Regent Park Focus

Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Center Report Of the Community Internet Web TV Project (October 28, 2007)

Background

Created in 1989 Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Centre is a not-for-profit organization motivated by the belief that information and media technology plays a vital role in building and sustaining healthy communities. Regent Park Focus provides a community-based facility for media production. In this supportive and dynamic space, youth work together as a community to create resources that promote health to other young people, learn new skills, feel a sense of belonging and engagement, and produce new works of art.

In July 2006 Regent Park Focus Youth Media Arts Center received $12,618.00 from The Funding Network-Toronto, $29,340.00 from the Department of Canadian Heritage and 12,000.00 from Toronto Community Housing to develop an Internet television broadcast studio program in the Regent Park community. The aim of the program was to engage young people aged 14 to 29 in creating real-time and archive video Internet broadcast productions about their neighborhood. The program would teach young people a range of skills in digital video production and new media technologies as well as be a community resource that would be used to document and communicate information relevant to community. The following is a report of activities. Please note that although the TFN-TO funding was received in July 2006, the period covered by this report begins March 1, 2006 and ends September 2007.

Major Accomplishments

Regent Park Focus Community Web TV Project provided 140 young people between the ages of 9 to 16 years with fun, engaging summer and after-school activities.

Regent Park Focus Community Web TV Project provided 140 youth with skills in video and new media production. These youth also learn skills in media literacy, communications, teamwork, leadership, project management and problem-solving.

In addition to above Regent Park Focus Community Web TV Project provided twelve older out-of-school/out-of-work youth with 16 weeks of employment.

Regent Park Focus Community Web TV Project provided 140 youth with a forum to creatively express themselves on issues that they are concern about.

Regent Park Focus Community Web TV Project produced over 40 videos on issues identified by young people.

Regent Park Focus Community Web TV Project developed a dedicated website, known as Regent Park TV (www.regentpark.tv), to archive, host and stream videos that reflect the concerns and interests of the community.
Regent Park Focus Community Web TV Project, known as Regent Park TV (www.regentpark.tv), received 21,980 hits from November 14, 2006 (website launch) to October 28, 2007.

As of October 28th 2007 Regent Park TV Videos uploaded to Youtube received over 108,179 viewings.

Shooting for Change, a documentary about Regent Park Focus is filmed and released on OMI TV.

Regent Park Focus was profiled by 8 different media outlets.

Description of Project Activities

Over the 18-month period of this report Regent Park Focus conducted the following activities.

In March Regent Park Focus started a weekly new media training program for both staff and volunteers interested in the exploration of Internet based tools for self expression and sharing work with others. The Main Topics of the course included: Blogging, Podcasting, Streaming Video, Preparing media files for the Internet Hosting media files on the Internet and Writing for the Web. The six-week course took place every Monday evening and was taught by two web consultants Rein Paterson and Mark Greenspan using funds allocated by Canadian Heritage.

From mid April 2006 to June 28, 2006 implemented an after-school media literacy and new media production program engaging 15 youth in the Regent Park and surrounding community. Youth were trained how to use a camera to produce internet broadcast videos. Six videos are produced during months of April/May 2006. Emmanuel Kedini and Tyrone Maclean Wilson were contracted to digitize and upload material to you tube and Google in preparation for the development of a website.

In late April web consultants Rein Petersen and Mark Greenspan began consultations with youth involved in Regent Park Focus for development of a web site that can host and archive the music and video broadcasts produced by young people involved in the program. The consultants met weekly with youth involved in the Regent Park Focus program to plan development of the web site.

In June 2006 Regent Park Focus in anticipation of funding support from The Funding Network-Toronto purchased 3 video cameras to support the internet broadcast program. The equipment arrived in time to engage 55 students from 3 different schools (City View Alternative, Riverdale Collegiate and Don Mills Collegiate) in the creation of internet broadcast segments. In total 9 internet video broadcasts are produced in the month of June 2006.

A press release about the internet broadcast program and development of the website was featured in the May/June 2006 issue of Catch da Flava newspaper.

In late June Regent Park Focus suffered the first major setback of the project. The two web consultants involved in mentoring youth in new media announced that they can no longer be involved due to other personal and professional commitments that will take them out of the country. At the same time, Vingh Duong, the Regent Park Focus web designer who had been taking a lead on the web site development, announced his resignation. Vingh had recently graduated from Centennial College with a computer networking degree and decided to look for new employment opportunities.

In June Regent Park Focus received additional support from Community Investment in Drug prevention towards the planning and implementation of a summer program focusing on photography, video and music productions. These funds enabled Regent Park Focus to hire summer youth staff and art instructors.

In late June, Regent Park Focus posted for the position of a youth web site designer. Responsibilities of the position included maintenance of servers and computers in the computer access internet lab, teaching youth web 2.0, digitizing and preparing material for the web, and continuing the development of the web site.

In July 4, 2006 implemented a full day summer media literacy and new media production program engaging 30 youth from the Regent Park and surrounding community. Herek Sidkar, a 19-year old youth attending computer programming at University of Toronto was hired for the web design position. Over the nine-week time-span youth learned a whole range of skills in music recording, photography and video production. Youth also produced 10 videos, 1 music cd containing 29 tracks and a digital photography slideshow. All the resources produced during the summer were intended to be featured on the new website.

In September 2006, with support from The Funding Network-Toronto, a decision was made to purchase a G5 video editing suite and to develop a separate website devoted to video broadcasting. The web site would later be named Regent Park TV.

In October 2006, by mutual agreement Herek Sidkar’s employment with Regent Park Focus was terminated.

In October Tyrone Maclean-Wilson, a current part-time youth staff member of Regent Park Focus with a working knowledge of HTML, was contracted to digitize material and to work with remaining staff to design and develop the web TV website. Once allocated funds from Canadian Heritage arrived, Regent Park Focus would hire a consultant to continue the development of a website that would integrate video, music and podcasting.

On November 7th Regent Park Focus opened the 4th Annual Regent Park Film Festival with a two-hour screening of youth produced films produced for Regent Park TV, the latest initiative of Regent Park Focus. The films were written, acted, filmed and produced by youth trained at Regent Park Focus over the past year. Most of the works that were presented were produced by youth in the 2006 summer program. The remaining videos that were screened were produced over the school year working in partnership with schools and community groups. The youths’ work was well received by the standing room only attendance of approximately 250 people. Immediately following the screening of the films, the audience participated in a question and answer session with the film makers.

The Regent Park Focus video program was featured in the November 2006 Issue of Fuse Magazine. The profile comprised of short summaries of the productions that were carried out during the summer. The summaries were all written by youth program facilitators.

RPTV is an internet version of a community television station for the neighbourhood. The website is located at www.regentpark.tv. The official public launch of Regent Park TV (RPTV) website was held on November 14 in partnership with the release of the November issue of FUSE Magazine. The launch was held at the Cinecycle, located in the Richmond Queen Street area. As part of the launch Regent Park Focus presented a screening of youth produced videos made for RPTV (similar program to the Regent Park Film Festival screening). The screening was attended by a Queen Street audience numbering over 100 people. A group of Regent Park youth film makers were on hand to take questions from the audience. The aim of RPTV is to engage young people in producing video programs about their community and the issues that concern them.

In December 2006 Regent Park Focus continued implementation of a weekly internet video broadcast for youth who were interested producing RPTV shows. Completed video segments are immediately uploaded to the internet. There is a core group of 15 youth who are involved. In December 2006 Regent Park Focus resumed the winter session of the after-school media literacy and new media production program.
In Sync Films, an independent Toronto film production company, is currently in production of a documentary about the Regent Park Focus and the youth involved in Regent Park TV. In Sync films has already conducted numerous interviews with participants and parents of program and has covered a number of Regent Park screening events. The film is scheduled for release on Bravo TV sometime in the new year and at the Reel World Festival in mid April 2007.

In January 2007, Regent Park Focus implemented a video project in St. Jamestown at the Wellesley Community Centre in partnership with the City of Toronto Forestry, Parks and Recreation. The program resumed in February. The10-week program consisted of weekly 2-hour sessions. 13 young women between the ages of 14 – 24 years participated in the program. The youth produced a video script about peer pressure. The video is scheduled to be produced next year.

In February 2007 Regent Park Focus resumed the implementation and production of a weekly internet video broadcast engaging youth from the ages of 12 to 15 years. During this reporting period youth involved in the project produced 3 videos: The Myths about Nelson Mandala School, The Peace Tree and The South African Visit to Nelson Mandala. See below for a description of these videos. The videos can also be viewed at www.regentpark.tv. Completed video segments are immediately uploaded to the internet. There is a core group of 15 youth who are involved. Emmanuel Kedini and Tyrone Maclean Wilson were contracted to digitize and upload material to you tube and Google in preparation for the development of a website.

In February Regent Park Focus implemented an employment stream of the project for out of school/out of work youth in partnership with O’Connor YMCA. The first session of the project consisted of 21 hours of weekly media literacy and new media training. Six youth between the ages of 19 to 24 years residing in Toronto Community Housing participated in the project. Over the course of 16 weeks the youth learned a variety of skills in new media and assisted children in the after school stream productions. These youth also produced Black Male Initiative Program, TTC detour and For the Love of Art. See below for a description of these programs. The videos can also be viewed at www.regentpark.tv. The first session of the employment stream ended in April. Four of the six youth completed the program (one dropped out for personal reasons and one found a full time job). Youth involved rated the program highly. A project coordinator, Steve Blair, is hired to assist in facilitating the program.

On February 16th, one RPTV video (The Hijab) was selected for screening at the Mpenzi Black Women Film Festival and received press in the Metro and Now Magazine.

In March Regent Park Focus hosted 4 students from CityView Alternative School and worked with them over a week period to produce a video on Skate Boarding (still in the process of editing) and School Shootings (see below for a description of the video. It can also be viewed at www.regentpark.tv.).

In April 2007 web consultant Kelvin Mahadao led a 2 day overnight media training retreat with youth and staff involved in the project. The retreat was held at the Stanton Hotel in Hamilton. Equipment support (lap tops and projectors) for the training was rented. Youth who attended gave input in the design and development of the catch da flava website which is in final stage of construction and learned new skills in pod casting.

To coincide with the release and screening of an upcoming documentary about Regent Park Focus, the Catch da Flava website went public in April. The website is integrates 13 tracks of music from youth involved in our music studio program, 6 previous PDF issues of Catch da Flava Youth magazine (March/April 2006, May/June 2006, Sept/Oct 2006, Jan/Feb 2007, May/June 2007), graphic design redevelopment posters (see January activities), past and present Catch da Flava radio shows, a photo gallery of digital and black & white photography taken by youth in the photography program. The website also features a live eye where members of the public can view activities in the centre, a blog written by youth staff members and participants and a moderated forum. Lastly the website is also linked to the Regent Park TV website also sponsored by the Gateway and The Funding Network-Toronto. Regent Park TV features all the videos that are produced through the project. Although there was no official release party, the Catch da Flava and Regent Park TV websites was widely promoted and marketed as part of the upcoming documentary screening of Shooting for Change. Regent Park Focus hopes to have a public release of the new Catch da Flava website in the near future.

On April 14th 2007 Regent Park Focus staff and participants attended the release of Shooting for Change. The documentary premiered at the Reel World Film Festival. In the documentary Shooting for Change filmmaker Lalita Krishna captures the world of Toronto’s Regent Park in a way the local news stations that gripe about the area’s crime and violence simply can’t. Shooting for Change captures the work of community leader, Adonis, who runs a program called Focus. Focus is a unique project that uses film and the power of media to help at risk youth redefine themselves and their place in the world. Krishna has a unique gift of mixing education and social awareness in all of her documentary work, and this film is no exception. With a deft touch, she pulls out stories that not only need to be told but in some cases need to be treated with the utmost sensitivity. The documentary was also aired on Omni Television.

In May Regent Park Focus began the second session of the employment stream. Six out of school/out of work youth living in Toronto Community Housing participated in the project. The second session consisted of 21 hours of weekly media literacy and new media training. Six youth between the ages of 19 to 24 years residing in Toronto Community Housing participated in the project. Over the course of 16 weeks the youth learned a variety of skills in new media and assisted children in the after school stream productions. The session ended in late July. These youth produced two video public service announcements and two videos, Regent Park Grounds for Art and the Cabbagetown Restaurant (See below for a description of the video. The videos can also be found on www.regentpark.tv). Once again participants rated the program highly (See attached evaluation findings).

On May 11th, the Regent Park Focus was invited to the downtown Hamilton library to showcase a screening of videos produced by Regent Park youth. The screening was part of an event sponsored by Arts Hamilton called, Tackling Poverty through the Arts. The event was inspired by a book called "Looking for X" about a young girl living in a single parent family in Regent Park. Similar to the book, the purpose of screening Regent Park youth films was to provide a forum where young people can express their feelings about their lives and challenge negative sterotypes that people have about low-income communities. Regent Park Focus aired an hour of RPTV episodes about the community and the issues that young people are concerned about. Following the screening a Q and A was held and members of the audience asked a variety of questions about the topics and issues that were featured in the films. One retired teacher in the audience formerly taught at Lord Dufferin School and had nothing but good things to say about her experiences in Regent Park. Everyone seemed to enjoy the screening and because there were many unfilled seats - Regent Park Focus was invited back by the organizers to do a repeat screen

In May 19thThe Hijab, a RPTV video produced by a group of young women this past summer, aired on a CBC program called The Outlet. The Outlet is a children’s program that comes on every Saturday morning. As part of the program they regularly feature short videos made by youth all across Canada. On May 26, June 2nd and June 9th the Outlet aired RPTV’s Adventures of Bikeman series. The participants enjoyed seeing their videos on TV.

During the month of June staff prepared for summer program activities.

In July Regent Park Focus was profiled in Sway Magazine (Summer 2007 edition Pg. 60 Regent Park Renaissance by Kristine Maitland).

In July 4, 2007 Regent Park Focus began implementing a summer Internet broadcast and new media program engaging 30 youth from the Regent Park and surrounding community. During the months of July and August the youth, ranging in ages from 11 to 19 years, attended the daily full-day program. They learned a range of skills in new media and video production and worked in teams to produce RPTV shows designed for broadcast on the internet. During the months of August and September, completed 11 video broadcast projects with 30 youth from the Regent Park area involved in the 2006 summer media literacy and new media production program. The videos will be screened at the Regent Park Film Festival on November 7, 2007.