Expressing yourself can be hard, especially if it seems like other people are always deciding what is best for you and telling you who you are. As a research and social outreach initiative of the department of Media Arts at the University of North Texas, the Youth Media Lab seeks to educate young people from marginalized communities about the media they consume and how they can create their own to advocate for themselves. Stories from Cumberland follows the Summer 2019 Youth Media Lab as they work with the residents of Cumberland Presbyterian Children’s Home, a residential foster care facility in Denton, Texas.  Produced by Rob Upchurch for the UNT Department of Media Arts.

Media can be more complex than you think. There’s a reason they’re made, techniques are used to hold your attention, and certain perspectives are included while others are omitted.Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media. In this episode, the Cumberland residents learn these skills and prepare for two weeks of a high-impact media education!Produced by Rob Upchurch for the UNT Department of Media Arts.

One of the goals of the Youth Media Lab is to teach media production skills to young people in the North Texas community. After all, if we are teaching kids that media around them are constructed for a purpose, shouldn't they be given the ability to create and share their own messages? Now that they knew about media literacy, the residents from Cumberland understood that they can, and do, make media on a regular basis. Preparing them to advocate for themselves in our increasingly mediated society, the Youth Media Lab teaching fellows gave them an even more advanced skillset. Follow along as the teens go from making movie trailers in an iPad app to staffing a whole TV studio!  Produced by Rob Upchurch for the UNT Department of Media Arts.

One of the major outcomes the Youth Media Lab seeks is to enable young people from marginalized populations to advocate for themselves through media production. Using the skills they were taught the week before, the Cumberland residents were broken into groups and given a week to produce their very own projects. There are no limits – except that they can’t show their faces – the story is theirs to tell! Produced by Rob Upchurch for the UNT Department of Media Arts.

After learning about media literacy and production for two whole weeks (during their summer vacation, no less!) the residents of Cumberland got to show off their hard work at a special screening held at Cumberland Presbyterian Children’s Home. This red carpet event had it all – posters, a projector, and even snacks!Afterwards, a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for one of the residents testified to the newfound confidence and voice her appointee developed after working with the Youth Media Lab.Produced by Rob Upchurch for the UNT Department of Media Arts.

The summer 2019 Youth Media Lab allowed Cumberland residents to develop life skills and the ability to more effectively communicate with other people, and the teaching fellows were given valuable teaching experience. In the final episode of Stories from Cumberland, professors Vickery and Carter, the Youth Media Lab teaching fellows, staff and residents of Cumberland reflect on the summer 2019 Youth Media Lab. Produced by Rob Upchurch for the UNT Department of Media Arts.