Projects
YTI is proud to sponsor topic specific projects to closed groups, schools, and/or youth organizations. These projects match our mission of uplifting youth voices and giving them a safe space to explore their creativity.
Personal Narrative Storytelling
Lincoln High School - Latino Literature
The Personal Narrative Storytelling program was created by one of our amazing teaching artists, Tricia Creason-Valencia. Tricia is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and pioneers the way for women, people of color and youth to amplify their voices and claim their power through creative expression. Tricia partnered up with Lincoln High School teacher Jackie Cohen to teach this personal narrative storytelling program to Jackie's Latino Literature class. For 3-4 months the students work on a series of projects, which culminates in each student creating a 1-2 video poem called "I Am". The students talk about who they are against the back drop of personal photos and videos. Thanks to certain grants acquired through YTI, we've been able to support this program for three years going back to the 2022-2023 school year through the 2024-2025 school year.
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Teen Tech Center at MACLA
Filmmaking & Photography Projects
YTI has an ongoing partnership with the Teen Tech Center at MACLA in Downtown San Jose. The TTC is a free arts education program in San José, CA, dedicated to mentoring Silicon Valley youth (ages 11-19) in 21st-century skill development through multimedia production. The highly selective, year-round program focuses on a range of disciplines, including professional video and sound production, visual and performing arts, and photography. YTI has the pleasure of supporting 2-3 projects a year including their annual Spooky Films short filmmaking projects.
