The Mid-Winter Institute: An Innovative Immersion into Filmmaking
The Mid-Winter Institute cultivates creativity by putting the tools of narrative filmmaking directly into the hands of students.
About You
About You
First Name
Kathy
Last Name
Julik-Heine
Twitter URL
https://twitter.com/#!/ghettofilm
Facebook URL
About Your Organization
Organization Name
Ghetto Film School
Organization Website
Organization Country
United States, NY, Bronx County
Country where this project is creating social impact
United States, NY, Bronx County
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
How long has your organization been operating?
More than 5 years
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Innovation
Entry Form title
The Mid-Winter Institute: An Innovative Immersion into Filmmaking
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Growth (your pilot is up and running, and starting to expand)
How long have you been in operation?
Operating for 1‐5 years
THE NEED: Describe the need for your solution and the size/dynamic of the community (ies) you will engage
In an age when information has become instantly accessible and the lines separating our communities across the globe have begun to blur, the need for distinctive skill sets and truly creative education institutions has become crucial. Educating and developing youth in the power of storytelling equips them with the ability to imagine, innovate and invent as they enter an ever expanding world.
The United States’ public education system desperately needs an infusion of creativity and innovation in order to remain competitive as we transition into a globalized world and inter-dependent economy. Prior to the introduction of the Ghetto Film School (GFS) and its affiliate public high school The Cinema School (TCS), a vast disconnect existed between the storytellers of the Bronx and the film, media and entertainment industries. TCS cultivates a much-needed stream of diverse, vibrant talent and introduces it to leaders in these industries. By providing the necessary tools in media, TCS gives voice to ideas, sets the stage for broadcasting the dreams of young people on a global scale and serves as a replicable model for innovation within the American public education system.
THE SOLUTION: Please explain what your solution offers and how it is innovative. How will you put your solution into the hands of users or beneficiaries? Be specific!
The Mid-Winter Institute (MWI), a project of The Cinema School (TCS), offers a month-long immersion into cinematic storytelling by introducing students to a series of film projects. MWI provides a link between youth and their greater global citizenry by giving them the tools to broadcast the stories of their home communities to the world. MWI leverages the capacity of this connection by operating within a select admissions public high school, incorporating innovative partnerships and training to its core in the creative arts. Of course, in order for a solution to be viable, it must first be accessible.
The Cinema School, which hosts the MWI, is the nation's first public film high school, offering students a rigorous liberal arts curriculum grounded in creative activity. It prepares students for the best colleges, and pushes them to new levels of understanding of themselves and the world.
MWI is further powered by innovative partnerships that strategically integrate it into the film and media industries in NYC. Leading companies within these industries recognize the long-term value of TCS and are committed to the school’s success, a commitment demonstrated through the provision of technical support, guest instructors and funding.
The final component and true engine of this program lies at its arts-based core. Filmmaking opens up new ways of seeing and thinking. This, when coupled with a well-rounded academic program, empowers the voices and visions of participating students. TCS’s MWI is a solution for a new era of public education and global citizenship.
THE MODEL: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference through use of information technology and media
Each January, the Mid-Winter Institute (MWI) offers a unique new lens through which students of the Cinema School learn the art of filmmaking. In their first year, 9th graders are introduced to the realm of Animation. In 10th grade, students spend the month learning and creating within the structure of the Music Video. As 11th graders, students enter for the first time into the world of dialogue, where they immerse in the Sync-Sound Short.
In their final year, students take their first big step into full-scale filmmaking with the Collaborative Thesis Project. For one month each winter, all curriculums a TCS operate concurrently, creating a 30-day film conservatory of daily structured learning in each medium.
The Institute comes fully equipped with a curriculum that spans cinematic history, hands-on experimentation and elements of story, and hosts a diverse array of renowned leaders in the industry who serve as instructors and lecturers. Most importantly, the Institute puts the camera, a tool for catalyzing new perspective and engagement, directly into the hands of the students. This bold approach to education arms students with the power of storytelling, schooling them in the fundamentals of film and beyond. Through the incorporation of guest instructors, the Institute plugs students directly into the industry. The Ghetto Film School, the over-arching organization that developed the Cinema School and MWI, believes this model proves that when students learn through the lens of something they care about, real creative power is unleashed.
THE MARKETPLACE: Who are your peers and competitors? What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
The Cinema School (TCS) and component program the Mid-Winter Institute (MWI) are unique among peers in the marketplace. TCS stands alone as a select-admissions public high school in New York City with an integrated film curriculum rooted firmly in narrative storytelling. Other youth media organizations do exist within New York City, but they differ in two important ways.
First, their operations generally educate youth outside of the classroom and independent of the public education system. And second, most youth media organizations rely heavily or exclusively on the documentary format. TCS and MWI have a deep belief in the compelling power of narrative, and the critical challenge it presents to young people. It is likely that as models such as MWI continue to prove successful in the field, direct peers will begin to emerge. As this occurs in the market for creative education, TCS and programs such as MWI will remain at the forefront of the field because of the strength of their educational model, as well as the Ghetto Film School’s robust network and long-standing relationships within the film and entertainment industries.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
FOUNDING STORY: We want to hear about your “Aha!” moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution’s potential to change the world.
After attending Columbia University, where he earned a master's degree in public administration and social work, Joe Hall, Ghetto Film School’s Founder and President, worked for a community development organization in the South Bronx, and by the age of 27 was overseeing a department of 150 employees. In 1999, Joe received a foundation fellowship that placed community leaders into different fields. He chose to study film at the University of Southern California.
At USC, Joe realized that there was a real racial and economic disparity in the makeup of the students attending the nation’s top film school. The school’s dean explained the expense of filmmaking shut many out of the process, including talented youth from the Bronx. Joe returned to the Bronx in the summer of 2000 to found The Ghetto Film School, and to provide local youth with access to the film and media industries.
In 2009, the Ghetto Film School, in partnership with the New York Department of Education, introduced the nation’s first public film high school, The Cinema School. As a lynchpin of the school’s curriculum, the Mid-Winter Institute was developed as a month-long conservatory during January of each year.
Specify both the depth and scale of your solution’s social impact to date
The Ghetto Film School (GFS), the laboratory that developed The Cinema School and the Mid-Winter Institute, alone has reached over 500 emerging filmmakers through programs and community partnerships. A recent study found that within GFS students graduate from high school at a rate double that of their peers (100% of students, compared with 42.05% of NYC Black and Latino students, and 49.5% of all NYC students) and more than 80% of students enroll in college (compared with 62.6% for all NYC high school students). The study further found that students are consistently accepted to top colleges and universities, including Columbia University, Smith College, and NYU/Tisch.
Each year The Cinema School (TCS) enrolls 80 students per class in its film-based curriculum. Since opening its doors in 2009, TCS and the Mid-Winter Institute (MWI) have directly impacted 160 students to date. At TCS, students also exceed the standards set by their peers across the city with a 97% attendance rate and a 100% Regents Test pass rate (compared to 55% in NYC). MWI enhances these statistics by providing a creative conservatory that brings the stories of these emerging filmmakers to the world.
What is your projected impact within the next 1-5 years? Is your idea replicable? If so, how?
The Mid-Winter Institute (MWI) is poised to continue impacting 80 students per class per year (240 in 2012, 320 in 2013) with each annual rendition. In the next five years, the MWI program will have engaged 400 students in addition to the 160 who have experienced the institute thus far. The idea is certainly replicable both within the Cinema School as well as within all communities domestically and globally. The program serves as a terrific and established model for other innovators in creative education to learn from and apply directly to their own work.
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and mark growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
The successful completion of the 2012 Mid-Winter Institute
Six-Month Tasks
Task 1
Evaluating and strengthening 9th and 10th grade curriculums from 2010 and 2011 (July – August 2011)
Task 2
Designing and developing a new curriculum for the 2012 11th grade class (September – October 2011)
Task 3
Securing a strong line-up of guest speakers and field trips for the 9th, 10th and 11th grade curriculums (October – December 201
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
Evaluation of the 2012 Institute and development of the 2013 Institute with all four grade levels
12-Month Tasks
Task 1
Evaluation of strengths and weakness of 2012 including student, teacher and parent assessments (March – June 2012)
Task 2
Public screening of student work upon the completion of the 2011-12 school year (June 2012)
Task 3
Designing and developing a strong final 12th grade curriculum for 2013 (July – August 2012)
How many people have been impacted by your project?
101 - 1,000
How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?
1001‐10,000
Sustainability
Explain how your company, program, service or product is structured
Non-profit
What barriers have hindered the success of your project to date? How do you plan to overcome these and other challenges as you grow your solution?
The process of executing the first two Mid-Winter Institutes (MWI) in 2010 and 2011 required designing a ground breaking and innovative curriculum, as well as organizing a vast network of stakeholders. Though the tasks initially seemed like daunting barriers, the Ghetto Film School and Cinema School staff have been able to meet all such challenges thus far. As the Institute grows to include two additional curricula and full line-ups of guest instructors, GFS will rely on the strength of its leadership and the inventiveness and dedication of its staff for support to address all future challenges as they arise.
How do you see the information-technology and media sectors shifting over the next decade? How will your solution adapt to and/or drive that changing environment?
The Cinema School and umbrella organization Ghetto Film School see information-technology and media as being major players in shaping the future of our global economy. As information becomes universally accessible, the true leaders and innovators of our next generation will be those who can best tell the story that the numbers provide. An investment in the next generation of creative artists, producers, and active storytellers is an investment that will steer representation towards diversity, long-term sustainability and success.
Failure is not always an option. If your solution fails to gain traction in the next two years, what other applications of the idea could you explore?
The Cinema School and umbrella organization Ghetto Film School firmly believe that failure is never an option. The organization is 100% committed to investing all resources to ensure the success of MWI. The organization has experienced two extremely successful years of the Mid-Winter Institute and looks forward to developing and evolving the program as each new year unfolds.
Expand on your selections, explaining how you will sustain funding
The Mid-Winter Institute’s umbrella organization, the Ghetto Film School, operates with the support of a diverse array of funders including government, corporate and foundation support, as well as a strong earned income engine. As the organization and its programs expand, the Ghetto Film School plans to further develop forms of earned income and to further strengthen each pillar of support so that it never relies too heavily on one revenue stream.
Tell us about your partnerships
The Cinema School (TCS) relies on many key partnerships to fulfill its mission. These partnerships include both those who donate high quality products and services as well as direct funders. Wieden+Kennedy (an independent global ad agency), Final Cut (a creative editorial company) and Headsets & Highballs (a media network comprised of young industry leaders and artists) all provide in-kind support for TCS. NewsCorps, ConEdison, and the JP Morgan Chase Foundation are partners who provide funding support for programming and operations.
What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section?
The Ghetto Film School (GFS) has nine full-time employees, all of whom dedicate time to the execution of the Mid-Winter Institute (MWI). The Cinema School's Program Coordinator, Andres Santiago, and GFS's Program Director, Derrick Cameron, are the two dedicated full-time staff members on the program. MWI relies further on the support of its stellar line up of guest instructors who in the past have included such top filmmakers as Wes Anderson, Charles Stone III, Spike Jonze, Tamra Davis, David O. Russell and many more.
Changemakers is a collaborative and supportive space. Please specify any community resources you would need to grow and sustain your initiative. Select all that apply
Investment.
Specify any resources you might offer to support other initiatives. Select all that apply
Research or information, Innovation or ideas.
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren’t specified within the list
Summary
Define your company, program, service or product in 1-2 short sentences
The Ghetto Film School seeks to educate, develop and celebrate the next generation of great American storytellers.
Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences
The Mid-Winter Institute cultivates creativity by putting the tools of narrative filmmaking directly into the hands of students.
 | 88 weeks ago Kathy Julik-Heine updated this Competition Entry. |
| 89 weeks ago Kathy Julik-Heine updated this Competition Entry. |
| 89 weeks ago Kathy Julik-Heine updated this Competition Entry. |
| 89 weeks ago Kathy Julik-Heine updated this Competition Entry. |
| 90 weeks ago Kathy Julik-Heine updated this Competition Entry. |
| 90 weeks ago Kathy Julik-Heine updated this Competition Entry. |
| 90 weeks ago Kathy Julik-Heine updated this Competition Entry. |
| 91 weeks ago Kathy Julik-Heine updated this Competition Entry. |
| 91 weeks ago Kathy Julik-Heine submitted this idea. |
