ART26201 Young Filmmakers Camp https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/proposals-2016/art26201-young-filmmakers-camp https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/@@site-logo/sitelogo-75x75.png

ART26201 Young Filmmakers Camp

Additional Information
Used for	The money will be used to buy basic but high quality filmmaking equipment for the ART26201 Young Filmmakers Camp. The first year that we held the camp, we borrowed the equipment for the camp from the local school system. To continue we will need a digital camera, a tripod, a boom microphone kit, computer, software etc.
Benefits	Currently, West Virginia is facing not only an economic crisis but also a drug crisis and our education system is struggling. Having a young filmmakers summer camp will produce a creativity in children that goes beyond that of a regular classroom; it will equip them with problem solving skills and teach them to work productively with a group of people.
Proposal Description	In 2016 the ART26201 Young Filmmakers Camp was established to give creative programming for children to Upshur County, West Virginia and the surrounding communities. Upshur County and its county seat, Buckhannon are located in the heart of central West Virginia. Since the recent decline of the natural resources industry, West Virginia has been unable to replace the industry and has struggled to find an identity for its workface. Our students graduating high school no longer see long term career availability. They are looking to the older generations to lead them in new career choices. There is a phenomena in West Virginia called “Brain Drain’, which means is most of our brightest high school/college graduates, graduate, move out of the state never to return and use their skills for the betterment of their native communities. ART26201, which was founded by architect Bryson Van Nostrand, is actively nurturing the arts in this community to attract new residents and entice people to remain in the area. Bryson, who is also active in the non-profit Create Buckhannon, has been almost single handedly creating an art scene in Upshur County. The non-profit includes a micro-theater, a space for music and art classes and has been recruiting artists to paint murals around Buckhannon. There have been three murals produced for the downtown area to date. The future is bright for arts in Upshur County. The first filmmaker’s camp was created with this vision in mind; a nod to retaining our creative folk and fostering the creativity in children that may be largely untapped in public schools. The camp is comprised of a five-day program (9am-3pm) for children 10-12 to learn all aspects of filmmaking. The students begin the week with film history, but move quickly to hands-on activities such as building the equipment, setting up lighting and writing scripts. By the end of the week they will write, act and produce their own films. Last summer we created two films, both written in class by two students. We shot both of the films locally and the kids used each other as actors. We also did a scene study from The Princess Bride. After the editing process we had a premiere of the films in the micro-theater for friends and families of the students. We also gave the students camp T-shirts and a copy of their films on DVD. During this camp we also welcomed an intern from the North Carolina School of the Arts, writing major, Marylea Wiley, also a native West Virginian. The film camp was created and designed by Jamie Johnson, who is a local teacher and filmmaker. She is a 2009 graduate of Hollins University with a Master of Fine Arts in Screenwriting and Film. The children that this camp targets are kids who would be underserved in this region and by the public school system. Unlike students in more populated areas, we do not have arts programming readily available in our community. One must drive more than an hour to find a community that has rich after school arts programming. For our community that gas money is better spent on food to feed their family. Last year we had several community members provide scholarships for camp participants and some parents volunteered to waive the camp fee of $100 for the week. This fee paid for equipment, t-shirts and pay for the teacher and intern. We would like to have enough funding next year so that we can provide this camp for free to all students wanting to participate. In the future we would like to expand the camp to include an advanced camp for high school students, a screenwriter’s camp, an acting camp and a film camp for special needs students. We would also like to have guest lecturers and interns from film schools around the region. For now though, we are happy with the way things turned out for our first year and would like to run that model again for 2017. At this time we have minimal equipment and would have to rely on the kindness of the local community to borrow equipment again for the 2017 camp. Most of the equipment we used was borrowed from local artists or donated for the camp from the local technology department at the Upshur County Board of Education. We are asking for a grant to help with purchasing basic but quality equipment for the students to use. The equipment quality is very practical, but it is everything the students would be using in film school and on independent film sets. This grant would help legitimize our vision of this camp tremendously and let the community know that we are here to stay and continue to promote the arts. Attached are a camp schedule, a camp letter sent to potential parents, our camp press release, and a link to the films made by the students. The grant is for one Camera, a Canon EOS w/Lens $3,099.00, one Tripod Zomei Camera Tripod $69.99, one computer & editing Suite on Mac Book Pro/ Final Cut Editing Suite $1,998.00, one sound equipment Rode Mic Kit $179.00, one lighting kit, Linco Photo Studio Lighting $249.00, one storage for digital file storage Rugged Hard Drive/Sandisk SD Card $168.00, Total: $5762.98