For two weeks 12 middle school girls explored media literacy, career opportunities, media technology, critical thinking, and public speaking skills, as part of Wide Angle’s 2008 Girls Speak Out! Summer Workshop. In addition to making a short silent film about the day in the life of a girl in Baltimore, these young ladies took field trips, and met women in the media field.

“For the past two weeks in the Girls Speak Out! Program I have learned how to create a film and edit a video. I learned new vocabulary and the different parts of a video camera. Here in this program I have met new friends and media artists such as editors, a news anchor, and commercial producers who came to visit us. I loved the trip we went on to Renegade Studios. – GSOP participant, Summer 2008

Now in our second year, the Girls Speak Out! program was flooded with visits from artists, producers, directors, news anchors, and actors. Women in the field of media from Baltimore, Washington, DC and Virginia volunteered their time and skills to share their professional experiences with our students. In addition to guest artists and speakers, the girls also went on field trips.

They visited Renegade Studios in Hunt Valley, and the girls were able to watch a Comcast commercial shoot. Producers, production managers, and creative designers taught the girls how to pitch and create a commercial for the Girls Speak Out! Summer Workshop and then were able to pitch it to Renegade Studio staff including Maggie Ross, Kate Reckner, and Kate Karbowniczek.

For our final event, the young ladies traveled to the Baltimore Museum of Industry,

where they experienced what it is like to be on the set of The Wire. They toured the exhibit Local Scenes on the Silver Screen: “Featuring the Wire” which presents original artifacts, objects, and behind-the-scenes photographs from HBO’s The Wire and other television and movie productions filmed in Baltimore. Laura Schweigman, assistant to David Simon, from the Wire, provided the girls with a guided tour and allowed the girls to act out production roles on the mock studio set.

Afterwards in the Museum of Industry’s Theater their video “A Day in the Life of a Girl in Baltimore” premiered for an audience of family and friends. Their video addresses issues that girls confront every day, combats social norms, and challenges society’s view of gender conditioning. Afterwards everyone walked over to Little Havana for a celebration over Cuban food! Wide Angle would like to thank each and every young lady for bringing so much enthusiasm and charisma to this years’ program and we are very exited that more than half of the class wants to continue in other Wide Angle programs this Fall.

I have enjoyed myself and had the opportunity to participate in the video of a Day in the Life of a Girl in Baltimore. My experience in the Girls Speak Out! Program will be remembered because it will help me in all the days to come. -GSOP participant, Summer 2008

The 2008 Girls Speak Out! Summer Workshop is funded by:
The Baltimore Direct Services of the Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation
The Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle
and Wide Angle Donors
 
Thanks to all of our wonderful guest artists:
Beth Barbush, Art on Purpose
Sherri Johnson, General Assignment Reporter/Anchor, WMAR-TV ABC 2 News
Dean Radcliffe Lynes, President/Producer of D.R. Lynes, Inc.
Gay Pinder, Writer and Producer
Kate Karbowniczek, Maggie Ross, Kate Reckner from Renegade Studios
Laura Schweigman, Blown Deadline Productions
Lorraine Blackwell, Writer/Final Cut Pro Editor, Howard University

And special thanks to:
The Baltimore Museum of Industry, The Enoch Pratt Free Library, Blowndeadline Productions, HBO: The Wire, Little Havana, Maryland Film Office, Women in Film and Video of Maryland, Women in Film and Video of Washington, DC.

We are starting to upload videos produced in the spring semester by youth at Wide Angle. First up is "Urban Gardening," in which students look at urban gardening as a community-based response to urban blight in the city of Baltimore. This segment will be combined with others in  "Environmentalism," the fourth episode of BeMore TV. BeMore TV is produced by youth in the Mentoring Video Project, Wide Angle's advanced internship program for high school youth. To watch the segment, click here.