TechKno Academy
“Different Lives” (music video)
The 2018 TechKno Camp teens from Walter H. Dyett Arts High School of the Arts want to be seen as more than a statistic.
TechKno Academy Music Video
“I’m Not A Number”
The TechKno Camp teens had a blast shooting, mostly on location on the South Side of Chicago! After screening the film Race and also the original classic film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner the teens chose to focus on the many difference facets of racial prejudices, including internalized racism. The story involves a bi-racial single mom, who in her teen years was abused by an African-American boyfriend, while dealing with her bi-racial daughter’s involvement with a black teen. At first she didn't accept the relationship and urged her daughter to disassociate herself from her boyfriend, but the daughter arranged for her mom and her boyfriend to meet. During the meeting the mom got to know the daughters boyfriend, was charmed by his personality, and eventually accepted him as her daughters boyfriend. The film enocourages us to look past skin color and focus on the person and not the race.
TechKno Camp Fall 2015
Our After School Matters/TechKno teens screened the movie He Named Me Malala this semester. The portrait of the Pakistani teen who survived an assassination attempt for speaking out on equality and girls' education. The film was so impactful that our teens decided to research the meaning of their own names and challenge one another to "live up to his name." Both these films inspired our teens to evaluate the world around them - the society and the communities in which they live - and to analyze today's headlines with respect to the world around them. We are also grateful to State Senator Mattie Hunter for visiting our program and sharing her own life experience. As a result, in their own short film for this session,Wisdom: The Body of Knowledge, our teens speak to today's headlines, begging the question - "Which is more devastating to black communities - black on black crime, or police brutality? Or are they equally impactful? And could wisdom be the answer to change?" Check it out!
TechKno Camp Summer 2015
Afterschool Matters/TechKno participants challenge teens to "Stay true yourself." Everyone has their own path to take, and it won't be found following others blindly.
TechKno Camp Summer 2014
Our After School Matters | TechKno teens screened the movie Selma earlier this year, and decided to theme their documentary project based on Black on Black crime, Police Brutality, the lack of justice being served and voting rights.
TechKno Camp Summer 2014
When the teens were asked about some of the contributing factors of Chicago’s violence, “Surprisingly, they all agreed that teen pregnancy has played a major role in creating the current violent climate we live in,” said Kirk Denson, Executive Director of the MEMa Foundation, the organization he founded to introduce disadvantaged youth to arts education.
The documentary, “Who’s Raising Who?” explores how teen pregnancy leads to the devastating cycle of single parent households, poverty, poor education and lack of fathers in the home – all of which contributes to violent crimes. One of the teens profiled in the documentary brings you closer to what life looks like when the father of a child is a 20-year-old street hustler without a job.
The group of 14 teens, ages 14 through 18, met this summer four days a week, where they conceptualized and produced the documentary.
TechKno Camp 2014
The purpose of this project was to give the teens of our After School Matters/TechKno Camp program an opportunity to express the challenges they face daily on Chicago’s South Side. They chose to encourage one another, and the youth of their communities, to discover their true selves and present it to the world.
The MEMa Studio TechKno Camp 2013
Once again, The MEMa Studio collaborates with The Lighthouse Youth Center on the South Side of Chicago to offer youth an opportunity to produce and perform their very own arts oriented project. Last year it was a short film. This year it's a music video to accompany that short film "Black Beauty". After a Songwriting Class, instructed by Canadian songwriter Melissa Endean, 21 students collaborated with each other to come up with Spoken Word, Rap and Song lyrics. The intended theme of the lyrics are purposely connected to the "Black Beauty" short film written and directed by former classmates during TechKno Camp in the Summer of 2012. The theme and all lyrics are 100% conceptualized written and produced by the students.
This self-affirming music video is their statement of being. We are honored to offer them a platform to express themselves in this artistic manner.
