{"id":8479,"date":"2015-04-22T03:00:06","date_gmt":"2015-04-22T10:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/?p=8479"},"modified":"2015-04-21T22:02:31","modified_gmt":"2015-04-22T05:02:31","slug":"miami-teens-sharethelove-with-nonviolence-campaign-and-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/miami-teens-sharethelove-with-nonviolence-campaign-and-concert\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Teens #ShareTheLove With Nonviolence Campaign and Concert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seventeen-year-old Arbie Nickerson has a packed schedule. On top of producing music, working at a preschool, and finishing his sophomore year of high school, he also produces his own weekly radio show through an online platform called Spreaker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Nickerson took on another challenge last fall, when he joined a group of teens from YOUmedia Miami<\/a> to grow an antiviolence campaign called #ShareTheLove<\/a>. The campaign\u2019s goal is to flood social media with messages of nonviolence and provide a platform for students to create projects and discussions around the topic.<\/p>\n

YOUmedia Miami is part of a network of digital spaces for teens<\/a> in libraries, museums, and community-based organizations around the country designed to provide opportunities for teenagers to create using new media and technology. The spaces also give the teens a chance to learn from digital media practitioners and mentors who provide training and guidance.<\/p>\n

Ariel Pottinger, a Miami YOUmedia mentor, said the inspiration for #ShareTheLove started in 2012 after the murder of Trayvon Martin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking, \u2018How do the kids feel about this subject, this experience, and this story? What do they think about gun laws? What do they think about nonviolence?\u2019\u201d Pottinger said. She decided to host discussions at YOUmedia with teens about violence, community engagement, and connection. Pottinger hoped teens might have some interest in using the digital media skills they were learning at YOUmedia to raise awareness about stopping violence in their communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might be music, film, or photography, but how can we use those mediums to promote nonviolence in our community?\u201d Pottinger asked.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Flyer by David Paez, YOUmedia Miami mentor<\/p><\/div>\n

It turns out there was a way. The project expanded in the fall of 2014 when participants got approval from the library for their proposal to launch the campaign. From there, the youngsters took charge and started organizing online outreach efforts, events at YOUmedia, and a \u201cWhere is the LOVE?\u201d concert. The team designed fliers, shot a promotional video<\/a> (complete with green screen), and spread the word on their social media accounts. Youth organizers devoted many hours to the project at YOUmedia and elsewhere. Sometimes, conflicting schedules meant meeting at Subway if YOUmedia was closed for the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019d be a lot of times where I\u2019d get calls or texts saying, \u2018Ms. Ariel, I got this great idea, you\u2019re not going to believe this.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018It\u2019s 10 o\u2019clock at night!\u2019\u201d Pottinger laughed.<\/p>\n

In the four years that Nickerson has been going to YOUmedia, he said he\u2019s learned about public speaking, audio and music skills, and video production. But the #ShareTheLove campaign stretched him to work with a large team of young people his age in a new way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so used to saying it\u2019s my way or the highway,\u201d he said. \u201cBut with teamwork here, you usually say, \u2018We\u2019re all going to vote on this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to two other events held at YOUmedia, including hosting a youth social worker who spoke about violence prevention, the teens held their nonviolence \u201cWhere is the LOVE\u201d concert last February at the Betty T. Ferguson center, an recreation complex with an outdoor pavilion in Miami Gardens, Fla.<\/p>\n

The concert and overall campaign were rooted in Dr. Martin Luther King\u2019s six principles of nonviolence<\/a>, which Pottinger said were important for helping teens understand that nonviolence \u201cisn\u2019t just something we\u2019re pulling out of the sky. Nonviolence is real.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery performer and piece connected it all [to nonviolence],\u201d said Nickerson, who emceed the concert. \u201cThey all put their own recipe into the pot.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Nickerson, all the hard work was worth it. The concert packed dozens of performances into three hours, including original songs, spoken-word poems, skits, raps, and dance pieces. There was even a gymnastics act. Local performers, including poet Rebecca Butterfly Vaughn, performed as well. The mayor and vice mayor of Miami Gardens came out to watch.<\/p>\n

YOUmedia Miami also partnered with the Trayvon Martin Foundation, the Violence Intervention Project, and the Nehemiah Project. Teens from each program performed as guest artists as well.<\/p>\n

Since the concert, the campaign has continued to inspire other projects at YOUmedia Miami, including a short film called \u201cRumor Has It\u201d that is still in production. The film is about the damage rumors can cause and about stopping rumors and misunderstandings before they spiral into anger or violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur idea is to flood the internet with positivity,\u201d Pottinger said. Down the line, she and her students hope to partner with other YOUmedias and spread the #ShareTheLove campaign to New York, Los Angeles, and around the country.<\/p>\n

Photo\/ YOUmedia Miami<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teens from YOUmedia Miami grow an antiviolence campaign by flooding social media with messages of nonviolence and providing a platform for students to create projects and discussions around the topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":8533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,397],"tags":[580,329,175],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8479"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8534,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8479\/revisions\/8534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}