What is media and what power does it have? 

Racial inequality persists in America and continues to fuel a national discussion. One way that this inequality is perpetuated is through the types of representation and misrepresentation of people of color across various platforms of contemporary media. As many of today’s youth are tech savvy media makers themselves, this project will help youth research, understand, and contextualize the many messages that they receive.

Who creates media? 

Through dynamic classroom interventions with contemporary artists, youth will learn how artists create and use media in positive ways to reflect their identities. Artists Shinique Smith, the Cause Collective, and Derrick Adams will work with youth in the Mural Arts Restorative Justice Youth program exploring new and traditional media. Additionally, these artists will create murals and temporary public art projects with students and Mural Arts teaching artists.

How can we make media that best represents ourselves and our communities? 

Media is a constant in our lives. American teens spend approximately 1,500 hours a year watching television. Roughly 17 million children and teens have Internet access in their homes, using it daily for everything from researching school projects to playing online games, from grouping images and ideas with hashtags to chatting with their classmates.

After discussion and participation in thoughtful art activities, students will learn how to interview each other, how to make a newspaper, and the process of creating large-scale public art. The Media Mobilizing Project will document the entire project through film, further demonstrating to the youth how media is planned and edited. The Media Mobilizing project will also make memes, highlighting student perspectives on media representation.