Arts Learning
ACHF Arts Education
Media Arts Apprenticeship Program is a 10-week summer program that will select four young artist-apprentices, between the ages of 15 and 21, to work directly with experienced media artists of color on media arts and service learning projects. Media Arts Apprenticeship Program offers young media artists’ valuable professional development activities through interacting with creative professionals of color, participating in increasingly challenging project assignments, and providing stipends for completed projects and the apprenticeship, which will build young artists’ artistic and professional skills and demonstrate the possibility of a arts as a viable career path. Media Arts Apprenticeship Program’s artistic goals are for young artists of color to develop a greater understanding of media arts as a career through practicing their proficiency in the craft in a professional setting of a documentary film production, increasing artistic quality and professional expectations, and comprehending more deeply the real-life application of arts techniques. The program and participants will be evaluated structured program quality assessment activities and processes such as surveys, interviews, monitoring, and other evaluation tools results of the evaluation will be used to make program adjustments, ensure proper implementation, and establish long-term program sustainability. We intent to share our results, outcomes and products with the community, funders, and the public to bring greater visibility to all involved in Media Arts Apprenticeship Program. The Media Arts Apprenticeship Program leaders and the advisory committee will regularly measure the impact of the program to ensure that the participants are getting the previously outlined artistic/educational benefits. We will measure the success of the Young Artist-apprentices, Program, Media Creations, and Community.
Media Arts Apprenticeship Program 2016 focused on engaging the Hmong community. The Hmong are a distinct ethnic group with ancient roots in China, and began coming to Minnesota in 1975 as refugees from the destructive wars that had ravaged their homelands in Laos. Today, there are more than 66,000 Hmong in Minnesota, and the Twin Cities metro is home to the largest concentration of Hmong in America. Tragically, about one-third of Hmong Minnesotans live in poverty. For these reasons, more positive professional development activities such as Media Arts Apprenticeship Program are needed in the community. Media Arts Apprenticeship Program participants were young Hmong artists of color from low-income families with a strong interest in media arts (video, audio, etc.) or new media (Youtube, Instagram, etc.), and curious about exploring the arts as a profession, and were select for interest in the program and their cultural and linguistic understanding of the subject matter. Media Arts Apprenticeship Program was designed to engage young low-income emerging artists of color by providing apprenticeship opportunities, stipends, and a professional arts experience they otherwise may not have. Sharing the talents of creative professionals of color, while developing the capacity of emerging artists of color, helped to create and sustain art that speaks to and come from diverse communities. We also helped to create an understanding and cultural bridge for mainstream Minnesotans and others to better relate to the increasingly multicultural world around them. Media Arts Apprenticeship Program leaders and artists are diverse community members with extensive experience serving communities of color in Minnesota. We make it a point to employ artists of color from similar backgrounds as the young artists we serve. Also, the focus of Media Arts Apprenticeship Program was to provide aspiring media and new media artists of color professional development experiences, to address employment, educational, and other deficiencies. Moreover, the projects that the participants assisted in creating helped to shed light on the plight of the Hmong community as refugees in Minnesota. Lastly, through Media Arts Apprenticeship Program’s artist leadership development activities, young artists collected stories and input from Hmong community members and other stakeholders about relevant community issues, which was produced into media to be shared with the community, public and decision-makers. Media Arts Apprenticeship Program has been designed to eliminate most barriers to participation and be accessible to those who wish to get involved. We offered Media Arts Apprenticeship Program for free to participants since the program serves economically disadvantaged young artists of color. These benefits were announced to our partners and others when promoting the program. Furthermore, Media Arts Apprenticeship Program participants were paid stipends for completing media arts projects. We also provided access to media equipment, training, and mentorships, which are valuable resources for disadvantaged community members. When necessary, we also provided transportation assistance since we recognize this to be a significant barrier to participation for youths of color. Youth apprentices trained in professional media arts techniques, were assigned project related tasks, and worked with professional media artists on a high-quality media project.
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