For the Digital Media Mentoring Program’s first studio workshop of the year, Girls Write Now partnered with Urban Word NYC — a fellow member of the HIVE network — to create a workshop that helped blend the worlds of video storytelling and written narrative. The workshop, “Citizen Media,” focused on how writing and other creative forms of expression can help democratize society, bringing voices that need to be heard into the public sphere.
As part of the workshop, Urban Word’s Creatively College Bound Coordinator, Erica Fabri, led a writing session in which mentees explored the power of form as a vessel for personal expression and ideas. Ranging from the essayistic personal statement required in many college applications to a more poetic personal statement rooted in imagery and lyric, mentees explored the creative approaches they felt were most natural in expressing their voices. As an extension of form, Fabri teamed up with DK Wright, Urban Word’s Digital Media Specialist, to film each mentee reading her poetic personal statement for use in future projects. Take a look at Thasfia Chowdhury’s fierce, spirited and moving piece:
Our digital program is whipping up quite a year, so stay tuned for more snippets and samples that will take your breath away.