Future Filmmakers: Youth Curators

K-12 STEAM education

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Media Arts were incorporated into the CA Arts Framework in 2018, but under 10% of LA students participate in this curriculum due to underfunding and poor fund administration. Youth from marginalized backgrounds face additional barriers to pursuing arts careers, such as lack of exposure to creative role models from similar backgrounds. As a result, many talented youths are unable to envision a viable future in an artistic profession, limiting participation in one of LA’s biggest industries (film) and perpetuating lack of diversity in the creative workforce.

Curators have a key role in deciding what films play at festivals and are acquired by distributors– in other words, all content the public consumes.Only 21% of top 5 festival programmers are BIPOC. Curators are the first gatekeepers in an industry that has historically overlooked marginalized voices, due to lack of diversity in decision makers. The first step towards a more equitable industry is diversifying the curatorial field.

Film Independent (Fi) will partner with Inner-City Arts to present Future Filmmakers: Youth Curators (FFYC). FFYC will be a free summer program for up to 25 high-school-age youth from underserved communities to gain an exciting opportunity to learn about film and film careers through helping to curate a showcase of youth-created work.

FFYC will consist of twice-weekly 2-hour sessions at Inner-City Arts over two weeks. Fi’s Senior Manager of Film Education will lead the sessions, with experienced curators and programmers participating as guest speakers. Students will watch and critique film entries from youth filmmakers and collaborate to help curate a showcase. Students will also take a daylong fieldtrip to Fi, where they will learn more about independent film and enjoy a film in the Fi theater.

FFYC will culminate in the Future Filmmakers Showcase: youth will gain further inspiration through a day of screenings, networking and mentorship. A group of up to 300 youth curators, featured youth creators, additional youth from the local community and their families will attend the public, free screening of films, attend a special mentorship luncheon with Mentors (professional filmmakers who have gone through Fi’s development programs) and attend a keynote speech by a notable filmmaker discussing their career and craft. Guest speakers and Mentors will represent diverse and underrepresented backgrounds in the film industry.

FFYC will help students develop life skills such as critical thinking, leadership and collaboration, while providing creative experiences led by experienced arts educators in a nurturing environment. Mentors who come from similar backgrounds will enable students to see–likely for the first time–a pathway to success in a creative career. We will consider this project a success if we give LA youth tools to foster their creative abilities and improve their knowledge of career opportunities available in the film industry–including film programmer, which many people do not realize is a fruitful career path of its own. Training curators–gatekeepers– from marginalized communities will have a direct impact on diversifying media content promoted to audiences. The showcase will give additional LA youth and families an opportunity to experience high-quality art created by youth from different communities. In the long term, we hope to expand this program to serve a larger number of youth annually.