Using Journalism, Multimedia and Performing Arts to Create Young Heroes.
Creating Heroes 2010-2011 Brochure
Journalism, Multimedia and Performing Arts are powerful tools through which individuals and groups can be empowered, confidence and social skills can be developed, under represented sections of society can be represented, new identities and content can be created, and a strong platform for people to creatively express their feelings, emotions, thoughts and ideas can be provided.
Who is a Hero? A hero deliberately and courageously overcomes obstacles for the benefit of others without regard to personal consequences.
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Conquered obstacles are the only qualifying credentials of heroes and a measure of one’s own hidden powers. Heroes embrace obstacles as opportunities for growth, utilize fear as a means to show courage, protect and maintain the dignity of their adversaries, crusade compassionately for those unable to speak for themselves, and celebrate diversity for the enrichment of mankind.
Why do we need heroes? We all need inspirational heroes as role models for our lives, businesses, and wider values. Unfortunately, today’s heroes are often sports figures, celebrities, and rock stars whose lives are laced with controversy as well as frequent appearances in courtrooms. Our young adults, however, need exemplary heroes with proven values demonstrating respect for their fellow humans. They need to witness conflict resolution practices ending in peaceful solutions with dignity and respect being preserved for all sides. They need to understand and value a work ethic showing the rewards for diligence and quality coupled with the many benefits of continuing our education throughout our lives.
Forgiveness should preside over revenge, but today this isn’t true. Tolerance should rule over frivolous lawsuits and conflict, but news media reports imply the opposite. Acceptance, learning and respect for another’s diversity should easily outshine the dull residue of prejudice, but currently they do not. This is why we need to create heroes.
What do we do?
How do we do it?
We instil the value of looking within to find inspiration rather than relying on those on the outside. Armed with the weapons of excellence, dignity, and endurance, we teach others the awesome potential of being super-human through mentoring, education, reporting, and positive focus.
We acknowledge the heroes of Journalism, Media, Performing Arts, Politics and Sport from the past. We utilize the skill-set from these same heroes of the present. And then we create the super heroes of Journalism, Media, Performing Arts, Politics and Sport for the future.
The mission is to inspire young people and adults to investigate and challenge the world around them, enhance their personal development and promote their right to make a difference. Using Journalism and Multimedia to tell stories creatively, to engage audiences, to communicate, and to unleash the power that lies within each and every one of us to change things for ourselves.
We find and nurture these heroes in schools, colleges, youth centres, probation services and YOT teams. We go outreach and find these heroes in the streets, in the parks, in the home, and in a variety of hard to reach locations.
“We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we’re in a time when there are no heroes, they just don’t know where to look.” - Ronald Reagan
Attributes of a Hero: Behavior
Change
Vision
Govern yourself by never allowing another’s behavior to negatively influence your conduct. Your actions are always your responsibility; they are never another’s fault. Determine your behavior from your values, from the kind of person you want to be -- never from how others behave toward you.
Encourage positive change, not through criticism, but through your continuous achievements of excellence for all to witness. When criticized by others, offer continual examples of excellence as your only response.
Envision things as wonderful as they can be, not as they are, and then strive to create positive change toward these envisioned goals. All great accomplishments started as a vision that others could not see.
Obstacles
Self-esteem
Compassion
Realise that obstacles are not barriers to your goals, but opportunities for growth and challenges to enrich your self-confidence by mastering new skills. A person having reached a goal without overcoming obstacles has learned nothing and accomplished even less. Conquered obstacles are the only qualifying credentials of heroes and a measure of one’s commitment and leadership.
Enhance one’s self-esteem, not from the opinions of others, but from the compassionate causes one has embraced and the perseverance and courage expended toward their resolve.
Give simply to increase the amount of goodness in the world -- often without recognition or reward. Give more to others than you receive in return, and carefully sustain this inequity as a distinctive characteristic of your leadership.
Courage Honor and respect fear, for it alone offers you an opportunity to demonstrate courage.
Character Without regard to consequences, courageously fulfill the obligations of being human by revering all life, defending the righteous, promoting peace, inspiring compassion, protecting the environment, spreading joy, and sharing your assets* with those less fortunate.
Perseverance
Trust
Conflict
Never give up. Most perceived failures are not failures at all, but instead successfully completed stepping-stones toward a goal. The only time you can fail is if you quit perusing your goals.
Honor all commitments and obligations to everyone. Your pledge should be as meaningful to a king as to a beggar, for the value of a commitment is determined from its source, not to whom it is directed.
While engaging your adversaries always maintain their dignity. This is the only road to lasting peace.
Judging
Recognition
Values
Observe, but never judge. Seek out the differences in others and then celebrate them, for such diversity is the true potpourri of humanity and will enrich you with the knowledge and wisdom of the human experience.
Serve enthusiastically as a spokesperson for the accomplishments and concerns of others. Attentive leaders crusade for the injustices, issues, ideas, and achievements of those less able to speak for themselves and give ample recognition for their origin.
Uphold this Value System, especially under adverse conditions, not to please someone else, but to honor the unfaltering principles within you, to validate your character as the type of person you want to be, and to gradually realize the awesome potential of being human.
Using Journalism and multimedia tools to engage children and young people in decision-making: We live in a digital age. Multimedia tools provide a wealth of new ways to engage young people, explore issues, record views and creatively communicate about the changes young people want to see. Journalism instills an inquisitive approach to investigate and challenge the world around us.
So what is multimedia?
Multimedia
Videos and audio recordings for: TV / Radio / Online / Print / or ALL: Podcasting / Video Casting (using youtube, ustream, vimeo) Print Newsletters / Email news letters Digital photos / photography Interactive maps Online surveys Text messages Electronic voting Online discussion spaces and communities / forums Games
How to use multimedia? Creating, publishing and sharing multimedia online
Building online discussion spaces
e.g. through video sharing websites, interactive mapping sites, blogs and social networks.
where a group can come together to explore an issue, make decisions and plan for action. Discussions can be based around shared media, such as a video or map.
Creating content ie: audio, video, print, online and sharing as podcast, blog, short film, documentary, or radio show. Incorporating a range of media to tell a story or for reporting.
Building communities online where participants can keep in touch and share ideas, interests and views with each other.
Listening keeping track of conversations that are taking place online on a particular issue.
Why use multimedia and social media? There are many reasons to think about adding multimedia tools into the mix when you are exploring how children and young people can be engaged in influencing decisions and creating change.
Engaging and fun Using multimedia tools can turn a participation activity into a fun and engaging project. Reaching more children and young people Online tools and social media can help an individual, a project or an organization to reach out to and engage with more children and young people from across a wider geographical area. They can enable groups to keep in touch between meetings. They can also open up a conversation to children and young people who may not be able to take part in physical participation events and activities.
Fostering creativity Using multimedia tools encourages creative thinking and creative expression. It can allow individuals and groups to explore new ideas in new ways. Creative thinking can lead to new solutions to old problems.
Process and product The process of using multimedia tools to explore an issue can provide a focus and structure for discussion, collaboration and decision-making. Multimedia tools can create a record of that process. Often you will also be working towards a ‘product’ that shares children and young people’s views, insights and experiences on the issues that matter to them.
Accessibility and inclusion Multimedia tools can engage children and young people who may be excluded by other participation methods. They can also be used to work with diverse groups of children and young people. For example, the How To guide on working with children and young people with communication impairments suggests using audio and video recording to engage communication impaired children and young people. Using multimedia tools like video in participation also allows children and young people who may not feel comfortable ‘in front of the camera’ or ‘in the limelight’ of a participation project to take up roles behind the camera or behind the scenes – where they can still have an influence on the process.
A right to different media of expression: Article 13
Offering insights and sharing stories
Article 13 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child gives children and young people the right to express their views and ideas ‘either orally, in writing or in print, or in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice’.
Multimedia tools can give decision makers insight into children and young people’s lived experiences, as well as information about what children and young people think and want.
Authenticity When children and young people’s views are written down by adults in a paper report, a lot of the information shared by children and young people (in tone of voice, body language and phrasing) can be lost. Using multimedia tools to record and share children and young people’s views can help present a more authentic account of what a group want or think about an issue.
More than just participation: added benefits Children and young people can gain new skills: learning to use new technologies; learning about film making and editing; learning about how to produce and publish content online; and building their media literacy skills.
Where does multimedia come in the process? Multimedia and social media can be used in loads of different ways. Our aim is to facilitate the involvement of children and young people to work as strong individuals within a team to create and communicate in a variety of ways We explore how multimedia and Journalism tools fit into exploring proposed outcomes. This is in consultation with the wider group. We motivate young people to explore all creative avenues of expression and to utilize the fun, interactive and affordable ways they can create media.
The 7 Cs of multimedia for participation: This list can help demonstrate what Multimedia, Journalism tools and social media can be used for:
Context Setting
Consultation
Campaigning
Introducing discussions and providing key information and insights about an issue.
Using the internet and interactive tools to ask for children and young people’s views in dynamic and accessible ways. Also getting out and about recording vox pops, surveys, interviewing.
Engaging with a wider range of people to convince them of the need for changes and gain their support for change.
Collaboration
the goal of participation and something that can be celebrated through multimedia and social media.
Creativity and creative expression Engaging children and young people and exploring and expressing ideas in different creative media.
Conversation Starting and hosting discussions in the spaces where children and young people are active.
Providing a space (online) where children and young people can work together across boundaries.
Change
“I have a great deal of respect 4 the power that the arts can have. Aesthetics are often more accessible than sterile intellectual treatments & if these two communication mediums are combined, they can have an incredibly powerful effect.� - Peter Joseph
Utilizing the arts Performance Arts, culture and creative media have always gone hand in glove with activism and social movements looking towards change.
The Arts
As writer and activist Arundhati Roy has said, writers and artists are almost morally obliged during times like these to take a stand and reflect on what is happening in the world around them. Perhaps most importantly there is a huge untapped possibility for using arts and creative educational media to help engage children and the younger generation with the critical issues of our time. They are not only the ones who will inherit the mess created by previous generations, but also the ones who most need a voice to help us all transcend the current crisis.
FLASHBACK EXAMPLE Back in 1992, at the first Earth Summit in Rio, a 12-year-old Seven Suzuki made an impassioned plea to the assembled on behalf of children around the world, leaving many in the audience visibly shaken. It later transpired that her speech had a major impact on many world leaders. Maybe we can use creative media to encourage more youth leaders to make such an impact in our current climate?
So by also incorporating the arts into our remit... We at Creating Heroes recognize just how capable and undervalued the younger generation can be. Through use of performance arts and with input from both established and up and coming talents from various specialisms, we strive towards nurturing and then
unleashing raw talents. In particularly of those growing numbers who are falling through the gaps as society, family, schools and the many religious institutions struggle to stay in tune with a shifting world order. It’s about seeing what happens when unique individuals are given the creative freedom to surprise, delight and shock us with their potential, and thereby valuing the real essence of diversity today. We have been building effective links across a wide remit, and continue to work closely with a network of local authority inclusion teams, schools and other agencies dealing with alternative provision. We aim to pay particular focus on young people who, despite any circumstances and adversity, show signs of talent and individuality - be it through their passion, enquiring mind and curiosity, or through their untapped
potential if not through proven academic achievement.
 Our radar for spotting spark is second to none. Our ability to find and unleash the super hero that we strongly believe lies within us all... again, is proving to be second to none! Look out for the multimedia content to be showcased across all the http:// www.creatingheroes.org social networking sites. And look out for the growing number of well-known celebrity names who will be joining our movement to inspire super heroes of today... to become the super heroes of tomorrow.
“In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change It.� - Ernst Fischer
Superhero Peer Support: Our intervention seeks to empower a movement towards which young people themselves proactively seek to make positive changes to their wider environment, armed with the skills and the confidence to do so. We also believe that peer support provides those who naturally possess the will to help and be involved in our wider commitment, an opportunity to give back what they have learnt and feel a sense of purpose in their daily existence. Peer support is based on the fact that young people most often seek out other young people when they are experiencing some concern or worry. Peer helping relies strongly on communication to encourage self-exploration and decision-making. Much of our Youth & Community experiences have taught us that rather than encouraging a reactionary response to problem solv-
ing, preventative methods are far more effective in minimizing risk behaviors and situations. Much of this can be hard to reach for service professionals and so by encouraging a community spirit amongst young people themselves an effective avenue of support opens up. Peer helpers/supporters are NOT professional counsellors or therapists, they are young people who offer supervised support to other young people to help them think through and reflect on concerns, which they may be experiencing. Peer helpers are given training to provide a non-judgmental, active approach to listening, which encourages others to express and explore their frustrations. The basis of any peer support network is the understanding that those involved have similar characteristics to those being helped, for example in age or life experience.
How can Peer Supporters help? Peer helpers may be involved in any of the following: Helping young people with learning. Helping younger or new pupils. Assisting with topics of concern to other pupils. Assisting pupils in resolving disputes. Helping others to sort out concerns, brainstorm ideas & offer practical help. Reaching out to lonely or troubled pupils. Providing the benefit of their own life experience + motivation towards change, utilizing multimedia tools or simply through the art of honest, heartfelt communication.
So why do you need us? We are a network of dedicated creative professionals from all areas of Media and the Arts all coming together with one aim in mind: To motivate, inspire, and create the future super heroes of Multimedia, Journalism and the Performing Arts. Whether the aim is to engage individuals 1:1 or to facilitate group based training and interventions, we are the team to call to tailor a program to suit individual and collective needs. Each of our training facilitators is hand picked and brought on board for their super-hero status in their specialist areas of expertise. Each of them is actively involved in the creative industries and operate both independently and on behalf of a range of organizations. They are in positions to be able to offer more than just consultation and training and can also provide real-life advice and
information for those seeking careers in similar fields and may also be able to provide opportunities for placements and work experience. As a minimum they will instil a thirst for knowledge and encourage you to be inquisitive about wider issues around us all.
list of names and contacts each of our industry supporter’s offer is growing by the day. We are also firmly linked in to PR teams and management companies who regularly provide unique opportunities during a range of industry promotions.
In addition to our training facilitators we have built up a network of industry mentors from every known area of expertise, and from a range of industries who will offer their time and their valued contact as part of our intervention. Opportunities to visit them whilst in their studio, on set, on tour, on stage or simply joining them during a day of leisure.
As ever-growing super-heroes ourselves, we also look back at our own unique journeys that led towards the path we now find ourselves on. We recognize the obstacles and the challenges facing the next generation of potential super-heroes and we feel it is our responsibility to go beyond the call of duty to motivate, inspire and support the young individuals who may need a helping hand to unleash the hidden powers that lie within them all. We help shift the focus on potential rather than limitations.
Both up and coming and established Filmmakers, Producers, Directors, Presenters, Music artists, Journalists, Actors, Fashion designers, Artists, Poets, Writers, and Sports personalities are part of our pool of mentors. And the
“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.� - Bruce Lee
GET INVOLVED...CONTACT...SUPPORT...INSPIRE... BE INSPIRED...SPREAD THE WORD...! TOPICS OF SPECIALISM: Current Affairs, Arts, Entertainment, Cinema, Music, Celebrity, International News, Politics, Society, Gangs, Drugs, Law & Crime, Identity and Culture, Sexuality, Health & Beauty, Media & Leisure, Sport, Family & Relationships, Technology, Religion & Spirituality, Environment, The natural world, Education, Young people & Rights.
OUR COMMITMENT: We are dedicated to our existence as a community interest company providing a range of corporate and community based media training and production. We will create innovative content with the potential of being commissioned or showcased via a range of avenues. We
are committed to working in partnership with local, national and international groups who share similar ideals and ethically look towards inspiring positive change both locally and across wider parameters. Our students will be mentored towards using our intervention as a gateway towards building a career in Media or Performance Art, and gaining accredited qualifications, or will simply use the experience to build a more enhanced appreciation and understanding of the world around them. At the very least, they will find the super hero that lies within us all. http://www.creatingheroes.org Contact: info@creatingheroes.org for all enquiries.
Associates:
LOOK OUT FOR creatingheroes.org on your travels as we:
BRING a range of featured multimedia links with the many heroes (and villains!) of our time- past, present + future. Feel free to suggest us your list of names... HOST debates, chat shows, seminars, events, showcases, theatre projects, and performances. PROVIDE mediation, mentoring, life coaching, advice, information, and links with partnership agencies and projects tailored to diverse needs. ENCOURAGE community spirit, cohesion, proactive effort, support, creativity, understanding, empathy, peer support, opportunities, accountability. STRIVE to motivate, inspire, nurture, communicate, develop, grow, improve.
Acknowledgements: http://www.nya.org.uk/ http://www.practicalparticipation.co.uk/ http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/ http://www.changemakers.org.uk/
And for our love of super heroes: http://www.marvel.com/ http://www.superherodb.com/
IMPORTANT INFO FOR COMMISSIONERS: http://publications.everychildmatters.gov.uk/ eOrderingDownload/00335-2010DOM-EN.pdf
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