Contact: Tom Moore
410-455-3370
tmoore@umbc.edu

On Thursday, May 12th, students from UMBC's Imaging Research Center (IRC) will present a collaboration with middle school children working with Wide Angle Community Media. Their collaboration, entitled My Place, offers participants and viewers an innovative media experience.

Throughout spring 2005, UMBC IRC graduate and undergraduate media arts students worked with Cherry Hill Middle School youth who are involved with the Baltimore Speaks Out! partnership. Together they shot video footage in and about Cherry Hill that expresses personal artistic or community significance and explores questions such as: How do we describe a place? What makes Cherry Hill a place? What is your favorite place? Does it have a name? Experimenting with software to manipulate video, sound, written narratives, and drawings, students from Cherry Hill and UMBC worked together to create the content that will be used for the live performance, adding new layers of meaning in the process.

One of the project facilitators, Steve Bradley, associate professor of Visual Arts at UMBC, adds that the event is also "a celebration of personal teamwork and accomplishment. Cherry Hill youth have learned valuable technical skills in documenting impressions of their community and they have generously shared their exuberance and insight."

Audiences can gather at Enoch Pratt Free Library in Cherry Hill from 5 to 6 pm to see My Place as a live performance. Admission is free. The library is hosting the event as part of their Baltimore Speaks Out! partnership with Wide Angle.

Because of limited audience space, the event will be streamed live on the Internet and archived at http://art-radio.net/CH-IRC/.

About the Imaging Research Center
UMBC's Imaging Research Center (IRC) is dedicated to investigating new technologies and their use for interpreting and presenting content. Since its inception in 1987, artists and researchers across disciplines have collaborated in the IRC's creative environment to develop new strategies and techniques in digital media. State-of-the-art facilities enable research in 3D visualization, immersive technologies, interactivity, installation, animation, high definition video, and sound.

In conjunction with UMBC's Department of Visual Arts, the IRC has developed successful academic programs that incorporate undergraduate and graduate students into professional research activities. These students receive valuable experience with contemporary digital art technologies while working as partners with researchers, artists, scholars, and industry specialists to create large-scale, high profile works.

About Wide Angle Community Media
Wide Angle Community Media provides youth and communities with media education and leadership opportunities so they may represent themselves and tell their own stories. Wide Angle's workshops, collaborations, and public events fulfill our mission to make media make a difference in the Baltimore region.

Wide Angle trains 100 youth and community members yearly in media literacy and production, and community-based distribution. Wide Angle also supports the broader youth media field through the administration of the Youth Media Advocacy Coalition (YMAC), which provides media education training, travel, and networking opportunities to youth educators.

About Baltimore Speaks Out!
Baltimore Speaks Out! is a youth media education program, training youth ages 12 to 14 in media literacy, video production, teambuilding, and presentation skills. Developed as a partnership between Wide Angle Community Media and the Enoch Pratt Free Library, this program has served youth in Baltimore City for more than three years.

Telephone
UMBC Artsline (24-hour recorded message): 410-455-ARTS
Media inquiries only: 410-455-3370

Web
Public information: http://www.umbc.edu/arts
UMBC arts news releases: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/oci/index.phtml?r=Art
Link to live stream: http://art-radio.net/CH-IRC/

Images for Media
High resolution images are available online:
http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/
or by email or postal mail.