About Y Arts – In concert with the mission and purpose of the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit, Y Arts is a catalyst for artistic expression and education throughout metro Detroit. We nurture, develop and support traditional, contemporary and emerging art forms by providing teaching opportunities for artists and presenting relevant, high-quality cultural programs and events that showcase their talents.

About The Musicians of the DSO – The Musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra are dedicated to sharing and nurturing classical music for the people of Detroit. To learn more about us please visit www.detroitsymphonymusicians.org

The Y Arts team of professional artists is committed to building the creative community of Detroit through public enrichment and by educating young people in media and arts careers.

Contact:
Margaret Edwartowski, Program Director
Y Arts Detroit
1401 Broadway, Suite 2A
Detroit, MI 48226
(313) 223-2743
medwartowski@ymcametrodetroit.org
www.y-artsdetroit.org

This limited project, which runs Monday through Friday, August 9 through August 26, will require students to register for one of three available 2 1/2 hour time slots during the day:

• Group 1 – 9a-11:30a
• Group 2 – 12n-2:30p
• Group 3 – 3p-5:30p

The final videos will be shown at a special event, open to the public, at the Museum of African American History.

To register, return this registration form to the Boll Family YMCA, 1401 Broadway, Detroit.

A registration fee of $25 is payable to Y-Arts Detroit. Call 313.223.2743 for more information.

The camp, which is entitled the Y Media Works Summer Institute 2010, runs 5 weeks, from June 28 through July 30, 2010, and a commitment to all 5 weeks is required. During the first week, campers will stay overnight from Monday through Friday at Camp Ohiyesa in Holly, MI, for an intensive team building experience in the outdoors. Activities such as swimming, canoeing, and high ropes will be offered during the day; our evenings will be spent learning about the media production process and planning our productions.  After we come back from the July 4 holiday, the remaining four weeks of camp will be spent in teams creating a variety of digital media for local community partners (our clients!). Camp will run from 9am to 4pm, Monday through Thursday.

Space is limited, so the application process will be very competitive.

For more information, and to register, please visit the Camps page!

PechaKucha at The Marlene Boll Theatre Feb. 20

The global PechaKucha family is coming together with Architecture for Humanity to lend a hand in rebuilding Haiti and establish long-term solutions. On February 20, most of the 277 cities that host PechaKucha events worldwide will converge to present one continuous 24-hour edition of PechaKucha Night: 200 cities, 2,000 presentations, 200,000 people. Kicking off in Tokyo, the presentation wave will travel eastward, with cities presenting one after the other. Crossing all times zones and cultures, the event will be streamed live online (http://www.ustream.tv) and then finish in Tokyo the following day.

Detroit’s PechaKucha wave will take place at 8:20 PM in the Marlene Boll Theatre in the Boll YMCA at 1401 Broadway in Detroit.  This abbreviated PechaKucha Night will be comprised of presentations that offer hope and relief through stories of past disaster relief projects, or ones that offer simple inspiration by showing the power of great creative thinking.  Y Arts will be among the presenters and will be sharing about our digital media program, Y Media Works.

Following the event, Detroit’s PechaKucha chapter will host an afterglow to raise additional funds for Haiti.  The location of the afterglow (venue yet to be determined) will be posted on Detroit Synergy’s website, as well as the Detroit PechaKucha Facebook page.

All of the 2,000 presentations generated from the one-day event – in what could be the world’s biggest single-day globally distributed conference – will be posted on the PechaKucha website, where visitors will also be able to make monetary donations to the project.

All proceeds will go to Architecture for Humanity for rebuilding Haiti. AFH operates globally, and was instrumental in getting projects built after the Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricaine Katrina. The design costs for the new buildings in Haiti have been already covered so all donations will go directly toward the construction of much needed schools, health clinics and community structures.

In organizing this event PechaKucha intends to not only raise funds through pledges from host cities and contributions from individuals but also illustrate the power of innovative minds, creative passion and, most of all, sharing ideas for change and sustainability.

Drawing its name from the Japanese phrase for the sound of conversation (“chit chat”), the PechaKucha format is simple – 20 images x 20 seconds – and designed to keep presentations concise and moving at a rapid pace.

Complete details:

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20 AT 8:00 P.M.
EMERSON CHURCH UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST
4230 Livernois
Troy, Michigan 48085
248-524-9339

Tickets: 
$8 Adults
4$   children under 16
$20 Families

Order in advance by emailing:  deep.river@ecuu.org

The YMCA Deep River Choir features songs of praise and protest from the Civil Rights Movement as well as traditional blues, gospel and folk songs. 

Support for the Deep River Choir is provided by the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan.

Learning about digital video cameras with artist Steve Coy

Our digital media program is off to a great start this year. We are already making plans for this summer’s media camp and are going strong in places like River Rouge High School and Hanley International Academy delivering media and video instruction. We’d like to give special thanks to Michelle Martinez and the folks at metromode for their write up of one of our main areas of endeavor. To share with our friends who may have missed the article, here is a snippet of that article with a link to the full piece on metromode’s site. Photographs © Marvin Shaouni Photography.

Y Arts Brings Filmmaking To Metro Detroit Youth

by Michelle Martinez, 1/28/2010

Despite the hyperbole and hand-wringing about a slacker generation growing up on XBox 360, TV, and glowing laptop screens, a program from the YMCA Metro Detroit is betting those obsessions could be used to spark lifelong learning habits, and possibly a new generation of creative types for the region.

The program, started by Gillian Eaton, vice president for arts and humanities at the YMCA Metro Detroit, is just over two years old. But already it has migrated into the River Rouge School District and has caught the attention of the state’s Film Office, which sees potential in teaching middle schoolers and high schoolers high-tech skills they can later turn into careers.

“Kids have an automatic and genetic understanding of media in a way that I don’t,” Eaton says. “They’re way ahead of us. … Career guidance counselors are 20 years behind the times. They’re not telling these kids that things they do naturally are potential job opportunities.”

The program, housed in the Y Arts division of the Boll Family YMCA in downtown Detroit, has ambitious goals. It not only educates kids aged 12 – 16 the ins and outs of filmmaking, graphic design, photography and other art forms; but puts them face-to-face with business clients. The students, like creative groups everywhere, must pitch and win over clients including the U.S. Census Bureau and area environmental nonprofits, and ultimately deliver a commercial-grade short-film or public service announcement.

It’s an early lesson in the pragmatic side of the creative life, Eaton explains. But putting the kids in business situations has other benefits as well.  “We could have just had them make fictional movies on their own, but we didn’t choose to do that because they need to be aware of the judgments that are made on creative work and how to…” [Read the full article here.]

Dance with Michael Woodberry-Means!

A special opportunity to train with one of Detroit’s finest dance professionals, Michael Woodberry-Means, is being offered at the YMCA. Mr. Means will lead weekly classes for teens and adults in ballet and modern dance beginning on Saturday, January 9 and running through Saturday, February 20. The classes take place at the Boll Family YMCA, 1401 Broadway, in downtown Detroit and are a program of YArts, the Arts & Humanities Branch of the Metropolitan Detroit YMCA.

“Intermediate Ballet” is scheduled from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. and focuses on developing and establishing classical ballet technique. Floor barre work and centre floor dancing are emphasized to improve the leaps, jumps and turns of the intermediate level dancer.

“Modern Dance” follows from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. and is designed for the advanced beginner and intermediate dancer. Exciting techniques from modern dance legends Lester Horton, Martha Graham and Jose Limon are introduced and practiced in the class.

Michael Woodberry-Means was awarded the 2009-10 Michigan Dance Council Teacher of the Year. A former member of the Peter Sparling Dance Company, Michael is a certified dance instructor for K-12 students and adults.

Class fees are only $35 for each seven week session. Nonmembers may register at the Boll Family YMCA or call 313-309-9622. Funding from the YMCA Endowment Fund supports participation by Detroit area teens in the dance program.

Online registration is available for YMCA members here.

Tuesdays, Jan 12 – March 2 (8 Weeks) Meets 7-9:30pm

Dive into the world of digital filmmaking with this intensive, hands-on video course that takes beginners through all phases of production.

Topics include:
 Treatments, storyboards, camera operation, producing and directing techniques and an introduction to digital editing using Final Cut Pro. The class shoots and edits their projects in small teams. Perfect for the beginner who wants to discover the digital process.

Course Fee $400. Payment must be made in full and in person at the Boll Family YMCA anytime M-F 6am-9pm, SS 9am-5pm. Check, MO and Credit card accepted. Online and partial payments are not available.

 REGISTRATION BEGINS WEDNESDAY NOV 25
Deadline for registration is January 8 (The Friday prior to the start of class)
Class Location: 
Y-Arts at the Boll Family YMCA
Floor 2A 
1401 Broadway, Detroit MI 48226
For more info email info@detroitfilm.org.

Final Cut Pro – Digital Video Editing

Wednesdays, Jan 13 – Feb 17 (6 Weeks) Meets 7-9:30pm

Learn the essentials of the industry-leading desktop video editing program Final Cut Pro. This course provides lessons and practice in the following core areas: Importing and exporting footage, the editing tool set, audio, titles, scaling and moving video, color correction, filters and effects, output compression and more.

Course Fee $300. Payment must be made in full and in person at the Boll Family YMCA anytime M-F 6am-9pm, SS 9am-5pm. Cash, check, MO and credit card accepted. Online and partial payments are not available.

REGISTRATION BEGINS WEDNESDAY NOV 25
Deadline for registration is January 8 (The Friday prior to the start of class)
Class Location: 
Y-Arts at the Boll Family YMCA – 
Floor 2A 
1401 Broadway, Detroit MI 48226
Presented by the Detroit Film Center in cooperation with Y-ARTS

For more info email info@detroitfilm.org

Visit The Detroit Film Center online at http://www.detroitfilm.org .

2009 Y Media Arts Camp

Our summer camp is shaping up to be a really great Summer experience. We’d like to invite anyone aged 12 to 16 who is interested in film/video, Web design, digital photography, graphic design, animation… all things digital… to apply. The camp runs from 9am to 4pm beginning July 6 and ending August 14. We have a lot of work to do in the way of making films and other media (we offer a project-based curriculum), so we are asking students to commit to the entire 6 week session. The cost of the camp is $0 (yup, ZERO DOLLARS… except a $50 registration fee for those accepted).

For more information and to download the camp application, visit our Camp page!