Program Description

Yayem Digital Storytelling Project provides youth and mentors diverse in age, race/ethnicity, religion, class, ability, sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation with the support, skills, and equipment they need to create original digital stories.

The stories are part of a storytelling tradition that lives at the heart of human experience – a gripping form of personal communication as ancient as language itself. Since the beginnings of humankind, we have shared through stories the events, beliefs, and values held dear by our families, communities, and cultures.

Who: Youth participants range in age from 11 to 19 and come from a variety of sites, cultures and ethnic backgrounds from all over Canada and the world.

What: Typically a digital story is a two five-minute film that combines a narrated piece of personal writing, photographic images, ambient sound and a musical soundtrack.

Where: We work with youth in a variety of sites including at youth centres and with community groups and our current focus is schools.

When: Classroom visits and workshop dates are scheduled in consultation with and at the convenience of the teacher or community facilitator.

Why: Because we believe digital storytelling has the capacity to break down barriers between youth providing them with an opportunity to get acquainted and come together. Because we believe personal relationships developed through sharing stories will increase empathy, understanding and acceptance. Because we believe relationships between youth and storytelling among youth from across Canada and around the globe has the potential to change our world.

How: Digital storytelling skills are delivered in storytelling workshops by a photographer and adult mentors who work directly with the youth and teachers/facilitators in community. After building the youths’ capacity in digital photography techniques, (Photoshop and basic video editing) mentors support the youth as they create meaningful, multi-media pieces using photographs, ambient sound, narration and music. The outcome – a digital story – is then shared through the program website where youth can watch each others’ videos, engage each other in on-line discussion and learn about each other from each other.

 

How can you help?

Donations: Grants and cash donations assist with the day-to-day operations such as equipment purchase, workshop delivery and website maintenance. Donors can designate their gifts to a specific community and/or site.

Donations of equipment are also appreciated. Specifically; digital cameras with a minimum of five Megapixels, lap or desktop computers with 1.8 GHz or more and the capacity to run Windows XP or a newer operating system, Photoshop and Premiere Elements or Photoshop CS2 and Premiere Pro.

Mentors & Volunteers:

Our mentor/volunteer program is under development and may include the opportunity to assist in the delivery of storytelling workshops, work directly with youth at sites or advise on program development. People interested in becoming mentors or volunteers are encouraged to call us for more information.

Recognition & Benefits:

Donors will be invited to attend an annual recognition event featuring speaks by master photographers and storytellers. Depending on the size of the donation donors may also be invited to attend special events such as the storytelling evening featuring Wade Davis, which was held in April 2007, or our digital storytelling workshops, which are held several times each year. Donors will also be recognized on our website and in our print material. All donations are eligible for a tax receipt.

 

Contact Us

Questions? Please call (604) 682-1408 or stop by our site at:
131 Dunlevy Street
Vancouver, BC
V6A 3A4

Yayem Digital Storytelling Project is inspired by Seattle based Bridges to Understanding.

We’d like to thank the following organizations for their support: