Reel Grrls

It’s been a while since I’ve volunteered for anything. And I’ve never mentored for anyone. But when I found out about Reel Grrls I knew it was a something I really wanted to be involved in. And so I’ve signed on to be a program mentor for at least the first part of the program to help the cause.

“Reel Grrls is a unique after-school media & technology training program that empowers girls to critique media images and to gain media technology skills in a safe, open environment, mentored by a network of multi-cultural women media professionals. Each year, 70 girls go through our program and graduate with valuable skills in video, audio, and web production. We believe that it is important to give young women the skills to critically evaluate the media they are exposed to and then to empower them to produce their own media. As media plays such an influential role in our global society, we believe that if women and girls are to achieve equality and advancement in today’s world they must be taught to be media literate.”

I think it sounds great, and I wish there was something like this when I was a teen. I spent most of today at SCAN for the first official day of the program, where we got to meet the girls (ages 11-19), learn how to use the equipment, and brainstorm ideas for TV show we are helping the girls produce. It’s fun learning how to operate the big fancy cameras and the control room stuff (learning is nice side effect of being a mentor). It seems like a cool group and I’m really excited to see what comes from the program. I guess we’ll just see how it goes.

It’s kind of weird to me to think about how much media I’ve actually been part of making in my mere 23 years (zines, newspapers, films, posters, ads, websites, tv, books, comics etc). I’m kind of amazed and grateful at how easy it really has been to do all these things just because I’ve grown up in this age of technology. And because I’ve been fortunate enough to have access to it. The fact that these teen girls are getting access to all this new technology even earlier is really exciting.

I’m looking forward to the next generation of media making girls getting out there and creating things. As much as I love all the guys at work, it would be refreshing to have more girls in the mosh pit. There are only two of us right now, but look out. We’re multiplying.