Jammin' at ROOTS in Community Conference

WYM Media Training at ROOTS in Community Conferenc

ROOTS in Community @ Cafe Mawonaj

DC based Alternate ROOTS sponsored a community conference, ROOTS in Community, last Sunday at Café Mawonaj. The mission of Alternate ROOTS is to support the creation and presentation of original art, which is rooted in a particular community or place, tradition or spirit. ROOTS is committed to social and economic justice and the protection of the natural world and addresses these concerns through its programs and services.

Worldyouth Media members and mentors requested to conduct an arts-activism, visibility, and media workshop at the conference. We asked to lead the first workshop so that the participants themselves would be able to document the all day event full of information, workshops, performances, music, and art. The training was a huge success. About twenty youth and adults learned to use a mini-disc recorder, the definition of audio clips, and good sound for radio.

Sheila Mirza, WYM organizer, Ingrid Drake and Douglas Calvin, WYM mentors, supported participants all day to document the workshops at the event. Workshops included: Song workshop lead by Luci Murphy & Wendy O’Neil, Theater of the Oppressed workshop lead by Adrienne Clancy & Ann Kilkelly, Poetry Rhythm and Spoken Word workshop lead by DC Guerilla Poetry Insurgency, amongst others. Later, participants conducted interviews with their peers on how the event is going, how it has helped them to be a part of it, and what skills and knowledge they’ve acquired from the workshops.

The day ended with an amazing community performance attended by about one-hundred community members from DC.

YO!-TV & Worldyouth Media in New York City

YLSN youth organizer Sheila Mirza went to New York City to be interviewed by YO! TV (Youth Organizers TV) participants. YO! TV is a program of Educational Video Center (EVC). EVC works primarily with at-risk teenagers in New York City Schools. They provide youth with equipment and guidance to create documentaries about community issues. Participants learn to use video as a powerful technology to document conditions and research issues in their neighborhoods. They earn school credit for their time. YO-TV is for kids who are out of high school. It is designed to help graduates bridge the gap from high school to college and to find work in the field of media and technology.

YO-TV’s forthcoming video focuses on immigration issues. It shows pro-immigrant and anti-immigrant perspectives. It profiles specific stories of immigrants and interviews with anti-immigrant groups like FAIR, Federation for American Immigration Reform that is funded by white supremacists and Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, another group that includes white supremacists in their ranks. Sheila Mirza was called on to share her story as an immigrant youth growing up in the United States and becoming a youth organizer in such anti-immigrant times.

The dedication of youth involved in YO-TV was an amazing sight. On Friday, Sheila spent about three hours with YO-TV talking about their involvement in the community, watching past videos they have produced, learning about participants’ experiences and interviewing Sheila. On Saturday, the next morning, three members of YO-TV met Sheila at 5:30am carrying a video camera, sound equipment, and a very large boom-mic. They wanted footage of Sheila reading poetry on her favorite rooftop with the backdrop of the New York City skyline during sunrise. Later, the interview continued with a profile of YLSN’s “Stop Hate, Inspire Neighborhly Engagement” (SHINE) program that researches and promotes public awareness about hate groups.

Sheila will return to YO! TV in June to help with their editing process. YO-TV members are planning to visit DC to participate in the Great Labor Arts Exchange which occurs June 19th-21st.

For More info on YO-TV, please visit www.evc.org