Join Us Thursday For a Screening of ATG Student Films

UPDATE: The student film screening has been POSTPONED until Thursday, January 9^th.  We hope to see you then!

Video Credit: JC Cotti

This week students in our newest program, “Seeing The World Through Digital Media” at Lincoln Park Apartments in Newark, NJ will screen two short films they’ve created over the course of the semester.  Nine children ages 7-13 have studied the art of filmmaking with our Teaching Artist, JC Cotti. The children wrote, acted in, filmed, and edited “Zombie Apocalypse” and “Undercover High School” using JVC HD flip cameras and Final Cut Pro editing software.

JC is working with the students to hone skills such as acting for the camera, improvisation, mime, storytelling, and camerawork.  Each class begins with fun exercises such as improvement games where we see even the shyest children participating; then they shoot scenes for their film. The students rotate roles every few minutes so that everyone has a chance to work both in front of and behind the camera.

JC says that children are “born with creativity and a desire to tell stories,” and teaching them helps him remember what it’s like to “dive in and have fun with the camera”. His favorite moment so far as an ATG Teaching Artist occurred one class just after warm-ups, when a few new children walked in late.  Instead of getting right into shooting scenes, the other students played a quick name game in order to “incorporate everybody and help each other out,” he says.  The class gave the new students parts as zombies and made sure they felt welcomed and included.  That, JC says, is what he feels Arts to Grow is really about—helping children make connections to each other and their community through the arts.

Please join us Thursday, December 12^th for a free screening of the students’ work.  See flyer for details:

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Arts to Grow programs are taught by professional Teaching Artists, trained working artists with hands-on experience teaching students their art form.  If you’re interested in teaching for Arts to Grow, please visit us at artstogrow.org for more information.