Make a Commercial

youth, families

You see hundreds of advertisements every day—now you can make your own! As you write, edit and shoot your own original commercial, you’ll learn how different persuasive techniques are used in advertising. You’ll also break down how people, products and ideas are represented, learning how to distinguish fact from fiction in commercials.

LAMPlatoon

all

Talk back to advertising when you remix or ‘break’ existing television commercials with your own observations and ideas about what is happening in the ad. You’ll learn basic video editing skills while honing your advertising literacy skills. Once your broken commercial is complete, it can be added to the LAMPlatoon project, joining the grassroots education and empowerment movement demanding responsible media messages.

Watch LAMPlatoon At Maker Faire 2011

Download LAMPlit: The LAMPlatoon Wants You!

Make a PSA

youth

Make your voice heard about issues that matter to you when you create your own PSA! Also known as Public Service Announcements, PSAs are often used to raise awareness about a particular issue like hunger or bullying, and are sometimes used to communicate emergency procedures and alerts. In this workshop, you’ll learn how PSAs catch your attention, send information and persuade, and put them to work when you create your own video, audio or print PSA.

Watch “Words Hurt Anywhere” anti-bullying PSA created with New York City Commission on Human Rights

What’s in the News?

youth, families There are exciting things happening all around you, and now it’s your chance to decide what is newsworthy and what is not. Make your very own print or digital newspaper, radio or video broadcast to discover how and why news items are made. Download LAMPlit: Check Out the News!

News on TV and Video

youth, families

Learn about broadcast TV and other forms of video news as you create your own video news story. You choose what to report and how to report it when you learn what goes on behind the scenes in newsgathering and news production.

Watch LAMP Kids News Show at PS 107 – starring Nataelle, Lucas, Kristina and Christopher

Reporting and Podcasting

youth, families Reporting the news changes when it is heard and not seen!  Find out how when you produce your own news podcast.

Video Poem

youth

Explore how sounds and images work together when you make a video poem. Use your original artwork and writing to learn how they can be edited together to make a piece of multimedia art.

Watch Mammals v. Robots: Video Poem at Prospect Park YMCA

Making Pictures, Telling Stories

youth Learn the basics of storytelling, editing and images when you take photographs that tell a visual story. You know what order the pictures should be in—but when others look at them, what story do they see? How does changing the order change the story?

Documentary and Non-fiction Video

youth

Using a subject of your choice, write and shoot your own short documentary video. Explore the different ways that documentaries can be used, along with some basic video editing techniques.

Watch Answer with Action – Trashing God’s Living Room

Medium Literacy: Different Media, Different Tools

youth Journalists, artists, public officials, advertisers and storytellers use different media to communicate with us on a regular basis, but what they have to say depends on the medium they use to say it—whether it’s a text message, video, print article, photo, website or audio medium like radio or podcast. Understand how and why different media are used to shape information, persuade, socialize and teach when you explore and create a variety of messages through different media platforms.

Healthy Digital Relationships

youth, families Learn how to make smart choices on the Internet when we discuss issues such as how to maintain privacy and security, Internet etiquette, games on the web, learning on the web, viral videos and more.

Download LAMPlit: Guide to Healthy Digital Relationships

LAMPcamp

youth

The LAMP can build a one- or two-week camp experience for youth in various age groups: 5-7, 8-10, middle school, and teenagers. Full-day camp programs have participants exploring video, podcasting, news, neighborhood media scavenger hunts, and digital media. As appropriate, participants focus on various media-related themes: gender, nutrition, sustainability, health and wellness.

Watch LAMPcamp on News 12

All of the tracks listed above—news, advertising and video–can be tailored as family-focused workshops. In addition we offer:

Family Media Scavenger Hunt

families

Families gather in a popular neighborhood location, get their maps and their guides, then travel as family units into different parts of the neighborhood. The goal? Noticing, exploring, and recording all of the media messages and technologies that surround them which perhaps they hadn’t noticed before. It’s an eye-opening experience.

View the 1st Annual Family Media Scavenger Hunt Flickr album

Family Video Workshop

families

The whole family comes together to make a video memory. Shoot and edit a video of parents and children interviewing each other, sharing favorite memories and stories, or doing whatever the family likes to do together. Families will create a lasting record to be enjoyed now and forever.

Watch The LAMP Family Videos – Ramos Family

Family Digital Media Workshop

families

Parents and children together explore how they use digital media and how they talk about it and use it at home for school, work and social networking. Families consider the different uses of these media and establish appropriate, realistic house rules for media use.

Download LAMPlit: Beginners Guide to Going Online

Professional Development

educators

The LAMP offers professional development workshops for teachers and other leaders interested in learning how to implement media literacy components into their classroom or community. Workshops range from those which focus on foundational media literacy skills to those which focus on specific media literacy skills in advertising, news and digital media.

View the Digital Remix Workshop with MOUSE and The LAMP Flickr album

About The Scholarship

The Beverly Stanton McKenna Scholarship Fund was announced September 24, 2012 at The LAMP’s fifth-anniversary gala. Representing the shared vision of Ms. McKenna and The LAMP for increased diversity in media, the scholarship is awarded annually to one student at either Dillard University or Xavier University entering their final year of a journalism or communications program. The scholarship recipient is determined by Ms. McKenna and the Board of The LAMP. Read the original press release announcing the scholarship.

About Beverly Stanton McKenna

As a young girl, McKenna dreamed of a career in journalism and communications. Limited opportunities for African-Americans in the field at that time, however, caused her to major in English instead of journalism at Indiana University. But McKenna continued to study and kept a close eye on the role and significance of the Black press in the African-American community. Prior to founding The New Orleans Tribune, McKenna had been a high school English teacher in Washington D. C. She also was public information officer for the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands. McKenna is particularly proud to have been able to provide employment and training opportunities for the many young African-Americans who have passed through the Tribune’s doors in the last 25 years. She is also pleased when readers label The Tribune as a true “voice of integrity” for New Orleans’ African-American community.

How to Apply

Eligible students are encouraged to apply during the spring semester prior to their final year at Dillard or Xavier. Applications are due on April 1 and the scholarship winner will be announced by July 1. All applications must be submitted electronically to info@thelampnyc.org; no late applications will be accepted. Questions about the application process should be emailed to info@thelampnyc.com and include “McKenna Scholarship” in the subject line; no phone calls please. The application will be available in early 2013. Please watch this space for details.

Watch the Scholarship Announcement