eMerge News Seeking Crew for Fall

eMerge News, Tincan's after school youth journalism program, is set to start meeting again October 1st. This will be a general meeting for all interested teens. There will be grilled cheese sandwiches and lots of info about what will be going on this year.

What's going on in eMerge this year includes some exciting new changes. We are switching from just creating news packages to doing bi-weekly newscasts, covering a wider spectrum of stories. The newscasts will be videotaped and distributed online via the emerge website, myspace, youtube, and itunes. They will also be available as a video and audio download for portable devices. Our focus this year is on developing teens ability to watch and analyze their community for stories that are newsworthy, and then communicate them in a simple fashion that is widely available. News crew members will be required to attend city council and other community meetings, read and watch local news as well as independent national newscasts that provide an alternative to the nightly network news.

In addition to participating in putting the newscast together participants will also have the opportunity to complete training courses in journalism, video production, and web publishing. We are also organizing trips to journalism and film departments at local colleges and universities, festivals and conferences.

As always we are looking for adult volunteers and participants. If you are interested or have any questions call Hannah Whitmore at 744-0972, or email at hannah@tincan.org.

By Anya.

To all of our utmost dismay, eMerge News is over. But because of popular demand, it will return next year and continue to rock the streets of Spokane. But the even better news is that YOU could be the next star eMerger. Yes, you. We all know how you've been dying to actually make news. Because honestly, how cool is that? The only lame part is that YOU aren't joining us in the fun. It makes us sad that we're having all of the fun and we can't share it. But we're totally willing to. So please, do us all a favor and join eMerge next year. You would make the world a better place.

Circle Documentary wins regional award!

Teens participating in Tincan’s video production program won the Regional 2007 National Student Television Award for documentary for their film “The Circle Documentary.” The documentary explores teen parenting through interviews with Spokane teens who are parents, and looks at public attitudes toward teen parents. Teens who produced the documentary include Ian Petrofski, Sophia Lawhead, Nora Taylor, Anya Klyukanova, Jessica Hammil, Amanda Edwards, Zac Kelty, and Stephanie Cooper. Nora Taylor said about the project “I learned a lot about film and teen parenting and met a lot of cool people. It changed my perspective and inspired me to pursue film.” The award will be presented at the Northwest Regional Emmy Awards ceremony held in Seattle on June 2. Tincan Media Integration Coordinator Hannah Whitmore will attend the ceremony with four of the teens. Tincan’s video production program also won an honorable mention in the news category for their video segment “Scene Kids”. There will be a showing of the videos and a chance to talk to the teens who produced the video on Tuesday June 12 at 4 p.m. at 827 West First Ave, Suite 110.

Claymation Mania!

Our Claymation camp for middle school age youth took place over spring break at East Central Community Center. Participants wrote, shot and edited six short claymation videos. Besides learning the fundamentals of clay animation they were encouraged to think about what messages are being sent by the media they watch and create and to make videos with a positive message. Be sure to check out their videos online at www.virtualteencenter.org!

What camp are you in?

Tincan has a bunch of fun and community oriented youth camps coming up this year. For middle schoolers this spring break is the Claymation Mania week long camp at East Central Community Center. Prepare to get your hands dirty and let your imagination loose as we learn filmmaking through the art of claymation. For more information, to sign up, and for a list of the other exciting summer camps go to http://www.tincan.org/camps.htm!

New Community History Project

The Virtual Teen Center and Odyssey Youth Center have partnered on a new community history project, Today and Yesterday: A Century of LGBT Faces in the Inland Northwest. The project, also known as QHP (Queer History Project) for short, is collecting and archiving this portion of local history with the help of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.

Students interested in volunteering can receive training in gathering oral histories and digital archiving through an internship with Tincan.

We are also looking for elders willing to be interviewed about their experiences here in the Inland Northwest, specifically pictures and stories of LGBT people from the early half of the 20th century in and around Spokane, including any rural members of the community.

To find out more go to www.virtualteencenter.org/qhp

New Program for Girls Starts in February!

Tincan has recieved a grant from the Inland Northwest Community Foundation for a program that will teach girls business and web design skills. The students will then be partnered with local women business owners who will provide mentoring and real world work experience. The project, Growing Women Entrepreneurs and Growing Neighborhood Economies, merges Tincan's popular e-commerce training program and the resources of the Women's Business Center.

The program will be run in two Spokane neighborhoods after school starting in February. Girls 13-18 or local business owners interested in participating should contact Tara Neumann at tara@tincan.org or call 744-0972.

If you are interested in volunteering with this program email Hannah Whitmore at hannah@tincan.org.

eMerge News keeps on rolling cameras

eMerge News, Tincan's high school tv journalism program in partnership with KXLY, is continueing at three locations this semester. Informational and sign up days are being held at the following times.
Rogers High School - Room A124 - Monday, Jan 8th, 3-5 pm.
Downtown at the Courtyard Office Complex (827 W First Ave) - Room 110 - Tuesday, Jan 9th, 3-5 pm.

Regular meetings will start the same week:
Monday and Wednesday at Rogers, room A124, 3-5 pm
Tuesday and Thursday Downtown, room 110, 3-5 pm
Tuesday and Thursday at Crosswalk, 10am-12pm

In November and December students learned basic news gathing skills and video production. We watched local newscasts, toured the KXLY station, read local papers and discussed local issues. Then using their new skills they produced a variety of news packages. To view, click here.



To read and see more check out the eMerge Myspace, www.myspace.com/emergenews.