From the Executive Director

And More. And More. And More.

“California is committed to helping disadvantaged youth prepare for high-quality careers. Through our nation-leading career education efforts, we’re boosting apprenticeships throughout the state and across industries to help young people launch into the right career for them.”

-Governor Gavin Newsom

On July 17, 2024, the California Opportunity Youth Apprenticeship (COYA) grants were announced — $31million dollars in funding across the state to increase pre-apprenticeships and Apprenticeships in healthcare, education, advanced manufacturing, information technology, the public sector, and transportation, and more. AND MORE. Usually AND MORE is an afterthought, the overlooked “yadda yadda yadda” of a sentence. In this case, AND MORE includes media arts + creative technologies, the sector we champion, and the sector persistently excluded from significant government workforce investments. Until now.

Times are changing! Thank you, California, for including DIGITAL MEDIA programs in this workforce funding, for helping us demonstrate the impact of our seven-year commitment to building national Apprenticeship opportunities in our sector through Arts2Work. I’m thrilled to let our community know that the Alliance received a grant of $410,000 from COYA to develop and plan a new Registered Apprenticeship pathway for Digital Archivists and Curators. We are collaborating with an extraordinary group of partners, including the Hip Hop Education Center, Skylight Media, Question Bridge, KALW/Uncuffed, The Last Mile, and Watts Labor Community Action Committee, AND MORE. The funding will also support a Youth Advisory Council and participation from California-based museums, journalists, filmmakers, and creative technologists eager to co-create new models of community-based open archiving and training. We intend to make use of AI tools in ethical ways, foreground creator’s rights, and protect cultural agency, resilience, and access. We intend to build an Apprenticeship pathway for community-trained Digital Archivists and Curators who can be effective stewards of content and culture, supporting new modalities for search, licensing, remixing, training, and exhibition of digital media archives.

The COYA grant program was designed specifically to support young people who have faced barriers to employment, and the Alliance program leverages the network we’ve been building through the Unlocking Creativity Community of Practice. This is the program where we hold space with organizations, filmmakers, teaching artists, and community leaders who work with justice-impacted individuals. We can move into this work with a shared vision and the resources to build some unique new opportunities that will protect and empower our stories and our people for years to come.

If you can imagine one day hiring a Digital Archivist/Curator to work with you and would like to get involved in this initiative, please reach out to me anytime.

Please join the Alliance and take part in Communities of Practice, Arts2Work programs, the Open Archive Initiative, our Youth Media Network, the Innovation Studio, our Power of Storytelling grants, and so much more. 

Have a wonderful Summer of Storytelling.

wendy@thealliance.media

Notes from the Field

Applications Open for Film Frontera’s Filmmaking Grants
Filmmakers from and currently residing in El Paso, Las Cruces, and Juarez have the opportunity to receive grants of $4,000 to assist in the creation of a short film about the Borderland region. The fund specifically seeks to support “new works made by emerging and established women and gender-expansive filmmakers.” Applications must be submitted by August 1st.

Advertisement Produced by NOVAC Now Airing on NBCUniversal
Last December, NOVAC’s creative team participated in the NBCUniversal Creative Impact Lab, which provides grants to nonprofits offering employment to underrepresented communities. As a result of this lab, apprentices Elvira Castillo, A’mya McKnight, and Harley King have created a commercial for the organization Prospera. The commercial highlights Prospera, a nonprofit providing bilingual support for Hispanic entrepeneurs, in their work with Kazumi Garden, a family-run Kokedama business.