a k.kalla production

ACM Recap

This year, the Alliance for Community Media Conference was held in Minneapolis, the fair city I currently call home. Last year I attended the conference in Boston (with two teenage girls in tow). This year, my entourage expanded, and we had five youth from SPNN attend all three days. Have I told you how awesome these guys are? With only three weeks left until my AmeriCorps term is up at SPNN, I can't tell you how I often I am blown away by them. There is so much joy in being a part of this.


A few highlights:

• The ACM Youth Media Screening at the Walker Art Center! I put a good deal of work into coordinating elements of this, but the credit really goes to SPNN's Youth Advisory Committee, who really put in the work to make the event a success. The thing I loved about this was the youth involvement - all of the videos were created by youth, the event was emceed by youth. Too often we talk about youth rather than asking them to talk about themselves.
• I spoke on a panel on Friday. This was a bit nerve-wracking, but I had Bekka and Nicola there to help me out. We spoke about the role of youth in Community Media Centers. I placed a great deal of emphasis on our Youth Advisory Committee, which I believe is the best example of how we approach youth involvement at SPNN. In short: create and foster community, ensure representation/voice/power, and encourage investment and ownership in the organization.

• Meeting incredibly smart and creative people. And then seeing some of them dance along to the World's Most Dangerous Polka Band at Nye's Polonaise. And then biking around the 14th floor of the Marriot on Rox's bike at 3 in the morning.
• The six hour Hands-On Youth Media Workshop we ran on Saturday. We worked with youth from around the country to create some really amazing videos about the ACM conference. These videos were shown during the closing ceremony, although not without nightmarish technical difficulties.
• Realizing that I am damn good at what I do.