About the Summer Arts Institute

The Tribeca Film Institute has partnered with the New York City Department of Education for the third year to provide the filmmaking component to its acclaimed Summer Arts Institute program. The Summer Arts Institute is a five-week intensive program that allows high school students from around the city to select a discipline – dance, drama, instrumental and vocal music, visual arts, songwriting or photography – and to hone their skills through classes and workshops. TFI has created, implemented, and staffed a five-week filmmaking workshop for selected students as part of the SAI, which is held annually in July and August in Lower Manhattan.

For young people in a diverse city like New York, storytelling through film can be an important tool for self-expression. Students are encouraged to think critically, to identify challenges in the world around them, and to seek solutions. In addition, participants acquire interpersonal and practical skills to help them as they prepare for future scholastic and professional pursuits.

A committee comprised of representatives from TFI and the Department of Education interview and select approximately 20 students, ages 15-18, to participate in the program. SAI Filmmaking Students are then divided into four to five “film crews,” who work together to create an original film. Professional filmmakers and instructors work with each student group to teach basic film production, from conception through post-production. Students select their topics and film their projects at locations around the city under the supervision of their instructors. This year, students will have the opportunity to think broadly about the type of work they are interested in producing. Projects will be thematically linked, allowing the work that the students create to vary – incorporating documentary, narrative, musical and experimental films.

SAI students will work with two instructors, one NYC Department of Education film/video instructor and one Tribeca Film Institute teaching artist. The two instructors will collaborate on both curriculum development and classroom instruction. In addition to the two principal filmmaking workshop instructors, there will also be three teaching assistants – all well versed in creative and technical aspects of filmmaking – who will aid in ensuring that each SAI student has the opportunity to work at their own pace and receive one-on-one attention as they work towards completing their final projects.

In addition, students meet with filmmakers outside of class to learn more about their work and possible career opportunities. The 2005 program featured guest lectures by acclaimed director and cinematographer Albert Maysles and past Tribeca Film Festival directors. Students also join other Summer Arts Institute participants for field trips to theaters, museums, film screenings, and dance/music performances.

By the program’s completion, each student crew has produced a short film, which is screened for other Institute students, friends, and family members.

 

 

For more information about the Summer Arts Institute Filmmaking Workshop, please contact youth@tribecafilminstitute.org