Local Quad City teens spend their Spring Break gaining resume and career skills while creating PSAs and Videos for local non profits Closest2Closet and Food Rescue Partnership.
Instead of sitting on the beach, these teens are learning to create and collaborate.
March 15, 2018 - Rock Island, IL: Since their move to the campus of Augustana College in 2016, Fresh Films has been giving local teens the chance to gain career experience in film through its week-long summer programs and 1-day filmmaking camps. Now the non-profit film production company has a new project for for Quad City teens, benefitting local non-profits this Spring Break.
The new Fresh Films Quad City Spring Break program pairs up Scott County teens with two local non-profits, Closet2Closet and the Food Rescue Partnership. The teens’ challenge: To create a short video and PSA for each organization in just 5 days over Spring Break. The program runs March 19-23, with PSAs airing on KWQC TV-6 beginning in May. The program is free to both participating teens and the selected non-profits thanks to grant support from Regional Development Authority and a grant from Q2030.
These videos will help support Closet2Closet and the Food Rescue Partnership by giving them valuable tools for their marketing and fundraising needs, while providing real-life technical and media-making experience for local Scott County teens. The organizations were selected based on applications outlining their missions and the value that these videos would bring to the non-profits.
“We also selected these organizations because they are great examples of individuals identifying an issue in their community and working to make it better,” noted Estlin Feigley, the program’s Executive Director.
Participants come from the Creative Arts Academy and Boys & Girls Clubs of the Mississippi Valley, as well as other local schools. These teens will learn the ins and outs of storytelling and production as they work closely with Closet2Closet and the Food Rescue Partnership to create videos that will reach their respective audiences to drive awareness and involvement. On set, the teens will rotate through all key filmmaking positions while being mentored by Fresh Films professionals. The video created for the non-profit will be used in local marketing and fundraising efforts and the PSA will also air on KWQC TV-6 beginning in May.
“Teens care deeply about causes and non profits need more avenues to tell the story of their extraordinary work. Combining the two – while giving teens needed career skills – is a serious win-win,” says Matt Mendenhall, CEO Regional Development Authority, and one of the supporters of the project.
Like in all Fresh Films programs, teens in the Quad City Spring Break program will gain career skills and career exposure on a real project, with a real client that will air publicly. The practical, technical experience grows the teen’s problem solving, communication, collaboration, work ethic and leadership skills while exposing them to real needs in the community.
About Fresh Films:
Now based at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., Fresh Films has been engaging youth behind the camera and creating youth-targeted TV shows, films and original content since 2002—all purposed to make a difference in young lives. Other films include The Stream a coming-of-age family comedy benefitting Boys & Girls Clubs of America and featuring Mario Lopez (Extra), Kelly Rutherford (Gossip Girl), Christopher Gorham (Covert Affairs) and Rainn Wilson (Backstrom); and “Detectives Club,” a science TV show for kids. Fresh Films is the non-profit arm of Dreaming Tree Films. More information is at www.fresh-films.com.
Together with Augustana College faculty, Fresh Films helped launch Augustana College’s new Entertainment & Media Industries immersive minor, which offers both academic courses and hands-on internships to prepare students for leadership roles in the $695B Media & Entertainment Industry. Information on the program is available at www.Augustana.edu
