The Young Filmmakers Program places leading Northwest filmmakers, animators, video producers, and multimedia artists in school and community settings throughout Oregon for hands-on activities lasting from two weeks to an entire academic year. Sites may include traditional school classrooms, talented and gifted and special education programs, social service agencies, arts organizations, after-school programs, Indian tribes, training and employment programs, alternative learning centers, public institutions, and other sites involved in community education and the arts.

Artist residencies are an opportunity for participants to work intimately with a Media Artist on a mediamaking project drawn from the school curriculum or local issues in the community. With the guidance of a filmmaker-in-residence, participants work together to produce an original film or videotape, taking an active part in research, scriptwriting, acting, staging, and the use of recording, lighting, and editing equipment.

Residency Impact
Artist residencies build skills in writing, organization, visualization, performance, information synthesis and presentation, and group decision making. Participants utilize technology in an affirming way as they are introduced to professional practices in the communication arts and learn that television and Hollywood are only part of a broader spectrum of work, which can inform, entertain, and enrich their lives.

In school settings, residencies facilitate the teaching of core concepts and basic skills in social studies, mathamatics, reading and language arts, the arts, the sciences, technology, career-related learning, and other areas. As knowledgeable experts in the topic areas their production explores, students readily demonstrate their understanding of a subject through their completed film/video. In some instances, the work also becomes a resource for the community at large through circulation to libraries, community groups and other venues.