AMES Identity-Based Programs are designed to give particular socially-excluded groups, the tools to express themselves through video.
The realities and experiences of these communities tend to be either totally absent from the mainstream media or highly distorted.
That's why it's so essential to give people from these communities the tools to represent themselves. Not only does this provide alternative media-makers with a much-deserved chance to have their stories and perspectives heard, but it gives those of us watching an opportunity to enhance our understanding, have negative stereotypes challenged and to be inspired.
During these programs participants from around British Columbia are given an opportunity to escape the city, experience an action-packed week of instruction on Galiano island, live and work with award-winning filmmakers and get their hands on the latest in communications technology.
Past Programs
New Views: Fall of 1997 & 1998
New Views was the overarching initiative created to provide "multi-barriered youth" with a safe and supportive environment in which to learn the tools to tell their stories. Between 1997 and 1998 over 130 people participated in the different media intensive programs we offered through New Views. All of the New Views programs were held at the acclaimed Gulf Islands Film and Television School (GIFTS).
The individual programs were:
Multicultural Visions, for young people of colour
First Perspectives, for Aboriginal youth
Street Views for street involved youth
Queer Views for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth
Positive Visions for people living with HIV+.
A-Team: Autistic Video Project: Summer of 1999 & 2000
AMES raised funds to deliver a one week video production course specifically designed for High Functioning Autistic and Asbergers youth. The program took place at the The Gulf Islands Film and Television School and was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Foundation for Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Street Stories: Fall of 2000
Street Stories gave 11 youth who had been exploited through the sex trade a chance to learn media production skills to create prevention educational materials for other youth at risk.
YouthQuake: Breaking the Barriers Video project: January 2000-March 2001
AMES worked in collaboration with the B.C. Association for Community Living to create a media training program for developmentally disabled youth. This project saw five members of the BCACL youth caucus (three with developmental disabilities and two without) working together to create a documentary about YouthQuake, a national Conference involving 130 delegates strategizing ways that people with developmental disabilities could be more included in their respective communities. It was exciting and empowering for all involved to see these youth in the role of the official conference "documentarians". In addition to this, this project enabled members of BCACL to get the tools to have their voices heard. The video was screened at their AGM (600 people) and has since been circulated to a number of community-based organizations and schools around the province.
PLAY-RIGHTS: April-May 2002
This program, created in partnership with the Langely Association for Community Living and Video In saw 5 folks with developmental disabilities learning the technical and journalistic know-how to create a short documentary about a "Bill of Rights" play that folks at Langley Association for Community Living have produced. The video will include interviews with actors, producers, and the audience.
WTN Foundation Girls TV Camp
In the summer of 1999 AMES, in conjunction with the WTN Foundation Inc. offered 44 teenage girls an action-packed week of hands-on technical training at the GIFTS. The program was designed to de-mystify media production technology and get more girls involved in the technical side of television production.