Media In Action Curriculum

The product of over two decades of experience, Global Action Project's Media In Action Curriculum is available here for free download. Grab it, read it, use it, adapt it, and tell us how it worked (or didn't) for you.

Global Action Project developed the Media In Action Curriculum through its after-school media arts programs and, more recently, its Media in Action trainings. Media in Action runs multi-day, intergenerational trainings for community organizers who want to harness the power of youth media to move their work further, faster. To learn more about Media in Action or to find out how to participate in a training, visit our Media in Action page.

How to Use

This curriculum is a rough guide, not a blueprint. Think of it as a foundation on which to build your own house. The workshops as rendered here capture a moment in the evolving history of our work. We want you and your work to be a part of this evolution. Adapt these pieces to fit your own needs, then tell us about it!

A note about this site's functionality: The curriculum is most useful when used online as PDF files, rather than as paper copies. Most of the resources referenced in the PDFs are available for download via html links. We recommended that you visit the links now and, if possible, print out relevant materials, because these links may expire at any point.

Participate

After you've read or, better yet, used part or all of this curriculum to run your own trainings, please take a few minutes to tell us about it by making a comment below.

(4.5 MB)

Introduction

Provides useful overview and context for all workshops. A must read for a full understanding of the curriculum.

(536 KB)

Workshop Principles and Facilitation Tips

Crucial guidance and suggestions on how to facilitate G.A.P.'s Media In Action Curriculum. A must read for a full understanding of the curriculum.

(519 KB)

Community Mapping

We are all a part of communities that develop and define us. Media representations have a critical impact on how we and others perceive our communities. In this workshop, participants reflect on what it means to belong to a community. They explore the struggles and strengths of those communities, representation and misrepresentation by media, and how to bridge the gap between reality and representation.

(742 KB)

Cinematography 101

This workshop introduces participants to visual storytelling. They explore basic camera work and visual compositions.  Through both critical viewing and hands-on activities with the camera, participants will understand the possibilities of visual expression.

(1.3 MB)

The Power of Interviewing

Everyone has knowledge, experience and expertise. In the media, however, only certain voices are heard. In this workshop, participants learn to develop interviewing skills within an ethical framework of understanding power dynamics rather than an objectification of the other.
 
*Prerequisite: Cinematography 101

(900 KB)

Framing & Messaging

The media frames their messages according to ideologies.  This workshop helps participants decode the media's messages, view media critically, and consider media’s role in advancing social justice.

(969 KB)

Media Advancing Movements

How can we use media to embody and promote the values of liberation? This workshop encourages participants to consider positive impacts that media have had on them personally as well as on social movements in the 20th Century.

(832 KB)

Montage: 1 + 1 = 3

A fun workshop that features a study of montage in early Soviet Cinema and a hands-on video production activity to explore how creative choices can make a message more powerful.

(810 KB)

Oppression and Liberation

This workshop explores oppression by examining how oppressive systems function in our lives interpersonally, internally, and institutionally. Participants also begin envisioning possibilities for liberation.

(911 KB)

Power

In the Unites States, there is a vast gap between the rich and poor. This is a product of the economic system that we live in, and understanding this is key to organizing towards social justice. This workshop explores the nature of power in the U.S., and is an excellent introduction to many of the core concepts in G.A.P.’s curriculum.

(987 MB)