Placing a camera in the hands of a minority girl and empowering her to tell her own stories can be life changing. Black Girl Film School will provide a rich online multimedia learning program to teach underserved minority girls how to master the technology and technical tools of film production as early as middle school. We need 24 video camera kits so that our learners can complete the BGFS training program using the proper technology and equipment.
Data shows that Black females make up less than 3% of college faculty. That percentage is halved if we only consider fine art teachers in middle school & high school or professors teaching in college/university film programs. On the other end of the pipeline, when Black females do work professionally in the film industry they are given the fewest opportunities to lead. In the last 13 years, out of 1300 top grossing films only 13 were directed by women of color. There's a pipeline problem.
BGFS provides the curriculum, online learning platform, subject matter experts, technology training, access to equipment and learning opportunities for minority girls in underserved communities to learn filmmaking. The learners are taught critical digital literacy skills, their families are empowered to support learning in new ways and minority girls are educated to major in STEAM focused majors so that they can work and lead in the industry behind the camera.
In ten years we can train 2500 girls using our BGFS curriculum, a media rich online learning platform and access to video production equipment. We're providing a college prep quality film education for a fraction of the cost of a college credit hour. We focus on tech training and building a strong community that will support one another and down the road, that will create a larger pool of qualified experienced Black females that can be hired and lead in diverse organizations.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
