We’ve been having an amazing summer at BIG, and it’s not over yet!
Our summer youth program was our largest in recent history. Thanks to a grant from Brookline Community Foundation and donations from folks like YOU, we employed over 30 youth journalists, storytellers, actors, editors, and filmmakers. It has been a great pleasure to hear the vibrant voices of our young people echoing out of our studios. Maybe you’ve seen them filming around town!
BIG has two core missions, Civic Engagement and Community Storytelling. Our teen job programs straddle both of these areas. This summer the Media Apprentice Program cohorts, where teens are paid to work directly with Brookline businesses and nonprofit clients to create PSAs, are working on profiles of Thrifty Threads and Counter Intuitive Records. This year we decided to add profiles of important Brookline residents to the production calendar, so one teen cohort is profiling former Select Board Member Michael Sandman. Last year this same program created fantastic profiles of Knight Moves and Puppet Showplace Theater.
Our newest summer program is Cinema Production, where teens write, direct, cast and produce their own short film.
Through these job programs, teens are cultivating self-expression AND learning skills like accountability, writing, collaboration, confidence, communication, and project management. Not to mention the complex technical skills required.
This year we also introduced several new classes for all ages, including Reel to Real, a workshop that helps teens, college interns, and adults create reels to showcase their work for college applications, job opportunities, or film festivals.
Through our programs, we’re building a better Brookline by forging strong connections between teens and local businesses, youth cohorts, and Town leadership. We start our programming in middle school (we offered middle school programs this summer too!) so we are also creating opportunities for long-term organizational relationships and inter-generational collaborations. We encourage and support peer-to-peer leadership and self-managing cohorts in older teens. Our young producers return year after year, and invite their friends! So they, too, are connecting, learning to work together towards a larger goal. BIG teens want to work and want to create, they show up on time, and they shine.
This September BIG will begin an official relationship with The Loop Lab, an organization I’ve worked with for many years. Formalizing this relationship means more opportunities for Brookline youth and young adults, including mentorship, career training, and certification in media production and AV tech.
This collaboration also reaffirms our commitment to democratizing storytelling and supporting access for all. It allows us to manage our growth (yes, membership is again way up!) while maintaining responsible stewardship, making sure your donations go directly to our programs, even as other funding sources decline or disappear.
To support our youth programs, please consider donating or becoming a member today.
Help us celebrate all this work! Please save the date for our youth screening on October 29 and our annual Crowdsourced screening at the Coolidge Corner Theater on December 17. If you or your business would like to sponsor one of these events by covering the theater rental cost, please let me know.
With Gratitude,
Jessica
Brookline Interactive Group
