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BALTIMORE

YOUTH FILM ARTS

 

 YOUR STORY.  YOUR CITY.

YOUR FILM.

 

The Baltimore Youth Film Arts Program offers Baltimore City residents ages 16 to 29 the opportunity to learn
camera skills, refine storytelling techniques, and create films and photographs to be shared at public screenings
and exhibitions, and on the program website.  Participants are paid stipends for their contributions
and receive certificates for successful completion.

    Our mission is to build an online archive of Baltimore voices; a representation of our city, current and historical, real and imagined.  Be part of the project.  We want to hear from you!

             Baltimore Youth Film Arts is an affiliate program of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, and is made possible by the financial support of Johns Hopkins and the Mellon Foundation.

 

BYFA VOICES

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

GLIMPSING THE PRESENT

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

MORE BYFA VOICES

workshops

“A very open environment, encouraging.
—Christopher

I love the variety of ages.
—Eddie”

FALL 2024

Fall workshops are fully enrolled.

A DIFFERENT MIRROR: EXPRESSING THE SELF THROUGH VISUAL METAPHOR
Ages 16-29 (this workshop is fully enrolled)
Saturdays, 10-2, September 14-October 26, JHU-MICA Film Centre, Rm. 206 (map)

In this "self-portraiture" photography workshop, student fellows will seek themselves not in the mirror but in the world, creating images that express who they are obliquely, through landscapes, architecture, objects, and still life compositions.  They'll consider what of their stories and their identities they want to share, and perhaps discover surprising aspects of their inner lives in their work, apparent only after the work has been made.   Through constructive analysis of each other's photographs, they'll consider how artists can create images that reach across time and space to connect emotionally with an unknown, unseen audience.  “There are always two people in every picture," wrote Ansel Adams, "the photographer and the viewer.”  For inspiration, they'll study the work of accomplished photographers including Roy de Carava, Sally Mann, Jennifer McClure, Gordon Parks, and Johny Pitts.  And they'll respond to new prompts every week, creating final portfolios that speak with their own, unique and authentic voices.  Their work will be shared on the program website and through a public exhibition.  Limited to 12 student fellows.

Annette Porter is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and co-founder of Nylon Films, an international production company that produces content for corporate, broadcast, and cinematic audiences.  Comfortable with her camera in a corporate boardroom or on a high altitude trail in Chile, she produces, directs, and shoots both stills and moving images.

Alisha Mona'e Coates graduated from Morgan State University with a B.S. in Multi-Platform Media Production.  A BYFA participant since 2016, she started her photography career at Edmondson Westside, and hopes to eventually open an art/photography studio.

CORRESPONDENCE ART: MAKING WORK IN DIALOGUE 
Ages 16-29 (this workshop is fully enrolled)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 6-8, September 23-November 4, Online

This distance-learning workshop will consider art-making as a socially communicative act.  Building on personal storytelling, student fellows will not only share their experiences through their creative work, but also respond to the experiences and work of their peers, and further, to the responses of their peers to their own art, creating an evolving "dialogue" that reflects both the individual artists and their mutual interaction. In discussion, they'll analyze examples of “correspondence art” (also known as “mail art”) — bodies of work created in the form of letters or other work shared through the post. And they'll listen closely to one another, reacting authentically to each other's stories with recognition, surprise, laughter, questions, or sympathy; allowing these reactions to inspire their creative responses. They'll explore narrative and experimental writing and image-making, and reimagine the possibilities of texting, email, and even a shared Zoom screen for meaningful correspondence. Fellows will ultimately draw their work together into short videos, comprising writing and still or moving images. These may be personal essay films, experimental “letter” films, collaborative films, or a combination of approaches. Work will be shared on the program website and through a public exhibition.  Limited to 12 student fellows.

Caroline Preziosi is a poet, artist, and educator living in Baltimore, MD and Callicoon, NY. She works in language, sound, drawing, and film. She holds a BA in Writing from Johns Hopkins University and an MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and serves as a board member with ENGN Civic Creative Center, a 501(c)3 educational non-profit in NY.

THE POET LIFE
Ages 16-29 (this workshop is fully enrolled)
Sundays, 1-5, September 22-November 3, Online

Knowledge requires time, effort, and attention. If we want to know more about the physical world, we conduct scientific experiments. If we want to know about logic and meaning, we study philosophy. To know more about ourselves and what we need, poetry can show us the way. In this remote writing workshop, student fellows will discuss a wide range of topics related to the universally human art of poetry, including poetic form, the role of voice in poetry, the ways in which poetry can reveal the truth within us, the communicative power of verse, and how poetic methods transfer to other art forms. As a group, fellows will read and discuss poems by classic and contemporary poets as examples. Each fellow will create a portfolio of polished poems, and their work will be shared on the program website and through a public exhibition. Limited to 12 student fellows.

Somer Greer is a writer and photographer who lived in Baltimore for close to a decade, working as a writing instructor at Johns Hopkins University and other schools in the Mid-Atlantic. He now lives on Bayou Vermilion in Lafayette, Louisiana. Currently, he is working on a series of candid photos of Cajun musicians.

Ebony DeGrace is developing her craft as a cinematographer and photographer. She considers herself a cinematic experimentalist and aspires to uplift and uphold the Black experience through conceptualized, outer-worldly visual work. 

EXQUISITE CORPSE: COLLABORATIVE ANIMATION
Ages 16-29 (this workshop is fully enrolled)
Saturdays, 9-1, September 21-November 2, JHU-MICA Film Centre, Rm. 218 (map)

In this workshop, student fellows will work both independently and as a group to create a fully collaborative animation, one in which the vision of each fellow is realized, and then transformed by the visions of co-creators.  First practiced by the Surrealists in the 1920s, exquisite corpse emphasizes spontaneity and surprise.  Participants take turns writing words for a poem or drawing sections of a body, then folding the paper to hide most of what they've created and passing it along, allowing the next artist to build on the structure free from constraints suggested by what has come before.  Inspired by original surrealist pieces (link), fellows will begin with a pen and paper game, freeing their creative minds and generating ideas.  They'll establish basic guidelines, such as frame rate, resolution, and an optional theme.  Then they'll work in sequence, each creating an original, unique segment, a few seconds long, ending with a clear transition frame that will launch the next segment.  Each animator will see only that transition frame, preserving the element of surprise.  When the final composition is revealed, fellows will determine together what kind of sound design will enhance their images. Their animation will be shared on the program website and through a public exhibition.  Limited to 10 student fellows.

Alfonzer Harvin is a graduate of the Screenwriting and Animation program (SWAN) at Morgan State University.  He is Media Specialist and Web Designer at NorthBay Education Inc., and has created animations for Comcast and Netflix.  He is skilled in all phases of production, and believes that knowledge is all we need to change the world.

Kerstyn Myers is a member in the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society at UMBC, where she is pursuing computer science. She believes technology and art are the connections to the future.

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
Ages 16-29 (this workshop is fully enrolled)
Saturdays, 11-3, September 21-October 5, October 19-26, on location; Sunday, October 13, and Saturday, November 2, 11-3, JHU-MICA Film Centre (map)

In this workshop, student fellows will venture into new Baltimore settings and try a range of new experiences, ultimately creating a collaborative video about what they discover.  They'll extend their group to include community members of different generations, and together go on fishing expeditions and woodland hikes, explore museums and nature centers, check out public markets and small businesses.  They’ll even venture to the Eastern Shore. On their expeditions, they'll collect images and ambient sounds, tell stories, and reflect on their lives: on family, friends, neighborhoods, childhood memories, current challenges, successes, and aspirations.  Then, in group editing sessions, they'll decide on the shape of a final short film, a weave that honors each distinct, individual voice.  They'll explore both the technical and aesthetic aspects of video and audio recording, and be introduced to the basics of editing.  Each fellow will also keep a "daybook," a personal journal of impressions, of whatever they notice around them, from weather to people to scenery.  The daybook can also be used for brief responses to writing prompts.  Daybook content may be shared or kept private.  The final film will be shared on the BYFA website, and at a public exhibition.  Limited to 12 student fellows.

Earl Young Jr. is a Credible Messenger, speaker, mentor, and entrepreneur. He works for New Vision Youth Services mentoring students in Baltimore City Schools and as a Credible Messenger with the Mayor’s Office of African American Male Engagement. He is also an entrepreneur and currently owns two businesses that are geared toward the development of impacted youth.

Charles Cohen's recent documentary films include Riding Wild, which follows a group of BMXers into Baltimore's urban wilderness, and The Crooked Tune, an Old Time Fiddler in a Modern World.  He holds an MFA in Film and Digital Media from American University and has written for The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, and Baltimore City Paper.

BYFA FELLOWS

“A great way to gain connections
and friends with similar interests.
—Omega”

Baltimore Youth Film Arts Program • Film and Media Studies Program • Johns Hopkins University
443-267-2126 • youthfilmarts@jhu.edu