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Media Camp 2022: From the Margins

2022-1-AT01-KA153-YOU-0000673382022Mobility of youth workersfinalized
Countries: AT|LT|DE|IT|BG · Grant: €34,286
Community developmentCreativity, arts and cultureMedia literacy and tackling disinformation

Objectives

During the organization of the Zine Camp projects for 3 years (2018-2020), we focused mainly on the production of zines (self-made magazines), but each year the interest in other forms of media production grew, as shown by the requested workshops (e.g.: radio workshop, internet security, personalizing mobile app experiences with the creation of own sticker packs for messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal). The challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, required many organizations to increase their knowledge of online formats for meetings and events. We ourselves had to adapt on the fly during Zine Camp 2020 when a group of participants needed to join the project remotely. Having to rethink the whole program and methods to enable such remote participation, while also running the program on site, required a lot of new approaches, brought in new skills and knowledge that we wanted to share with other organizations, as well as deepening these issues ourselves. Developing the Zine Camp formats into a broader, extended Media Camp format seemed like a logical next step. The name of the project, Media Camp 2022 "From the Margins", recognizes both the DIY aspect of media production and the ability to reach niche audiences, which is like being on the margins in relation to the mass media approaches that are central to media production. Therefore, one of the main objectives of the Media Camp project was to help participants develop different media skills to address personal interests, needs of local groups - issues that do not necessarily find space in mass media, such as LGBTIQ+, migration issues, access to services for marginalized groups, etc. Media Camp 2022 was organized to focus on 3 different media forms: zines (self-published magazines) and newspapers, radio and audio formats, video formats and streaming. Based on their interest in a particular medium, participants formed groups that focused on developing small projects in these media forms. Alongside these practical workshops, participants learned more about media theory, copyright and creative commons, and how to teach media skills to their local communities. Youth workers from Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy and Lithuania took part in the project in order to exchange good practices between organizations, as well as to improve the artistic and technological skills of the participants and their media literacy in general, in order to later take them back to their local communities and have an improved toolkit for creative engagement in their local youth groups.

Project partners (5)