Next Youth Voices Initiative Meeting - Feb. 8.

Mark your calendars, from 8:30 am - 1 pm on Feb. 8. Location TBA.

Seen & Heard National Student Expression Contest: You AND Your Student Can Win $500!

The MTF Freedom Museum is now accepting entries for a Seen & Heard: Student Free Speech 2008, a high school free speech contest. The competition seeks entries that address issues concerning contemporary First Amendment toipcs in four media: editorial cartoons, photojournalism, film and web design. Winners will have their work displayed in the Museum in Spring 2008 and the first place winner in each category and his/her adviser or teacher EACH receive $500. The deadline is Feb. 15, 2008 - read the guidelines and receive more info here: http://www.freedommuseum.us/seenandheard/

Listening Across Borders

We all know that young people are the so-called "early adopters" of new technologies, but the question remains in student media circles about how to best harness these innovations to enhance youth communication efforts. The answer also might shed some light on how to attract bright young people in the professional news media. A recent MTF-funded project tackled the issue head-on with YouthLAB, an intense two-week summer program that gathered 20 teens from Barbados and Chicago "together in a virtual space to create global exchange using peer-to-peer networks and other tools of participatory media." The project hatched dozens of youth-produced videos, Skype chats and mash-ups.You can read all about the project and lessons learned for the youth media field in a new Youth Media Reporter piece by Open Youth Networks director Mindy Faber (http://www.youthmediareporter.org/2007/11/listening_across_borders_creat.html). Better yet, you can check-out the teens work yourself at the Youth Lab Web site (http://youthlab.net/).

Interested in youth media? You can sign up for a free subcription to Youth Media Reporter on its site, http://www.youthmediareporter.org/.

Congratulations to Irene Tostado of RadioArte!

Irene Tostado of Radio Arte has been named Youth Media Professional of the Month by YM Reporter. Kudos! See the piece on her here. Couple highlights:
+ Irene has a degree in Communications, Spanish and Sociology from Loyola University. While at Loyola’s Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL) she coordinated an evaluation project involving the Native American community in the Uptown neighborhood, the Native American Health Center and Mayor Daley’s Domestic Violence HELP Hotline.
+ Irene became involved in immigration advocacy (after an encounter between immigration officials and her family) and works to raise awareness among Latinos about changing legislation affecting immigrants.
+ Irene is the Training Program Director for Radio Arte 90.5fm and produces two ‘live’ radio programs – “Without Borders” for Radio Arte and “Stereotipo” for La Kalle 103.1 and 93.5fm. She also writes for “Extra Newspaper” and “La Raza.”

Sounds like a well-deserved honor!

YCA at the Freedom Musem...

Young Chicago Authors poets visited the Freedom Museum recently for a tour and performance

Opening Statement for Youth Media Chicago

This Blog is for leaders of Chicago's Youth Media community. The windy city has a startling array of groups pushing the envelop in their work with young people + media production - creating radio pieces, video documentaries, web sites, blogs, spoken word performances, etc. This is our virtual meeting place.