Set It Up finished its 2007-2008 season with a barbeque at Cherokee Regional Park on June 2nd. You can catch our fourth episode, "The Saint Paul Places Project" Mondays at 7PM on YTV, Channel 16. The episode includes segments about the Central Corridor Light Rail, Break dancers at Lake Phalen, and profiles of Candyland and the Rondo Community Outreach library.

Watch for our "Best of" episode on YTV coming up in August, and our online application for the 2008-2009 crew.

Neighborhood Video Camps held it's first camp of the summer with partner organization St. Paul Youth Services. SPYS works with families and the community to redirect youth who are starting to get in trouble at home, at school or with the law. Participating youth created a video about school because, in the words of one youth, "some kids like school, some kids don't like school, but most kids have to go to school." The youth interviewed each other and adults at their site, asking questions such as "what was your favorite year of school?," and "if you didn't have to go to school what would you do instead?" Youth drew pictures to be used as b-roll and titles, which allowed them to visually represent events in the past and hopes for the future.

SPNN will hold a screening for the video created later in the summer for youth and their families.

SOL (or SPNN Youth Open Lab) has wrapped up for the school year. SOL supports youth who have completed an SPNN Youth program in producing independent media projects. Youth producers work on documentaries, movies, PSAs, music videos, and experimental pieces.

Some projects completed this year include Frame by Frame: An Exploration of Stop-Motion Animation by Kate Armstrong and a short documentary about gas prices called Fueling Politics by RayLynn Prokasky. Congratulations to Kate, RayLynn, and all SOL producers!

From June 6-8, the Twin Cities was host to the National Conference for Media Reform, an annual conference organized by Free Press that brought together activists, people working in community media, journalists, and others concerned about the state of media consolidation in the U.S. The conference featured well known speakers such as Bill Moyers, Amy Goodman, and Dan Rather, but also many lesser known people doing important work to educate, agitate, increase access, and broaden the voices of marginalized people in the media. This includes youth media makers from around the country and people who work at Cable Access Centers - both of whom were represented on a number of panels.

SPNN Youth Programs staff - Nicola, Andrea, Erika, Peter, and Mary - all attended the conference. In addition, we received scholarships to NCMR for youth from YAC! James and Camila attended, and also took part in a lunch for people involved in youth media, organized by SPNN. Special thanks to Peter for getting a donation from the Wedge Co-op for the delicious lunch, and biking over there to pick up the food!

While we would have liked to have seen more youth represented at the conference and on the workshop panels, we all came away inspired and excited about the work we are doing at SPNN, and the growing national movement for media reform that we are a part of.

SPNN Youth Produced PSA wins second place in Citizens League contest: (from Citizens League press release)

The Citizens League announced today that St. Paul students Steve Lewer, 18; Mark Gwen, 15; and Aubri Jackson, 13; were awarded second place for their video Youth Spaces PSA in the "I am Minnesota's Future Video Contest."

In honor of Minnesota's sesquicentennial this year, the Citizens League launched the Minnesota Anniversary Project (MAP 150) to look ahead to the state's next 150 years. This contest asked young people to create short videos answering: "What kind of state do you want to live in when you're an adult, and what do you think ought to be done to make sure that happens?" Students responded with video entries that addressed issues ranging from global warming to immigration, from peace to technology and opportunities for young people.

Contestants were asked to address what legacy they would like today's policy makers to leave for them. All the videos can be found on the sponsoring site, www.studentsspeakout.org, as well as YouTube.

These students created this video at SPNN in collaboration with St. Paul Connections. For more information about St. Paul Connections career exploration courses please contact Steve Wojta at 651-221-1446 / Stephen.wojta@spps.org or visit www.connections.spps.org.