A young girl around 10 years old is writing in her composition book as the teacher instructed. While she is in the midst of her writing a young boy calls out loudly, “Nellie has gorilla arms.” The class laughs and students start to gather. Another student exclaims, “You have more hair than me…and I'm a boy!” “Can I braid it!?” Someone yells. Can girls not have arm hair? Nellie thinks to herself. From that day forward young Nellie wore a sky blue, long sleeve jacket everyday until she entered middle school and everyone had forgotten about the incident. You may have guessed this but young Nellie was me.
Read MoreThis past fall semester, our Actor’s Workshop and Video cohorts joined forces to recreate a scene from a well-known movie. For this classic film school assignment, students selected movie scenes and voted on their favorites. Racism, tragedy (sports injury), intra-racial prejudice, and gun violence were all topics covered in the scenes initially viewed. Video students wrote reflections and shared them in class after they watched each scene as a group.
Read MoreZakiya Muhammad - they/them - has a background in media production and creative writing. After graduating from the illustrious Howard University Zakiya began working alongside nonprofit organizations to provide resources and mentorship to support young storytellers. Zakiya is now focused on creating opportunities that will encourage the diversity of the media field by working with young storytellers of marginalized communities throughout their career journeys, and providing safe environments and community spaces for young storytellers to comfortably explore their creativity.
Read MoreThis fall, we’re highlighting our Community Voices programming, a wide range of fee-for-service workshops, trainings, and media-arts centered professional development sessions. The Black Joy Photography workshop was developed in spring 2022 and illustrates how media education can impact both students and educators.
Read MoreThe National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) is a nationwide celebration that highlights the accomplishments and importance of apprenticeship programs that work to rebuild our economy, improve racial and gender equity, and assist underserved areas. NAW is a chance to draw attention to how apprenticeship programs across the country serve as a vital talent pipeline that can help to address some of our country's most urgent workforce challenges, such as rebuilding our country's infrastructure by tackling diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Read MoreGerald Pittman - he/him pronouns - is a former Wide Angle Penn North Library and high school student. He has served 13 years in the armed forces. He is currently at Fort Campbell Army Base in Kentucky and living in Tennessee. Gerald also has a passion for writing and is working on a fantasy novel.
Read MoreMediaWorks is Wide Angle's summer youth workforce development program, in partnership with Baltimore City’s YouthWorks, which provides paid media education experiences. This year I had the opportunity to be one of 57 MediaWorks interns.
This summer Wide Angle students chose to focus on the theme of Stigma and Stereotypes in the Media. They analyzed contemporary media, discussed how representations reflect our community, and addressed pervasive and incorrect narratives.
Read MoreWhere can creative dreamers unify and be inspired by their favorite trailblazers? The HOORAE Takeover at the Kennedy Center by Issa Rae’s HOORAE Events and RAEDIO did just that. It was the perfect opportunity for upcoming artists to reflect on their journeys, find their community, and learn how to collaborate with their fellow creatives.
Read MoreBecky Slogeris -she/her pronouns- is a human-centered designer and educator working to advance equity and social justice through design. She was a wonderful staff member and teacher at Wide Angle for 10 years. We had a final chat about her time with Wide Angle and her next steps as she transitioned into her next journey as a Presidential Innovation Fellow.
Read MoreDid you know that there is an African American Flag? Well I didn’t either until performing in the show 20|02 written by Chloe and Kaylah Harvey, two sisters from Baltimore, Maryland. Chloe is an alumni of Towson University while Kaylah will be entering her junior year next semester. When asked to describe the show Chloe responded, “20|02 is about two sisters who discover their father’s legacy. It's kind of like a coming of age tale about us and our personal story of learning our family legacy and the amazing work our parents did for the African American community in the 90s.”
Read MoreDarian Jones - he/him pronouns - is a Baltimore-born and raised filmmaker, currently pursuing his B.A. at the University of Baltimore in Digital Communication, with a focus in Media Design and Production. His passion for teaching youth is fueled by his desire to make a difference in their lives. As a graduate of the state official Arts2Work apprenticeship for Multimedia Production, he’s now a Journeyworker interested in documenting unique and authentic perspectives. Filmmaking allows him to combine his love of storytelling and history. “I compare filmmaking to being a chef, I’m dealing with raw ingredients that I have to season, cook, and plate for audiences to digest.”
Read MoreNow that there’s a vaccine available for COVID-19, the trick has been convincing people to take it. From nanomachines to COVID itself, people have speculated about what the vaccine is and whether it will actually work.
In fall 2021, Wide Angle Design Apprentices collaborated with organizations across the city to promote COVID-19 vaccination amongst youth. Alongside OSI-Baltimore and Baltimore City Health Department’s “It’s Baltimore Versus COVID” campaign, we, the Design Apprentices at Wide Angle Youth Media, helped to design social media posts and print material to inform students and their families about what the vaccine does and why they should take it.
Read MoreAt Wide Angle, our staff focuses on creating opportunities for students to tell their stories. We often discuss what media we view that represents authentic and important youth perspectives and experiences. We also talk about the importance of representation of BIPOC, trans and other historically marginalized storytellers behind and in front of the camera. I'm shining the spotlight on Euphoria, an HBO series, because it presents the very real experiences of today's American youth in an exaggerated and dramatic image that tugs at the viewers and their emotions.
Read MoreIf you follow Wide Angle Youth Media’s blog, you might have seen our recent spotlight on Middle School students in our Baltimore Speaks Out (BSO) program. While reading the personal stories of Peymaan, Natalie and Sue, you might have reflected on your own formative middle school experiences.
I recall my own middle school years as a significantly impactful time of forming identity and belonging. As a 6th grader, my family relocated from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Birmingham, Alabama. As many middle schoolers do, I navigated this time with a heightened awareness of ways I was different, and ways I could try to fit in.
Read MoreNot too long ago, the current design apprentices and myself were assigned a task, aptly titled ‘Where Are the Black Designers?’ Our goal was to research a Black designer and do a 10 minute presentation on them. It was a project that was two parts inspiration and two parts intersectionality; it was beyond empowering to see designers that look and identify themselves the way that I do.
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This fall, we’re shining a spotlight on our younger students through our First Exposure campaign to support 72 middle school students in our Baltimore Speaks Out (BSO) program. In this blog post, we’re hitting rewind with three staff members to learn how they discovered media in middle school and where it’s taken them.
Get to know Susan Malone (Executive Director) and our two newest program staff, Peymaan Motevalli-Aliabadi (Administrative & Operations Manager) and Natalie Thomas (BSO Assistant Media Instructor) as they take a walk down memory lane.
Read MoreCharday Hall - she/her pronouns - is a Wide Angle Board member, Parent Representative, and former Wide Angle participant, teacher and staff member. She has been an advocate for Baltimore's youth for more than nineteen years. She brings more than twenty years of non-profit experience as an Event Coordinator, Public Speaker, Grant Writer, and Media Instructor. She is a Healthcare Provider for Johns Hopkins Hospital, Entrepreneur, and Mother to one amazing son.
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Hello! We hope you learned a little about us interns from our social media intern introductory post. We’re excited to share various topics and happenings with you while remaining fun and engaging. Our main goal is to inspire young people to do what they enjoy and to share their thoughts freely without judgement and fear.
This past month we have been hard at work creating content for some of October’s holidays and important events. These included Indigenous Peoples’ Day, National Coming Out Day, and the National Workers Strike. Read on to learn about our process creating these posts.
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With covid-19 among us and classes becoming virtual, students find themselves trapped at home causing them to lose access to school meals. Some are afraid to admit it, but there are students who rely on school breakfast and lunch to have enough to eat everyday. I myself was one of those students. Alongside Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) we created something that would destigmatize and increase participation and flexibility for school meal operations. Wide Angle’s Design Apprentice team partnered with BCPS to design a logo, vehicle wrap, and social media advertising for a food truck. My job specifically was to design their logo. I began on paper taking the name ideas we had and basing the designs around them.
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Not a lot of people are aware of what Black August is and why we celebrate it. If you’re one of those people allow us to introduce you. Black August originated in the California penal system to honor fallen Freedom Fighters, who we now know as the San Quentin Six, who were accused of participating in an August 21, 1971 escape attempt that left six people dead, including George Jackson, a co-founder of the Black Guerrilla Family.
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