Spy Hop Productions

Core programs: Spy Hop Productions' core programs take place at the kahlert youth media arts center in salt lake city and are offered for free, year- round to youth ages 12-19. Working collaboratively with their peers and guided by professional media artists, students explore their creativity, identity and career and higher education interests. Scaffolded, hands-on, project-based learning experiences help students build valuable 21st century skills while giving them a foundation in digital and media literacy that prepares them for a future in the growing digital and creative economy. Each year, students create over 1000 works of media that are shared with local, national and international audiences. The following classes comprise Spy Hop's core programs. Resonate: hip Hop production - an alternative hip-hop production and performance program that pushes back against the negative stereotypes of the genre. In this intensive 10-month class, students are challenged to write music and lyrics that relate to their lives, their communities and the world. The program culminates in a live performance at Spy Hop's heatwave festival. Loud & clear youth radio - Spy Hop Productions collaborates with salt lake city based community radio station krcl 90.9fm to offer Utah's only youth- produced radio program. In this 8-month long program, participants learn audio production skills, radio history, the craft of storytelling, fcc rules and regulations, writing skills, interviewing, "djing", voice training, and the importance and intricacies of media literacy. Every saturday night, loud and clear youth host their own radio show on krcl, playing music, interviewing guests, hosting live local bands, presenting radio documentaries, and highlighting calendar items pertinent to the youth community. Musicology - musicology gives young musicians the opportunity for a full- spectrum band experience that emphasizes creativity and individual expression. Over a 10-month period, participants write, rehearse and record their own musical material, which culminates in a record release and live performance on stage at Spy Hop's heatwave festival. Open studio - every friday from 3-7 pm, Spy Hop Productions opens its recording studio and beat-making lab to any youth, age 15-19. Guided by a professional mentor and engineered by audio apprentices, young hip Hop artists and other musicians converge and create with other artists, make beats and record, and mix their songs. Pitchnic - pitchnic was conceived in 2001 as an innovative way to unite young filmmakers with supporters of independent film. In this 12-month long program (200+ hours), student writers, directors, and producers work in teams to create two fiction and two documentary films, 10-20 minutes in length. Through the guidance of a professional film mentor, students learn every aspect of the filmmaking process from pre-production and production to post-production and distribution, while mastering professional software such as adobe premier and davinci resolve. The four films are "pitched" at Spy Hop's annual benefit funds are raised for production costs, giving students a budget from which to work. At the culmination of the program, the students' films are screened at a local theater to a 300-person audience, giving the young filmmakers the opportunity to discuss their creative process and to answer questions from members of the community. While pitchnic serves a total of 12 students per year, the program involves over 100 other youth on production, and numerous community partners. Pitchnic films have gained local, national, and international recognition at numerous film festivals. Reel stories - created in 2002 in collaboration with the sundance institute, reel stories is offered as a one-month, 30-hour per week (120 hours) intensive summer workshop that gives high school students the opportunity to create their own documentaries will learning to work with adobe premiere. The class culminates in a community screening at a local theater in salt lake city. Watch this - watch this is a 4-month long (64 hours), advanced, fast- paced, short form video production class that is offered in the spring to youth ages 15-19. Students work collaboratively with their peers and a professional mentor to create a series of short films that air monthly on Spy Hop's youtube channel. Foundationals - Spy Hop Productions offers 4-week (16 hours) and 6-week (24 hours) workshops throughout the school year for youth ages 12-14 and 15-19 in film, audio, music and design. Students learn the basics of each discipline that prepares them for further Spy Hop classes or other multimedia experiences outside of Spy Hop. Multimedia apprenticeship program ("map") - map is a 2 to 4-month long program (32 - 64 hours), offered in the fall, spring and summer to youth ages 15-19 that provides project-based, professional experiences in film, audio, music promotion and design. This stipend-based, vocational style program offers youth the unique opportunity to learn valuable creative and technical skills in the media arts while working with real clients on digital media projects. Apprentices also develop personal portfolios that are used to increase their college entry and employment opportunities. Powerup - power up is a 10-month (150 hours) long program where students develop a fully functional educational/civic-oriented game to highlight or explore a social issue of interest to them. Using the latest professional level hardware and software, students learn what it takes to produce a game, including story-development, coding/programming various game mechanics, 2d and 3d modeling, and designing the user interface. Summer camps - each summer Spy Hop offers week-long camps in partnership with other youth-service organizations that are six hours per day for youth ages 10-12. Classes range from stop-motion animation and filmmaking to songwriting, game design, and 2d/3d animation.

Community & statewide programs - Spy Hop Productions' community based programs are offered in partnership with schools, libraries, other youth service organizations and with the state of Utah's juvenile justice services. Programs serve 5,000+ students each year across the state of Utah and fall under the following umbrella of services. Sending messages/ youth-in-care - these programs provide film, music, audio production and design classes to youth in the foster care system, residential treatment programs, secure facilities, and state's custody. Students are served on the continuum of prevention, intervention, and treatment. Media clubs - Spy Hop partners with schools afterschool media arts programs for a particular school. Statewide in-school outreach - inspiring digital arts curriculum delivered to students and teachers in-schools throughout Utah. Programs deliver concepts of media arts in film, audio, game design, and storytelling through creative use of image and sound, and are tailored to specific language arts curriculum themes. Voices of the west - vow is a weeklong (30-hour), film apprenticeship offered to youth ages 13-19 in blanding, vernal, and monument valley during the summer. Students learn narrative and documentary filmmaking techniques, camera work, interviewing and collaborating to create a personal narrative and a community spotlight.