Young Detroiters, thanks to the Y Arts program, are building their skills in filmmaking.
Excerpt:
The program, started by Gillian Eaton, vice president for arts and humanities at the YMCA Metro Detroit, is just over two years old. But already it has migrated into the River Rouge School District and has caught the attention of the state's Film Office, which sees potential in teaching middle schoolers and high schoolers high-tech skills they can later turn into careers.
"Kids have an automatic and genetic understanding of media in a way that I don't," Eaton says. "They're way ahead of us. ... Career guidance counselors are 20 years behind the times. They're not telling these kids that things they do naturally are potential job opportunities."
The program, housed in the Y Arts division of the Boll Family YMCA in downtown Detroit, has ambitious goals. It not only educates kids aged 12 - 16 the ins and outs of filmmaking, graphic design, photography and other art forms; but puts them face-to-face with business clients. The students, like creative groups everywhere, must pitch and win over clients including the U.S. Census Bureau and area environmental nonprofits, and ultimately deliver a commercial-grade short-film or public service announcement
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