The NBPC’s New Media Institute, which held its second training workshop in November, is a vivid example of how public broadcasters can shape the future of public media. NBPC is training professionals in state-of-the-art digital and web tools, to tell powerful stories in new ways. This season’s workshop--held in Jackson, Mississippi, in partnership with Mississippi Public Broadcasting--focused on the culture of the Mississippi Delta region and the impact of American jazz.
NBPC formed teams of filmmakers, new media professionals and web designers based on the participants’ interests and experience to work together to create games, podcasts (like ‘Sojuke,’, which integrates the poetry of Bryonn Bain and Mississippi jazz), mapping projects (Locative Media, which maps markers on the Mississippi Blues Trail) and films (like "Remixing the Blues ‘Africa’", a project that links traditional African music to contemporary jazz and hip-hop).
NMI participants created these original projects in only a week, an amazing feat considering that many of the teams were using these new forms of media for the first time. NBPC Executive Director Jacquie Jones noted that, "One thing we did right was to lay the groundwork with online sessions on everything from the history of the Delta region," to project budgeting, to an overview of the latest digital media tools. The workshop led participants through the production process from start to finish, an experience that can carry over for future projects.
Angela Tucker, of Arts Engine reflected on her experience at NMI, stating that
My eyes were opened to the opportunities that exist within new media. Also, I think the short format is having a renaissance of sorts and I think this is due almost entirely to the internet. NMI really got me thinking more creatively about how to get my work out into the world. I also got some ideas about how to take work that I have already completed and refashioning it for various formats.
Michella Rivera-Gravage, of the Center for Asian American Media commented that often, "…new media projects are more about the technology and lack cultural depth or politically rich content. However, at the NMI there were so many great ideas being shared." The New Media Institute not only informed aspiring new media makers on the latest digital tools, but provided a hands-on, collaborative environment to put this knowledge to use.
You can find more of the NMI projects on the NMI workshop website.
The National Black Programming Consortium, like the Center for Social Media, is part of a group of nonprofit organizations with a common goal: to push forward into the future of public media. In an initiative funded by the Ford Foundation, the group’s work fosters experimentation to forge the public media structures and projects of tomorrow.