Last week, KQED co-presented a workshop at the Digital Media and Learning Conference here in San Francisco about the youth media network that we recently initiated. BAYMN (Bay Area Youth Media Network, pronounced BAM!) is comprised of over 16 organizations with the common goal of working with youth in media production to build civic engagement. The founding organizations, KQED, San Francisco Film Society (SFFS), Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC), TILT at Ninth Street Independent Film Center, and the California Academy of Sciences gave a brief overview of the collaborative work of our organizations and an explanation of our process, mission, goals, and outcomes.
BAYMN Mission:
The Bay Area Youth Media Network is a consortium of nonprofit organizations that believe in the power of media (film, music, radio, photography, web and technology) as a means to engage youth voice, self-expression and empowerment and to inspire social change. As like-minded organizations in the youth media field, we are able to tap into the rich potential of our collective resources and our expertise as educators working to define an alternative, media-based education for youth.
BAYMN Goals:
- Identify, create and support a regional Youth Advisory Board
- Create an online platform that showcases vested media organizations, resources and youth produced work
- Present an annual youth media festival with live, online and broadcast components
The workshop then switched gears as we turned the focus over to participants who were asked to form into groups and work through the challenge of developing citywide, media-based collaborations of their own, with the goal of creating connected learning opportunities that are both relevant and valuable to the end users: youth.
