Brought to you by the CMP...

As the result of a six-week Teens Reaching Teens summer workshop at UWM's Community Media Project (CMP), Milwaukee-area teens created five public service announcements (PSAs) on sexual responsibility, teen depression, racism/tolerance, and teen truancy. "The next step is getting the spots aired by local TV stations," says Portia Cobb, associate professor of film and director of the CMP.

The workshop was part of a pilot program to enable teens across the nation to produce a series of PSAs addressing their concerns. CMP is one of 20 media arts organizations in the country selected to offer a summer and fall production class for youth 14 to 19 years old. The project is funded through a grant from The Merrow Report, Learning Matters, Inc., and the Kellogg Foundation.

Graduate film students Renato Umali and Steve Wetzel conducted the production training, which involved the use of 16mm cameras, video camcorders, and sound, lighting, and editing equipment.

"We plan to have a public screening at UWM this fall and will be screening the work at another Teens Reaching Teens site in Chicago in September," says Cobb. "Our teens participated in a project with Chicago youth at Street Level Video and Studio 37 this summer." The Milwaukee students will return to Chicago in September for a video "block party" that will connect teens across the city of Chicago through a live video feed and the Internet.

"We are pleased with the results of their hard work and look forward to continuing a relationship with them," Cobb says. "We will do another Teens Reaching Teens workshop in the fall, so we are looking to recruit a new group for new PSA projects."

Teens or parents interested in the fall workshop should contact Cobb at 229-2931. Further information on the workshop and the PSAs is available on the CMP Web site at www.uwm.edu/
SFA//CMP/.

Established in 1985, the Community Media Project is part of the Film Department in the School of the Arts. The CMP offers artistic and educational programs to Milwaukee residents, and was implemented to address the special needs of underserved and underrepresented communities in Milwaukee.