CONCORD, MA - Teaching middle-schoolers how to make movies is a recipe for successful creative collaboration, according to freelance filmmaker and educator Tom Flint.
“I think making films is where kids are at right now,” said Flint, who leads filmmaking workshops for about 30 11- to 14-year-olds at The Umbrella Arts Center in Concord. “With their media literacy, and so many electronics at their fingertips, these kids can now tell stories through images – and everyone can benefit.”
Flint has designed and directed a series of three, free moviemaking courses for middle-school students at The Umbrella, as part of Arts Elevate, a pilot project supported by the Greater Lowell Community Foundation (GLCF). In addition to helping them discover the fun and
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accessibility of moviemaking, Flint’s workshops were also formulated to have a positive impact
on the health and wellness of his young students.
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“I enjoy engaging with kids at this age – not to encourage them to become filmmakers or to go into the industry,” he explained. “Rather, I want to introduce them to the medium of film, so they can see where it may take them in terms of story-telling and creative problem-solving.”
And it may not always be easy, Flint added. “In these co-creative workshop opportunities, the kids are being challenged – filmmaking is really difficult. And no matter how much you plan ahead, the film never turns out the way you thought it would.
“But that’s a good thing,” he stressed. “I think middle-schoolers need to run up against those kinds of challenges.”
Launched this fall, GLCF’s pilot project, titled Arts Elevate: Embedded Community Artists for Youth Wellness in Greater Lowell, placed four artists in 12-week residencies at nonprofit organizations in Lowell, Groton, Acton and Concord (at The Umbrella Arts Center), explained Jennifer Aradhya, GLCF’s Vice President of Marketing, Programs & Strategy. The Arts Elevate initiative was developed for Greater Lowell with lead funding from the Barr Foundation through its Creative Commonwealth Initiative.
“As adolescents report rising levels of stress and isolation across the country, we needed to create timely and accessible pathways to wellness,” said Aradhya. “Arts Elevate recognizes that when young people engage in creative expression, they discover who they are and how they belong.
“Tom’s workshops at The Umbrella Arts Center demonstrate how powerful these creative opportunities can be for middle-schoolers navigating this critical developmental period,” she said.
Located in downtown Concord, in the old Emerson School building, The Umbrella Arts Center is a nonprofit regional multi-disciplinary arts center, serving Concord and surrounding towns, according to Rebecca Campbell-McGonagle, Education Program Manager.
“We offer arts education and classes in the arts. We have more than 55 artists in the building renting studio space. We host concerts, show films, stage theater productions, and run summer programs for children,” she said. “We serve all ages, from infants in child-and-caregiver classes, up through adults. Last year, The Umbrella had over 4,600 registrations in 327 distinct class offerings.”
Flint’s film workshops are geared toward students in grades 6 through 8, and provide iPads for the kids to shoot their movies. “We wanted very much for these workshops to NOT be too advanced, technologically, for the students,” stressed Campbell-McGonagle.
The iPads snap into sturdy, hand-held cases, that are easy for the kids to use. “For example, when using an iPad to film, if you want a close-up shot, you just walk in closer to your subject,” she said.
“I like to think of the camera as an extension of themselves,” added Flint. “We want them to experiment with the way they see things.”
Based in Lincoln, on the farm where he grew up, Flint also runs Filmbuilding, a program that “curates filmmaking experiences that promote cross-cultural exchange” for all ages. He has worked with a variety of businesses, towns and community groups, and began teaching filmmaking at the Umbrella in 2020.
“Tom was one of the first teachers to come back and lead a workshop post-Covid, when students were really needing to get out and get back together,” said Campbell-McGonagle. “At that point, we were very interested in getting more of our students to engage creatively with technology.”
When GLCF’s grant-funded Arts Elevate pilot project became available, The Umbrella Arts Center staff realized it could be the perfect opportunity to explore what types of film classes might attract middle-schoolers, Campbell-McGonagle explained.
“Through Arts Elevate, and with Tom’s expertise, we came up with several different filmmaking workshops, offered at different times and days of the week,” she said.
Flint’s workshops include:
Hands-On Moviemaking I, a four-week after-school program that met one day a week for two
hours in October. Students learned about early film history, and innovative filmmaking
techniques from this period through the co-creation of their own group short films.
Hands-On Moviemaking II met all day on Saturdays over four weeks in October and
November. Students made a collection of three short films with footage from each of
the four class sessions, which included field trips to DeCordova Sculpture Park in Lincoln and the Old North Bridge in Concord.
Reel Adventures takes place over one December weekend – Friday evening, and all-day Saturday and Sunday. Kids attend all three days and create one film over the weekend.
All filmmaking workshops will culminate in a mid-December Red-carpet Screening Premiere,
when students, parents and guests gather to view all films created as part of the program. It
should be a valuable learning experience for everyone involved, said Campbell-McGonagle.
“After this pilot program, we’re hoping to learn, ‘Is there an audience for film workshops at The Umbrella? Are people excited about it? Should we start film clubs; a student film festival? Should we expand our work with other towns and communities around filmmaking?’ We’re trying to test which models work best for continuing this film curriculum – especially for this demographic.”
The concept of experimentation and documentation, with an eye toward expanded programming, is one key element of the Arts Elevate pilot, said GLCF’s Aradhya.
“This pilot program is much more than just four embedded-artist programs. We’re documenting everything – what works, what challenges arise, what outcomes we're seeing – so we can create a toolkit that will help other organizations replicate this model,” she explained.
“Tom’s journey with these Umbrella students will inform how arts-based wellness programs can be implemented in nonprofits across the region and beyond.”
For more information about The Umbrella Arts Center, visit: https://theumbrellaarts.org
For more information about the Greater Lowell Community Foundation Arts Elevate program, or to support this initiative, visit: https://www.glcfoundation.org/arts-elevate/.
About Greater Lowell Community Foundation – Established in 1997, the Greater Lowell Community Foundation (GLCF) is a philanthropic organization comprised of more than 400 funds dedicated to improving the quality of life in 21 neighboring cities and towns. With financial assets of almost $60 million, GLCF annually awards grants and scholarships to hundreds of worthy nonprofits and students. It is powered by the winning combination of donor-directed giving, personal attention from Foundation staff, and an in-depth understanding of local needs. The generosity of our donors has enabled the Community Foundation to award more than $35 million to the Greater Lowell community.
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