Date: July 2005 > January 2010
Client: NYC Parks & Recreation, City Parks Foundation
Services: Multimedia Educator and Facility Coordinator
Take Me to the River
on location in Prayagraj (Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh, India
A documentary about the largest gathering in the history of the world, the Maha Kumbh Mela. Occurring in four overlapping twelve year cycles in four different locations (Allahabad, Ujjain, Haridwar, and Nasik), the Kumbh Mela is a Hindu pilgrimage festival organised around bathing in sacred rivers. The dates of the royal baths, called “sahi snaan” are determined according to astrology, usually falling on new moons, full moons and eclipses. On those most auspicious dates, tens of thousands of people attend the festival believing they will wash away lifetimes of karma in these rivers.
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10/2007 – 01/2010 on-site |
Hamilton Fish Recreation Center (Lower East Side, Manhattan) Computer Resource Center (CRC)/ RECYouth (Reel Education & Communication for Youth) Coordinator & Multimedia Teacher: ï Coordinated Multimedia Education Program Development in a community based computer lab, maintaining facility of 10 iMAC G4s, 12 Dell PCs, printers, scanners, photography/digital AV production equipment. ï Developed & Implemented Curriculum for elementary school aged youth (After School Program), teens (RECYouth multimedia program), adults and seniors learning computer basics, media literacy, multimedia skills, including: digital photography, stop motion / Flash animation, electronic music, video production, web / graphic design, and Social Media. ï Established and maintained partnerships with alternative education programs at City As School High School, Henry Street Settlement, New Museum, Rhizome and the MIX NYC ìA Different Takeî LGBTQ Video Production Program. ï Developed student assessment rubric tracking system, implemented by other RECYouth staff. ï Trained staff individually and through presenting at staff development workshops; managed interns. ï Authored DVDs, developed and maintained websites, created online galleries of studentsí productions, guided participants in setting up YouTube Channels. ï Co-produced multimedia showcase events, screenings and exhibits. ï Brought in volunteer mentors, guest teachers and multimedia presenters from the local community. ï Led Elementary and Middle School Students (in our After-School Program) to create a comic book about recycling, which got the attention of NYC Parks & Recreationís upper management, resulting in their providing our park with recycling bins and scheduling weekly pick-ups for the recyclables we collected around our park. ï Facilitated the production of student multimedia projects: over 35 videos, over 40 music tracks, several photography / graphic art portfolios and websites. |
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07/2007 – 02/2008 on-site |
Chelsea Recreation Center, CRC / RECYouth headquarters (Manhattan) RECYouth Administrative Assistant ï Reorganized hard-drives to create archive of all multimedia content produced since 2003. ï Developed archival file naming conventions now used throughout all RECYouth Centers. ï Developed multimedia marketing materials, including copy writing, website & brochure design. |
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07/2007 – 12/2007 on-site |
Sunset Park (Brooklyn) & Tony Dapolito Recreation Centers (West Village) RECYouth (Reel Education & Communication for Youth) Coordinator & Multimedia Teacher ï Taught Elementary to High School aged students: digital photography, stop motion animation, electronic music and video production. ï Trained the Computer Resource Center (CRC) coordinator to implement the RECYouth multimedia curriculum upon my departure, ie. promotion. |
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07/2007 – 08/2007 on-site |
Sunset Park Recreation Center (Brooklyn) Summer 2007 Girlsí Photography Program Teacher ï Taught a group of student Interns (Summer Youth Employment Program) digital photography (manual settings for focus, aperture, shutter speed, and depth of field) with Sony a100 SLR cameras & Photoshop. ï Facilitated production of print and web portfolios ï Curated exhibition at Directorís Guild Theater during the 4th RECYouth Multimedia Festival. |
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07/2007 – 12/2007 on-site |
City Parks Foundation, Hook Productions, Youth Technology Program at Red Hook Recreation Center (Brooklyn, NY) Web Development Consultant & Teacher ï Developed Flash mp3 player and slideshows to showcase studentsí work online ï Taught basic HTML & CSS to Summer Youth Employment Program interns, enabling them to create their own profile pages. |
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07/2005 – 12/2006 on-site |
City Parks Foundation, Hook Productions, Youth Technology Program at Red Hook Recreation Center (Brooklyn, NY) Co-Coordinator / Video & New Media Teacher ï Developed multimedia curriculum & equipment base for startup youth media production house. ï Taught camera skills, video editing, graphic / web design to youth aged 13-18. ï Projects included: producing documentary shorts about Red Hook, Brooklyn, specifically how the neighborhood is affected by waterfront redevelopment, gentrification and police brutality within the NYC Housing Projects. ï Authored DVDs and developed website to showcase student work. ï Gave outreach presentations at neighborhood schools and community organizations. |
Student Productions I facilitated:
- Gentrification Stories (working title) A series of shorts exploring the effects of gentrification on Lower East Side and East Village businesses.
- Rachel. Dir. Michael Mendoza. 2009, narrative video, color, sound, 5 min. A young woman remembers being molested by her father and kicked out of her house by her mother. Having survived these traumas, she now has the opportunity to look towards the future.
- Lippy. Dir. Aisha Abdullah. 2009, experimental video, color, sound, 5 min. Young people of different shapes, sizes, colors, races, and genders stand in front of a blank wall. Black and white fast and slow-moving images combine to form this meditation on humanity.
- The Decision. Dir. L.S. Serrano. 2009, narrative video, color, sound, 5 min. Alex is a gay, undocumented, Latino immigrant who is trying to find his place in New York City. He is in a relationship with a boy named Ryan, but after hearing that his transgendered friend has been deported, he faces a tough decision: Should he stay in his relationship and risk the same fate? Or find a woman and deny who he really is?
- How it Ends. Dir. Victoria Ruiz. 2009, narrative video, color, sound, 5 min. A young lesbian, Chichi tries to survive high school and find love. With her best friend’s encouragement, she starts to flirt with the popular girl, who has a boyfriend. Her classmates had already been taunting her for being gay, but now she could be in even bigger danger.
- Just Disappeared. Dir. Michael Place. 2009, documentary video, color, sound, 5 min. This is the trailer for a documentary in which filmmaker Michael Place uses his personal experiences as an entryway into a larger exploration of NYC’s foster care system. In this segment, Place focuses on his own journey: from being taken away from his school after opening up about his mother’s drug addiction to speaking in from of classmates, friends, teachers, and family members at his high school graduation. He combines footage of important moments, like a hug with his mom at graduation, and interviews with family members and neighbors from his past.
- Chill With Me. Dir. Ham Fish SYEP, lyrics & vocals: Kenneth Blassingame, Music: Shawn Richardson, Editor: Samuel Banfield. 2009 music video, color sound, 04:04mins
- Boys Will Be Boys Dir. Ashley Nieves Questioning a diverse array of students at City as School High School in New York City’s West Village, filmmaker Ashley Nieves attempts to answer, What is it that makes boys more distracted and not as successful in school?
- The Train Incident. Dir. Shawn Richardson. Desperate times cause for desperate measures when it comes to subway travel, however unfortunate the implications.
- The Season. Dir. Christian Herrera. 20 seconds of Inspiration.
