Multimedia
Blogs
Forum
Affordable HD
Whitepapers
Newsletters
Events
Advertisers
DCP Directory
MillimeterDream Job: At the Crossroads
Aug 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Kristinha M. Anding
Culture and community drive teen media program.
Teens at the Cambridge, Mass.-based Community Art Center explore issues of importance to themselves and their community using the center’s cameras and editing suites.
As an Indian-born American, Sejal Patel has found the intersection of culture, community, and identity to be at the forefront of her life and artistic interests. As the teen media program director for the 75-year-old Cambridge, Mass.-based Community Art Center, the photographer and video artist encourages young people to explore this issue for themselves through media.
The center works primarily with youth from Cambridge's Area IV neighborhood, a low-income region with a large Haitian and Creole population. The area, Patel says, forms a sharp contrast with Cambridge's wealthier communities.
“I was born in India and moved to New Jersey when I was eight years old, so I've dealt with my own sort of place where I was segregated and felt a bit of racism,” Patel says. “I grew up learning about other cultures, and I want that conversation to happen here. I try to facilitate that kind of dialogue.”
Media equipment — such as the program's Sony DSR-PD150 and DCR-HC26 cameras, Canon Optura 20 cameras, and editing suites — are the tools the teens use to explore issues of importance to themselves and their community. Central to the initiative is the 12-year-old Do It Your Damn Self!! film festival, the title of which Patel says speaks directly to the heart of the teen media program. “They are responsible for what they put on and how they communicate and interact with the media,” she says.
Patel says recent projects have included an in-progress documentary chronicling the effects of Hurricane Katrina on Louisiana's artist population and a piece portraying heroes from African-American history. “We encourage them to think about what it means to make the right choices and think about professional development and their futures,” she says.
The program is on the verge of major technological advancements — including the acquisition of Apple computers and Adobe software — with a large government grant paving the way for both the regular media courses and Genuine Productions, an initiative that allows participating teens to earn money working on productions for local community groups, fairs, and festivals.
“We're looking forward to a great fall program; we'll have a whole new lab,” Patel says. “I'm trying to reach out to the families and let the community know what we can do. There are a lot of positive future happenings.”
For more information, visit www.communityartcenter.org or www.patelsejal.com.
