END OF THE YEAR UPDATE

In September, Coastal Youth Media opened a critical conversation with community partners like UNCW, Dreams of Wilmington, Cucalorus, Arts Council of Wilmington, Support the Port, Nixon Center (CFCC) and Wilmington New Hanover Regional Medical. We talked about elevating the voices, issues and opinions of coastal youth in the Carolina region and using media to communicate, innovate, and connect.

On September 14th Hurricane Florence rolled ashore and the inequites and challenges our communities face only became more amplified.  Our need to advance youth voices in the region feels more urgent than ever now.

Making Media
With genrous support from the Lush Foundation we got a jump on creating media this fall.  Check out some of the content.

Partner Visit with Wide Angle Youth Media
Coastal Youth Media believes networking with partners is essential to helping build the long-term capacity and sustainability of the youth media field. That’s why we’re endeavoring to grow strong relationships both locally and nationally, and why we’re deeply grateful to Wide Angle Youth Media in Baltimore for hosting us in November.

Wide Angle Youth Media is renowned for its resolute focus on themes of empowerment and equity and has an 18-year history telling underserved stories. While visiting, I had the opportunity to view the exhibition Black Butterfly, “a culmination of Wide Angle’s exploration of the student-selected theme ‘Why Black Lives Matter.'”  

After my Wide Angle visit, I stopped by the Maryland Citizens for the Arts event ArtsLab2018, a “traveling professional development symposium” featuring an all-girl choir. Arts lab reminded me of the passion necessary to make creative change and I look forward to reconnecting with MCA in the future.

As we move into 2019, be using my trip to inform the advancement of Coastal Youth Media. Already, CYM is providing space for local high school students to share how Hurricane Florence impacted them and their families. Check out our first installment and thanks for supporting us!

Sincerely,

Franchon Francees, director, Coastal Youth Media

Coastal Youth Media is a project of Narrative Arts.