Media & Arts
Education & Recruitment
The Media & Arts Program commonly referred to as the Youth Communications Team (YCT) is an experiential learning program built to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District's Flexibility Plan. YCT exposes youth to the disciplines of journalism and creative writing, graphic design, cinematography, and 3D Design. The youth learn and grow their knowledge of the various disciplines by working on projects in teams, and with their colleagues throughout the program.
Youth with a background or very strong interest in writing, drawing, or movie-making are encouraged to apply to the Media & Arts Program. The only additional requirements beyond being a City of Cleveland resident and being 14-18 years of age are that youth demonstrate that they have experience or are interested in the discipline area they are applying to. This may mean submitting an edited video, or work of art, or literary composition. Each program has its own requirements.
Journalism
The youth who participate in this group travel the City of Cleveland interviewing politicians, civil servants, and partners to gain perspective on the inter-workings of the program and to gain an understanding of how different entities work to bring this program to Cleveland residents. The youth also investigate other histories relating to the City of Cleveland municipality. Aspiring authors are allowed to write creative compositions on topics often relating to sustainability. Examples of past works of the youth can be found in the Blog section of this site.
The most significant role of the team is to collaborate with other teams in the program to help create the program magazine which commemorates the summer for the participants, partners, and the community at large. In order to do so in a short amount of time, the youth writers learn to meet hard deadlines and undergo a strict revision process. They are also expected to focus on literary devices, voice, and journalism to grow their writing skill. By the end of the summer, the participants become better writers.
Graphics
The artist trained and unrefined are recruited to participate in the graphics design group. Youth with the ability to paint, draw and design are recruited and taught how to translate their talent to digital platforms. The youth learn to work with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. In addition to learning how to navigate the Adobe Programs, which are industry standard, the youth will learn art theory which will support them in being able to make great design decisions.
This team collaborates with other YCT groups to create designs that bring written compositions to life. They create the graphics for the commemorative magazine, design the program t-shirt, and create graphics for other miscellaneous projects. Youth learn how to manage their time and collaborate with other groups and partners who are like clients. Preparing them for the creative workplace.
Videography
Aspirational cinematographers, filmmakers, and vloggers make up the videography team. The team travels across the City of Cleveland to create videos capturing the work that their colleagues are doing in the field. The youth learn how to edit video and sound using Adobe Premiere Pro and Audition. They will also learn various cinematic techniques to help make the videos interesting.
This team is responsible for creating a commemorative video that displays the awesome works of all the program participants. They also work on other video projects such as for example community engagement video with the business Mayfran International. Some of the youth have become videographers and YouTube content makers.
3D Design
Our newest program discipline in 3d Modeling is comprised of youth interested in design and engineering a group focused primarily on creating models of water and wastewater process. The team works closely with the Cleveland Division of Water and Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District to create visualizations of their process to be used for public education.
The objective of the group varies, but usually, it is a 3d model representation of the water process. Youth are taught to use a 3d modeling program such as SketchUp or Adobe 3ds Max.