bounced backwards and forwards many times and the outcome and discussion would no have been common knowledge. This can very easily create confusion and misunderstandings. A Wiki is so much more helpful because it can have all the information in one place, it can be commented on and updated by all. This can eliminate the need for mass emails and so on.

Enough of Wiki

Today was a turning point for me, as it is when I really got to talk to everyone and when we all started relaxing I each others company. I interviewed many attendees and had some excellent responses to questions which will help explain the Youth4Media Network a little more. I embarked on an intercultural editing experience and captured lots of footage and had an excellent time talking about editing and watching some films that had been cut by David from Bennohaus in Munster. He does lots of different things like me and it was excellently to share our film making experiences and confirm that we are definitely in the right business for ourselves an that we work well at a good level. I do feel that I cold learn a few things from David.

I especially like his style of film making which is very clean and calculated. He sets an excellent pace in his editing.
It’s also so good to have a common ground with someone from a different country I have never been to and with someone who I have never met. This proves the power of the workshops and creative projects that we do with young people.

"Engaging in positive creative output is the International language of passion"

Day 5 - Sunday 27th Jan

(loving, leaving and reflections)

Upon leaving Poland I feel quite sad because the team of people who I have spent the last four days with are all, every single one of them, some of the most pleasant, caring and generous people I have ever met. Without a single conflict, our passions have drawn us together, motivated us and bound us as a team.
Although we will be spread across Europe, I know that we have all gained so much from meeting up. There is a lot of hard work ahead, a lot of uncertainty and projects will be living, breathing self initiating and self progressing organisms. To have the opportunity to be involved in such a caring and important network that is exactly in keeping with my beliefs and morals makes me feel very privileged.

I cannot wait to see Youth4Media and Intercult develop and Bloom again. I can’t wait to see the projects progress and I can’t wait to speak and make contact with the young people who will be in involved and to see how they benefit from our initiatives.

I have no idea what lies ahead for me, Dave and our involvement in the Youth4 Media network. I don’t know where it will take us. All I know is that I have found something I care so deeply about and that I want to be a part of in making a difference.

If I was to volunteer for the rest of my life earning just enough money to get by, but participating in such projects across Europe and beyond and actually making a difference to the attitudes of and in communication between the Young European Community, perspectives and outlooks, I will be happy.

Sure commercial Freelance work is tempting and a lot better paid. But could I ever have the passion for that, I don’t know. Would it make me as happy, maybe not. Could I meet such wonderful people, probably not.

I feel that maybe this week has been the start of the rest of my life and for the first time I am seriously questioning the rat race and the pursuit of happiness in wealth, work and life.

"Maybe happiness is everywhere; always right in front of our noses but sometimes we get so wrapped up in our lives that we are blind to it."

Thankyou

|

Thank you very much to Nowy Staw, all who work with Youth4Media (especially everyone I have met in the last week) and to all those people who have helped me out in the past and continue to help me out. 

  I feel very happy and privileged to be involved with this project.

Special super duper Thank you's to Jo Pullar, Mickey Finn and Steve, Dave Fleming, Liz Topi, Simon Collins, Grainne Mchale, Rose Kent, Maggie Williams, Miles Salter, Dean St John, Aesha Zafar and TVYP, Space 109, Cube Media, York City Council, York St John University international office, Keene State College International Office.

Especially thank you to my girlfriend and my Rock, Carolyn Hutchinson for her patience, my family, my friends for all their support, help and encouragement.
Here’s to the future.

I hope that all who see this blog and have an interest in Youth for media enjoy what we have put up on this web page for you.
PLEASE, PLEASE get in touch.

Take Care, thank you for your time

Mike Cooper - Arts Action york

Hi from Dave Fleming

Hi

I'm Dave Fleming - Arts Action Officer for Arts Action York.

'InterCult 2008' is the second Youth4media Network project which Arts Action York will be involved in.

The first project was LYTnet (Local Youth Television Network) in 2005. LYTnet was a 2 - year youth media project involving organisations from Poland, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway and England (Arts Action York).

Young people from York made films which were broadcasted across Europe and had the opportunity to participate in international 'Media Camps' with other young people from the 5 participating countries. The project was brilliant!

Arts Action York are very excited about being involved in InterCult 2008 where this time we'll be collaborating with 12 countries from across Europe! Watch this space...

Some Formal Information

Here's some formal information on the partners of Intercult, as part of Youth4Media:

A Little about Youth4Media...

"European Youth4Media Network"
was founded in April 2005 as a non-governmental, non-profit association.
Members are more than 20 NGO´s worldwide (A none-profit, none Governmental Organisation voluntary citizens' group which is organized on a local, Grassroots level especially in the EU-countries.)
The network continues enlarging. European Youth4Media Network offers a possibility for youngsters to participate actively in their political environment by encouraging their communication and medias kills. The etwork operates both on a local and on an European level. This is a very important step in the direction of an active and European citizenship in the united Europe.

A Little about Arts Action York...

Everyone is creative...

Arts Action York runs projects that develop this creativity to help make positive changes in communities.

We work with groups of all ages, using a range of different art forms, which enable people to express their ideas and concerns in a creative way.

Our aim is to make arts available to everyone regardless of skill or ability. Our priority is to provide opportunities for people who have limited access to participating in the arts.

We work with partners to develop an arts based community programme and we support artists to deliver high quality projects.

Services we offer include:

• project planning and management
• creative consultation
• resources

We provide grants for community arts projects. The next round will be in April and September 2008.

A newsletter is produced by Arts Action giving details of our current and planned projects and activities. You can download a PDF of the latest edition from the right of the linked page above.

Arts Action York is jointly funded by the Arts Council and the City of York Council

Where Youth4Media Fits In...

We intend to develop Youth4Media to be at the forefront of Film, TV, Web Tv, Mobile Content, Web Design and all positive, creative expression through New Media in the City of York. Almost like a baby sister to Arts Action and working with young people specifically to give a voice to us. (Speaking as a Young Person myself).

We aim to provide opportunities locally and in Europe on an international scale working hand in hand with our European partners, the European Voluntary Servie (EVS) and more. Examples of opportunities available can be seen in current and previous projects on Youth4Media.com

A Little about The European Voluntary Service (EVS)...

EVS offers young people the opportunity to volunteer in another country, normally for a period of six to twelve months. A wide variety of placements can be found in the social, cultural, environmental and sports sector. Shorter placements of three weeks to six months are available to young people with fewer opportunities or special needs.

Volunteering trough EVS provides young people with a real-life international learning experience, encouraging social integration, increasing employability and offering opportunities to show solidarity with other people.

Organisations and local communities are strengthened by the experience of European partnerships - exchanging cultural knowledge and good practice, increasing awareness and understanding of international youth work.

A Little about How This All Came To Be (previous projects and news)...

City of York Council News - Lytnet (Local Youth Television Network)
17th August 2005 - read article

Youth4Media.com- Info on Lytnet read article

City of York Council News - Youth4Media: Who Are You?
12th October 2006 - read article

City of York Council News - European Youth Media Project Partners Arrive in York
9th October 2006 - read article