November 9 - Art as Education and Community Media

As I read Jesse Drew's "The Collective Camcorder in Art and Activism", I could not truly understand the work of artists using video as a medium. Of course, I am aware that artists use video as a medium of expression. To help me understand this reading further I searched on the internet for Paper Tiger Television video clips. I was not successful in finding Paper Tiger Television video clips, but found many Deep Dish TV clips on youtube. I was suprised how well produced and executed the videos were. It is interesting how artists and activists use the video as a method of causing awareness about a particular issue. The video clips I viewed were quite compelling and left me wanting to view more. The video clips seemed like documentaries to me. I seemed to have viewed real-life people with real-life stories to tell. There was editing, but each video seemed to have a particlar educational goal. I was more informed about some issues.

It is true that the video is a powerful medium. The media audience adapted to the media as being a major source of information and truth. Media corporations often edit images and information to communicate dominant ideologies. Video collectives or groups tend to focus on the social issues that are not being shown on commercial television. Video collectives also often have public access television within the community, which is a great way of providing an alternative to commerical television. For video artists, commerical televison was closed because their goals were not parallel to the goals of the media corporations.

Video collectives seem to focus more on content than form. Perhaps video collectives are not able to afford the high-tech equipement and have limited funding from ouside resources. With the accessibility of the internet and low-cost video editing programs, video collectives may find it easier to get their work out to the public. I suppose the struggle between the media corporations still exist, but artists always find creative ways to express their thoughts and educate the public on issues that are ignored by the media corporations.

Similar to Deep Dish TV and Paper Tiger Television is a local Toronto internet television network, Regent Park TV. Regent Park is often depicted in the news as a low-income, dangerous and ghettoized neighbourhood. I used to work in this area doing community work and these stereotypes influenced my perception about Regent Park when I started to work in the area. There were some things about the neighbourhood I was not used to, but I could not ignore the fact that there were people and families living in this area that needed help with the same things as other communities. Regent Park TV involves the neighbourhood youth in producing short films about various issues that the community faces. I find that this is a very effective tool to involve the community, build youth confidence and programs. This is activism because of the programs initiative to give voice to the youth and community of Regent Park. I think this is also activism because of the topics and issues the youth and organization choose to focus on. This program must most importantly create a sense of awareness and knowledge among the youth involved.


To view epidsodes of Regent Park TV, visit: http://www.regentpark.tv/


For more information on Deep Dish TV or Paper Tiger Television, please visit the website addreses below.


http://www.deepdishtv.org/


http://papertiger.org/