NEA $40G grant to help aspiring teen filmmakers

LYNN- Ten aspiring teenage filmmakers had a Hollywood minute Tuesday when U.S. Rep. John Tierney dropped into RAW Art Works to announce a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.According to Kit Jenkins, RAW Art Works Executive Director, the grant couldn’t have come at a better time as the economy threatens to cut arts budgets in schools and in non-profits. The grant was given specifically to Real to Reel, RAW’s film school, to “keep camera’s in (the teens’) hands.”While meeting with the RAW students, Tierney emphasized his support of RAW and other arts programs, saying he believes that the artists “bring something back to the community” to make Lynn more of a cultural place.”The battle for the arts is an ideological battle,” Tierney said, pointing out that it can be difficult to convince others of the importance of investing in the arts programs when there is such tight spending. Tierney, through his long support of RAW, tries to show doubters the difference that it makes in kids’ lives.During his visit, the film students discussed what they had learned in the film classes and what they had accomplished in their own film projects.The students started at a basic level learning how to work the camera and light the scene, then progressed to filming short films. Now they are working on documentaries exposing real-life issues that they and their peers are facing.One group of students spoke about their project that sheds light on a common problem in families with working parents: children baby-sitting younger (and even older) siblings while still being young themselves. Another group worked on exposing the truth of drinking and smoking in high school, and whether students agree it is as much of a problem as teachers and parents suspect.Featured at the meeting was a short film called “Nothing Into Something,” which showcased several RAW artists working and talking about the task of creating something out of a blank canvas. While most commented on the process of creation, one young student struck home when he said, “Most of the time people think this city is nothing. But it is something – it has great history.”The theme of the film coincides with a recent proposal made by the Lynn Economic and Industrial Corporation to the Massachusetts Cultural Council to make downtown Lynn a designated arts and culture district through a special grant program.When asked to comment on the process of turning downtown Lynn into cultural center, Tierney said, “I think the community is going to decide how they want to structure things to make it blossom. I think there’s a lot of pride in Lynn.”Jenkins agreed, quoting the movie “Field of Dreams”: “If you build it, they will come.” Both Jenkins and Tierney thought that arts and culture can bring people together – and that Lynn could become a kind of tourist destination with museums, shops and restaurants. But, as Tierney advised, “something has to start for other people to follow.”Real to Reel’s student films will be shown at the Peabody Essex Museum on June 25 at 1:30 p.m. The exhibit is free and open to the public, but Jenkins suggests arriving early for a seat.