"MyBlockNYC is tremendously helpful to educators and schools to engage students in using technology and critical thinking to find creative solutions and knowledge."
- Carol Sun, Arts Teacher, Bronx High School of Visual Arts, Bronx
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YOUR IMPACT: MORE THAN TEACHING VIDEO
Your donation will:
- Provide students from low-income households the opportunity to become participants in a global dialogue that extends beyond classroom walls.
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Empower students by giving them the tools and instruction needed to develop their artistic voice.
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Transform students into better citizens by encouraging a sensitive and critical approach to their communities.
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Strengthen teacher/student dynamics in troubled schools.
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Humanize neighborhoods that are often understood in terms of stereotypes and statistics.
- Enable the filmmaker of tomorrow to discover his/her relationship to a complex art form and pursue film as a profession.
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"MyBlockNYC offers teenagers a unique opportunity to tell a story and voice their experiences. It frees them from academic constraints and allows them to be imaginative, individualistic, and genuinely express themselves."
- Sandra Cruz, Technology Teacher, Thomas Edison CTE High School, Queens
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WHAT’S HAPPENED SO FAR:
Over the past two years, MyBlockNYC has:
- Worked with over 25 public schools, educational organizations, and special needs programs throughout the five boroughs.
- Reached over 1500 students.
- Enabled over 300 student videos to be created and shared with public.
- Guided students to receive full scholarships to the NYS Summer School of the Arts.
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Formed strategic partnerships with Cisco, Sony Corporation of America, The Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre, & Broadcasting, The Paley Center For Media, The Museum of the Moving Image, and The Center For Arts Education (CAE).
- Ensured that student videos have been featured by major news agencies.
- Featured student videos on an interactive map in the 2011 MoMA exhibit "Talk To Me” and the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale.
- Presented participating students with 2013 Visions of NY Awards hosted by Katherine Oliver (Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment) and MTV filmmaker Andrew Jenks.
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MEETING THE DEMAND: WE NEED YOUR HELP
After a series of incredibly successful semesters bringing this cost-free, unprecedented model to under-resourced schools across the five boroughs of NYC, we can no longer meet the growing demand for our program.
Our mission is to ensure that every NYC high school student has the opportunity to make a film that expresses who they are and where they come from. Our long-term goal is to work with The NYC Department of Education to incorporate video into the core curriculum.
We believe that those who can effectively use video to communicate ideas hold great power. Help birth a generation of new filmmakers!
The future of our program depends on your support. Without it, The MyBlockNYC Education Program will not be able to continue its efforts in the 2013/2014 school year.
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YOUR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION
For the 2013 - 2014 school year, your generous support will:
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Provide at least 1000 students with the resources, guidance, and opportunity to create videos about their neighborhoods and personal lives.
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Produce over 200 student videos from every corner of NYC.
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Build an online school portal of student videos hosted on an interactive map.
THANK YOU FOR HELPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF FILMMAKERS DISCOVER THEIR TALENT!
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A SHORT HISTORY OF THE MYBLOCKNYC EDUCATION PROGRAM:
The MyBlock Education Program was created by a group of filmmakers, educators, and technologists from Red Bucket Films, MyBlockNYC, and Camra, with the assistance of The NYC Department of Education, The NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment, and Sony Corporation of America.
In Spring 2011, The MyBlockNYC Education Program received a small donation of cameras from CISCO and developed a comprehensive video literacy curriculum with assistance and support from the NYC Department of Education and Paul King, Executive Director of Arts & Special Projects.
The program initially partnered with four NYC public high schools to offer over 80 students the opportunity to create personal non-fiction videos for a new web-based map of NYC: MyBlockNYC. This unprecedented hands-on opportunity to learn filmmaking led to the creation of over 50 student-made videos on subjects ranging from children relaxing in neighborhood playgrounds to the community impact of local murders.
In Fall 2011 these student videos were collected on the interactive MyBlockNYC website and exhibited in the MoMA show "Talk To Me." Visitors from around the world viewed, shared, and commented on these extraordinary works while students marveled at their work displayed and presented in a gallery for the first time.
Due to the subsequent increased demand and interest in our program, we were able to double participation in the Fall 2011/Spring 2012 school year to create an additional 100 student videos exploring NYC neighborhoods and capturing the stories and issues that come from them.
In Summer 2012, MyBlockNYC was featured at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale. In January 2013, thanks to the help of Katherine Oliver and The Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre, & Broadcasting, our program was awarded a donation of 30 cameras from Sony Corporation of America to be distributed to participating schools. This allowed the program to exponentially expand, working with 28 schools and bringing the total number of student MyBlockNYC videos to over 300.
The Huffington Post, NY1, The Daily News, and MetroNY quickly covered our expansion and the success of our efforts. In July 2013, The MyBlockNYC Education Program celebrated the strongest work from the past semester with the 2013 Visions of NY Awards.
In Fall 2013, Camra (the next generation of the MyBlockNYC interactive map) will be available to all participating students. Camra will allow MyBlockNYC participants to create and share movies on their smartphones and host their work on a global interactive map.