Big Picture Alliance

This one-year grant will support the ongoing building of a strong network of organizations working in youth media throughout Philadelphia, engage youth media content creators, provide platforms to showcase the voices and perspectives of these Philadelphia youth, and provide young media makers with professional development opportunities that will include training, mentoring and paid work experiences. This project will build upon the year-long Youth Set the Stage cross-collaboration begun in 2020 among nine youth media organizations across the city through the pioneering support of Independence Public Media Foundation's Community Voices Fund.

This two-year operating grant will support the expansion of BPA's school, summer, and workforce digital filmmaking programs including the launch of “Media Futures,” a paid professional development & leadership program for BIPOC youth seeking careers in film and media.

The 2020 Community Voices grant will support a series of online and youth-driven programming throughout the 2020-2021 school year. Youth Set The Stage will build a strong network of organizations working in youth media throughout Philadelphia, regularly engage youth media content creators and provide platforms to showcase and present the voices and current perspectives of these Philadelphia youth, creating an audiovisual capsule of the current moment. In the process of the year-long cross-collaborations, YSTS will build an accessible toolkit for instructors working with students remotely.

The 2020 Community Voices Fund grant will support Big Picture Alliance's Via Lux Teen Media program, a youth-led collective that produces films about important stories shaping the lives of young people and engages the public through screenings, broadcasts, social media, and an annual film fest.