Cafesociety.org spent 5 years working with schools and young people on several of the Native American reservations in Arizona. Here is a selection of those Films made during Cafesociety.org digital workshops with young people on the Navajo , Hopi and Gila River Indian Community reservations. [1998 - 2003].
 

Our largest project to date on the reservation was REZ02 and invloved 8 creative practitioners visiting Arizona to hold a series of new media workshops with young people.

On July 18th 2002, a crew of 8 digital artists made their way from the UK and Holland to Arizona, USA to create a series of digital stories working with a selection of native american and rurally isolated young people.

Firstly we aimed to deliver a language and culture based multimedia project, showing students how to use film making equipment, web design, photography and computer animation to tell a story. 

The project explored Language Ecology which is the preservation of linguistic and cultural diversity. By using multimedia and film making projects we equipped the young people with new skills to record and preserve their own heritage and stories. 

The second goal of the project was to open up discussion with teaching staff from schools in Arizona to the possibility of future ways of collaboratively working and developing online curriculum projects and materials with schools in the Withernsea and South Holderness region of England.

We believe in the necessity for the preservation and celebration of all voices and if the youth are empowered with the skills to use modern day communications technologies, they can continue to speak out in their own voices, protecting and promoting their own cultures as they see fit.

Some of our work with young people in our home-town of Kingston Upon Hull - UK working in collaboration with the BBC, Creative Partnerships - Hull, British Library, Department for Culture, Media & Sport, Hull City Council and many Hull Schools. We hope you enjoy…

Films made in Freetown :: Sierra Leone with young people & Cafesociety.org as part of the Digital Citizens project in collaboration with Creative Partnerships - Hull.

Here is a collection of content produced during workshops and projects based in the Republic of Seychelles. We have been running projects and workshops since 2003 in Seychelles in collaboration with The International School and more recently with the Seychelles University Foundation.

Seychelles is an island nation, it is located in the Indian Ocean northeast of Madagascar and about 1,000 miles east of Kenya.

This programme, lead by film-maker Jon Robson was geared to further international, creative links between Hull and Ethiopian communities. This work was started through the production of a series of films which were designed to capture impressions of life and learning for young Ethiopians.

The content of these films will inform future learning in Hull schools, around film making and citizenship and is geared to enhance a creative dialogue between Ethiopian and Hull schools. These films were produced during projects and workshops held in Ethiopia. The students we worked with attended the JRDC School. Shashemene. [Jamaican Rastafarian Development Community]

Our Ethiopia - Films by young people in Ethiopia

A showreel version of the 3 safe technology films has been produced to aid teachers when showing the films in the classroom.
The 3 films will be used as a teachers learning resource for schools in Seychelles.

We’d also like to add a big thank you to all who were involved in the making of these films. Especially the kids who we felt worked very well and enjoyed the experience.

The films produced will also be used as a larger learning resource to be rolled out to schools by the Seychelles National Council for Children. The 3 adverts will also be screened twice a night on the SBC channel.

Seychelles Safe Technology Group have commissioned this series of short informercials to be screened on TV to raise young peoples awareness to some of the dangers on the internet.

Ever wondered what it is like being a teenager living in Hull today? In a new exhibition, pupils from Endeavour High School invite you to experience life from their perspective. “What’s Your Story?” uses films, photographs and personal objects to create an insight into the lives of a diverse group of young people.

The exhibition is part of the “Campaign! Make an Impact” project, an innovative project in which students are inspired by museum collections to create their own campaign about issues which affect their own lives. This project has been led by Hull Museum Education who have also been working in partnership with Cafesociety.org, the British Library and the Thackray Medical Museum.

Hull Museum Education teamed up with creative media practitioners Jon Robson and Matt Stephenson of Cafésociety.org to work with the students on their contemporary campaign inspired by museum collections.

Jane Avison, Senior Education Officer at Hull Museum Education said: “The young people have created the exhibition as part of their campaign against racism and intolerance. First they made short films about their own lives and then came to the museum to investigate the slavery collections and issues around racism. They developed a greater understanding of each other and wanted to run a campaign to promote tolerance between different cultures.”

The aim of the campaign is to break down barriers between communities, dispel some myths and promote understanding of different cultures. Jane continued: “The young people have been very courageous in putting themselves forward as the face of the campaign, giving us an insight into their lives. They would like the viewer to stop and think before making judgements, to consider the person and their story, not just nationality.”

The exhibition will be officially opened by Sir Keith Ajegbo, the Government Advisor for Citizenship. There will also be the opportunity to show case campaigns from the other partners involved in the “Campaign! Make an Impact” project.

The exhibition will be held in the Live Arts Space at the Ferens Art Gallery from Saturday 8th March to Sunday 27th April. It will then be displayed at the Artlink Centre for Community Arts from Thursday 8th May to Monday 2nd June.