Mediabox

Mediabox Announces Mid Funded Projects

Mediabox recently announced the next raft of organisations that will share £389,682 of government funding.

24 youth organisations and media companies have been awarded grants for creative youth-led projects using a variety of media including photography, radio, film, online, print and advertising.

Successful organisations include:

•    Exposure Organisation Limited – will work with young people from across London to develop and produce a series of advertisements highlighting issues such as mental health, teenage stress and physical disability.

•    Media Projects East Ltd – gives young people from Norfolk the chance to design and produce their own magazine, which will use their experiences of homelessness in order to assist other young people at risk.

•    Gloucestershire College - ‘The Misunderstood Project’ will use animation to explore the issues faced by young people who live in the same community but come from very different cultural backgrounds, including black and ethnic minorities and travellers.

•    University of Wolverhampton – ‘Be Heard’ is a radio project giving partially sighted young people the opportunity to have their say on the issues that matter to them, from how the recession effects their area to sport and fitness.

•    The Children’s Society – will give a group of young Roma people living in London the chance to combat negative stereotypes and represent themselves to the wider community by creating and exhibiting their own photographs.

•    Chatback c/o Dudley Foster Care Association – will use film to explore the effect that domestic abuse has on the lives of young people and signpost victims to help and support.

•    Burnley Youth Theatre – ‘The Love Bugs’ project is a mixed media advertising campaign led by young people in order to inform and educate their peers on issues surrounding teenage sex and relationships.

•    Whizz-Kidz - will give a group of young wheelchair users in Birmingham the opportunity to create short films illustrating what its like to be a young wheelchair user in England today.

•    Warwickshire Association of Youth Clubs - will design and distribute a youth-led magazine, which challenges negative perceptions of young people in Warwickshire and celebrates the positive contributions they make to their community.

•    West End Centre – ‘A-Z, Aldershot to Zimbabwe’ gives young refugees and migrants living in Aldershot and Hampshire the chance to explore cultural differences and common ground through film.

•    Foresight – ‘Newsability’ is a Lincolnshire based magazine, which gives young people a chance to comment and act upon events within their local community.

•    Eastside Educational Trust – will give young people from minority groups across London the chance to tell their stories, through the creation of their own graphic novel. The young people will see the novel from idea stage to design and completion, learning new skills in journalism, advertising, project management and exhibition.

•    Speaking Up – ‘Are you Listening’, will give young people with learning disabilities the opportunity to talk about the challenges they face and to share their experiences of discrimination. Over 25 teenagers from Cambridgeshire will create a documentary film, which aims to both challenge negative perceptions and to inspire other young people with learning disabilities.

•    ARC – Stockton Arts Centre Ltd – twenty young people from the Tees Valley area of Newcastle, an area that’s suffered from one of the biggest increases in unemployment since the start of the recession, will organise and produce a week-long media festival. The festival will house media workshops, training sessions, career support and advice for hundreds of other young people in the area.

•    Rathbone V – Flex Sandwell – will produce ‘No Hope to High Hopes’ a documentary led by over 30 young people from Sandwell, one of the most deprived areas of the West Midlands. The documentary will explore the various reasons young people struggle at school, what can be done to prevent this and how aspirations can be raised.

•    Oblique Arts – will offer 32 school pupils from across London training in digital photography and exhibition. The pupils, who include asylum seekers, young carers and those who have experienced homelessness, will work on a collection of ‘comic book style’ pictures that explore their personal experiences and aspirations. The project will culminate in an exhibition for the general public.

•    Nottingham City Youth  - will produce an informal education project on sex and relationship education. ‘Beats and Brains’ will enable young people across Nottingham to produce and distribute a DVD that tackles sensitive topics in an accessible way.

•    The Hounslow Arts Trust. – Young Londoners will be given the chance to discuss what the Olympic Games 2012 mean to them through the ‘Creative Stories’ project. The young people who come from economically deprive backgrounds, will explore how their neighbourhoods are changing in the run up to the games, through the use of animation, film and photography.

•    Manchester Library Theatre Development Trust Limited – young people who have experienced the care system will create their own ‘rough guide’ to support those entering care for the first time. The project aims to prepare young people for the experience by tackling familiar worries and fears and to provide invaluable support and advice.

•    Unity Arts Music and Multi Media – ‘Film Buddies’ is a six-month film-training project for 20 young people in Reading. Each young person will be given a ‘film buddy’, an industry professional mentor to guide them through the filmmaking process. The project will enable young people to gain valuable new skills, build their confidence and interact with industry professionals.

•    Foundation for Women’s Health Research and Development (FORWARD) – ‘Young People speak out’, is a youth led initiative from FORWARD, non-governmental organisation (NGO) that works to advance and protect the sexual and reproductive health and human rights of African girls and women. Young people will produce three short films in order to raise awareness of female genital mutilation, provide advice and information on health issues and signpost young people to support services.

•    Action for Children/ Hackney Young Careers – will give young careers the opportunity to make a film educating the general public about the reality of their day to day lives.

•    Encounters Festivals – will provide 13-19 year olds from the South West with the skills to launch their own Young People’s film festival. The festival will provide young people with the chance to share their short films, animations and documentaries with the general public as well as interact with industry professionals.

•    Sneyd Community School – pupils from Sneyd Community School in Walsall, will work on a film-making course as part of the Alternative Curriculum programme. The project offers young people who have struggled at school the chance to learn new skills, develop their confidence and get their voices heard.

To date, Mediabox has funded 367 projects, giving out £6,317,049 million in funding and over 9,000 young people in England have benefited.