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Community Media Day is an annual celebration of voices that
brings awareness to the importance of free speech and
accessible media for all individuals to have their
voices heard.
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October 18, 2024 | In Celebration of Community Media Day! | |
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Greetings Community!
On October 20, 2023, Mayor Gary Christenson proclaimed October 20 to be "Community Media Day" in Malden, a "day to promote the importance of community media and that Urban Media Arts (UMA) plays a vital role in the building of our community by encouraging conversations about our common interests, increasing discourse around policy issues, fostering understanding of local cultures, and sharing information to improve our lives. "
| This e-newsletter describes what community media is, offers examples, and invites you to consider how media in our community can offer individual and collective benefit. | |
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A Young Person’s Perspective on Community Media | |
Aliyah Dominguez is UMA's Civic Engagement Specialist. She works closely with the City of Malden to ensure meetings and important City information is shared through UMA's channels. | |
By Aliyah Dominguez
I’m not afraid to tell the truth: most people my age and younger do not know what community media is. My generation grew up with media access at our fingertips. We have been bombarded with information since childhood. Access to iPhones and laptops and social media have deemed us digital natives. Sure, we might be the most connected generation ever, but not in the ways that count.
In reality, this age of technology has driven us farther apart. Online, it’s all about app earance. Children look up to and try to emulate YouTube stars they know nothing about and don't yet have the cognitive function to criticize. Teenagers are always trying to amend their Instagram feeds to fit their perfect aesthetic. Every post, every like and every comment are an attempt to form a persona. Few are the spaces where authenticity is truly valued.
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Community Media is true connection. In my time here at Urban Media Arts, I have met so many eager and inspired creators. Community Media centers are spaces where people can show up as themselves and create something that has meaning in their communities. In the few months I’ve been here, I’ve met creators as young as 11 years old to seasoned creators who have spent decades hosting their own shows. Community media offers connection through education, entertainment, government etc... There is a never-ending pool of knowledge available, and not just from random online people, it’s from citizens right in your own town; From your neighbors and teachers and elected officials.
I think it would be a beautiful thing if younger people looked to these spaces to connect with each other; to forge and build stronger relationships among themselves and their cities and towns. To build a place where one truly belongs and has value, and has the ability contribute to something greater than oneself. Our connections with each other have strayed in the endless scroll. Every post is overshadowed by millions of other posts, never to be seen again. In community media, what we create makes a lasting impression: it’s your neighbor who watches the local channel, your principal who listens to the student run podcast, your friends who watch and participate in your game show. Community Media is more than just a post.
So, my message to young people follows as such: We have mastered the ability to create and digest media. We have mastered technological savviness. And yet there still seems to be something missing. The time now has come to master another, perhaps more valuable resource: community. It’s time to ditch the artificial online connection and find connection amongst each other, in our own communities. Afterall, that's all we have at the end of the day: each other.
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What Community Media Can Do | |
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Enable a Network of Relationships & Learning
Award-winning filmmakers Anthony Martinez, Anders Johnson, and Jamie Elliott collaborated with UMA to offer a Master Class for directors, filmmakers, and film enthusiasts. They screened two films that were recorded at UMA, facilited discussion with the actors, director, and audience.
| This master class brought various people together to learn about filmmaking, access resources, and build new connections in the industry and community. It also allowed the filmmakers of Episode 313 input for their proof of concept horror film. | Tony and Anders continue to collaborate with UMA, offering workshops at UMA, most recently to students of the Gifford School. | |
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Inform and Engage on Civic Matters
Urban Media Arts (UMA) has partnered with the City of Malden and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council to help get word out about Malden’s Climate Action Plan (CAP). UMA provided a professionally made film summarizing the Climate Action Plan, provided animated shorts created by college intern Sarah Harris, and engaged high school interns to produce various media reflecting on this climate action plan and related topics. All this is available on UMA's Climate Action page.
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The Climate Action Plan presentation to the Committee of the Whole recorded by Aliyah Dominguez, UMA's Civic Engagement Specialist. | | |
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Enable Creative Expression for All
UMA member Jacob Grant (left) produces a podcast called "Jacob's Music Corner." One of his guests was Leif Manheim (right). Leif shared that, though he has Williams Syndrome and has some challenges with daily life, he plays four instruments, writes songs, cut a CD, and he loves being on stage.
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Ten Years of Citizen Journalism | |
A powerful form of community media, particularly as local news outlets are diminishing, is citizen journalism, "the collection, dissemination, and analysis of news and information by the general public, especially by means of the internet." | |
Collette Lauture, former Emerson College intern at UMA, is now a senior with many wonderful media experiences under her belt, including an internship at WNBC New York this summer. | |
In 2014, Anne D'Urso-Rose, UMA Associate Director, and professional journalist Sam Baltrusis launched Neighborhood View with a goal to serve as a quality source of local news in Malden and to create a more engaged citizenry by training and nurturing local residents to report on what is happening in Malden. | Since its inception, the program has trained over 100 individuals in the art of citizen journalism, helped launch the careers of young journalists, published over 400 articles, received accolades form former news outlets like DigBoston.com, and most recently earned acceptance as member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, a national organization that supports and connects local news initiatives across the country. | UMA is proud of this important program that continues to hone its capacity to amplify community voices and foster greater civic engagement. | |
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An In the UMAverse production. Kelli Collomb, Kobena Bonney, Aylat Lifshitz and James Norris discuss what it's like to navigate the world with their disability and what changes they would like to see as awareness of disability rights (hopefully) progresses. In the UMAverse is a production of Urban Media Arts (UMA) based in Malden, MA.
We are working on increasing our accessibility for individuals with disabilities. in addition to conducting a focus group to learn more about what individuals with disabilities in Malden would like us to change, offer, and do to increase their connectedness and allow them channels of expression that are meaningful. Email us if you are interested in being part of this focus group.
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"Free Speech Week is an annual, nonpartisan celebration of freedom of speech and of the press." | | |
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As an interconnected hub of creativity and dialog in our community we, feel we have a great deal to celebrate this year. From the 10-year anniversary of our Citizen Journalism program, Neighborhood View, to the multitude of community group members we are assisting in learning how to use our facility and equipment to amplify their voice in the community.
Your voice matters, and UMA is here to ensure that you have the resources, training and opportunities to amplify it.
--Tina LeGarde, Exeutive Director of Urban Media Arts
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