“If I had the knowledge, skill, and money to use all the tools in the world, I would start digitally remixing all my short stories and poems…It would also be great if I could animate one of Edgar Allan Poe’s works such as the ‘The Tell Tale Heart’ or ‘The Raven.'” – Monica Chin, mentee alum
Our mentees are defining the digital age, bringing the craft of writing into the 21st century. In our Digital Media Mentoring Program, we boost girls’ tech savvy and creative potential through digital media. In bringing our curriculum and writing approach into the digital age, we prepare the girls we serve to truly be the next generation of writers — on whatever platform they choose.
In the Digitam Media Mentoring Program, mentees create at the intersection of language, technology and art. Workshops, developed with Parsons School of Design, incorporate writing and digital skills such as audio and video editing, and coding. Mentees meet weekly with mentors to write and develop portfolio pieces, which also incorporate new digital media such as Twine (erasure poetry), Audacity (investigative journalism), Scratch (animated graphic novels) and Google SketchUp (playwriting). Mentees present and discuss their work at our annual QWERTY Digital Media Exhibition, which attracts hundreds of attendees and features a panel of successful women media makers. We showcase all mentees’ genre- and medium-bending work in our annual online multimedia anthology. Program participants attend studio workshops, prepare for an interactive exhibition, and publish their work on new media platforms.