Midstory 2019: Summer Program in Detail

MIDSTORY X 2019 S U M M E R

P R O G R A M

I N

CURATE YOUR VOICE AND EXPLORE TOLEDO WITH US

D E T A I L

PRESENTED BY MIDSTORY MEDIA THINKHUB

SUMMER '19 IN DETAIL Prepared by Midstory Media ThinkHub FINDING YOUR OWN STORY STATION BY STATION Our focus this summer is to encourage young people to find their own story within Toledo through our strategically-designed tri-level program. Working closely with groups across the community, our program is designed to give back to the city while building up core skills for today’s young professionals. Each level of the program is closely tied to the others, engaging young people in our community with each other and with the region.

STATION 1: HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS Starting with our own local youth. Midstory ThinkLab engages area high-schoolers in a comprehensive, creative-storytelling mentorship program where they learn both hard and soft skills while engaging more deeply with their hometown.

STATION 2: COLLEGE STUDENTS As young people jumpstart their careers, they’re often looking at city environment even more than the job itself. Midstory’s College Internship Program gives students a creative outlet and holistic city experience through independent projects and media storytelling of our city. Interns will also work closely with our high school students on the development of ideas and projects.

STATION 3: THE TOLEDO COMMUNITY As a hub, Midstory brings city groups together to encourage conversation on Toledo’s forward momentum. A City in Transit, Midstory’s annual gala, invites local nonprofit organizations and businesses to learn about each other and discuss our shared future. This event also serves as a dynamic gallery for projects produced by local and visiting young people under our programming.

ACTION TOWARD RENEWED CITY CAPITAL Midstory ThinkHub acts as a place of exchange and influence, bringing young people outside-in and inside-out. To fulfill our mission, all our media content, educational program, and city projects aim to build up our Midwestern identity and culture, to engage Toledo in a national dialogue, and to draw young people from across the nation to the city.

HIGH SCHOOL THINKLAB RE-DISCOVER HOME

The Midstory ThinkLab Summer Program is a youth mentorship program that challenges high schoolers to tell the many hidden “midstories� of Toledo through a creative and critical lens.

Midstory kickstarts the program in 2019 with a six-week interdisciplinary experience. Participating high school students will come together with experts and professionals to hone skills in research, multimedia creation, and publication and production.

ATTRACT, ENGAGE & INFLUENCE

As part of a larger summer community program, the ThinkLab also present opportunities for students to collaborate with college interns on city-wide public programming, and to interface with key players crucial to Toledo's socioeconomic and cultural life.

From guided seminars to guest lectures, workshops to on-site tours, each week

Working one-on-one with our mentors,

students will encounter new people and

students will embark on a unique

curate new material that will culminate

journey to explore and curate content

in an independent project published on

inspired by their hometown and

Midstory's website and/or exhibited at

burgeoning city in the Midwest, Toledo,

the end of the summer.

Ohio.

HIGH SCHOOL THINKLAB '19

COLLEGE INTERNSHIP TELL THE MIDSTORY

The Midstory college internship program is for the next generation of creatives who believe in telling the post-industrial story through a multidisciplinary framework and are eager to gain valuable field experience working with communities on the ground.

"I LOVED BEING ABLE TO GO OUT INTO THE COMMUNITY . . . I HAD THE FREEDOM TO EXPLORE, BUT ALSO ALWAYS HAD GUIDANCE TO BEST TELL THOSE STORIES WRITTEN INTO THE FABRIC OF THE CITY." SOPHIA YAKUMITHIS, 2018 INTERN CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY

The 8-10 week summer program provides students the opportunity to

content that will be broadcasted through

cultivate their research, writing, and

our national multimedia platforms and

multimedia publication skills. Interns

physical exhibition spaces. Midstory

help us share the hidden stories of post-

practices an integrated, interdisciplinary

industrial communities—beginning in

approach to storytelling, encouraging

Toledo, OH—and work closely with our

interns to use multiple storytelling

team to produce unique serialized

methods and framework as well as introducing them to advanced software and multimedia equipment training.

Our goal is to provide local and non-local college students with a fulfilling, exciting, and valuable "work" experience in Toledo, connecting them directly with our city story and its community. Midstory also organizes weekly "field trips" to different city destinations, such as the museum or business' world headquarters, to help show these bright young students a reason to return.

COLLEGE INTERNSHIP '19

A CITY IN TRANSIT A SUMMER GALA

Midstory aims to highlight the Downtown Train Station as a hub for "A City in Transit"—an annual gala with an emphasis on community that invites nonprofit organizations and businesses together to learn about Toledo’s present and dream for the city's future.

Held in the event space at the Downtown Toledo Train Station, the gala will be a casual but well-curated and beautiful event focused on

Toledo has never been a one-man show:

conversation, communication, and

with over 2,500 nonprofit organizations in

shared goals.

Lucas County and over 30,000 companies in Toledo alone, we all have a stake in our

"TOLEDO HAS NEVER BEEN A ONE-MAN SHOW... "

future as a city and region. At this crucial era in Toledo’s history—on the cusp of rebirth, an emergent renewal of identity, and a bright but oftentimes uncertain future ahead—we need to learn about our community in a neutral space.

And a train is, perhaps, the most powerful symbol of that space. It is a place in motion, moving ahead with

Scheduled for early August, the gala's attendees will be ushered in to the sound and lights of trains, bringing them into a space for moving forward together.

many stops along the way. It is a public place, full of seeming strangers brought together only by a shared destination: a moment of commute, sectioned off in time and space, for ourselves and for our city.

A CITY IN TRANSIT GALA '19

MIDSTORY MEDIA THINKHUB A VOICE OUT OF THE POSTINDUSTRIAL MIDWEST

MEDIA: A platform without regional & socioeconomic barriers, bringing arts culture science to the everyday experience THINK: A deeper understanding of who we are in the nation through solutionsoriented multimedia production HUB (Not a tank): A space of transitioning and connecting the common American experience, uplifting the Midwest’s story in the national narrative

Midstory is dedicated to inspire, connect, and educate youth and the public from disparate segments of post-industrial cities—beginning in the city of Toledo, Ohio —by interweaving stories of science, art, and culture.

As a ThinkHub, we offer a space of exchange and influence, bringing young people outside-in and inside-out in the process of rewriting our postindustrial narrative. We work on two levels to attain this goal: 1) directly engaging young people through creative storytelling and development programming, and 2) indirectly engaging the public and the nation through the creative original media produced through programming and daily operations. To fulfill our mission, all our media content, educational program, and city projects aim to build up our Midwestern identity and culture, to engage Toledo in a national dialogue, and to draw young people from across the nation to the city.

MIDSTORY X SUMMER 2019

HELP GROW OUR MIDSTORY TOGETHER As a local thinkhub, Midstory attracts and influences youth and talent of our area to invest in the future of postindustrial cities like Toledo. We aim to both uncover our unique Toledo and Midwestern story and weave it into the national narrative for the purpose of cultural education and the solidification of our regional identity.

Our programming for the summer of 2019 requires your support and your participation. We thrive on collaboration with other local nonprofit organizations and believe that your representation in the lives of young people, interns, students will help make an indelible impact in their lives and on the city. With your help, input, and representation, our core group at Midstory can be a hub of talent exchange every year to activate Downtown Toledo, maximize exposure of city assets, and enhance the positive image of local area businesses and institutions.

To keep this operation sustainable, to keep the program affordable, and to keep young people coming back to Toledo as a vital destination, Midstory is seeking partners, operation funds, and scholarships for our interns and participants. Our goal is bring 8-10 college interns in this summer, and mentor 10-15 area high-schoolers culminating in the city gala in early August.

HOW YOU CAN HELP MAKE A DONATION TODAY SUPPORT A VISITING STUDENT SPONSOR OUR SUMMER EVENTS SHARE YOUR SPACE OR EXPERTISE VOLUNTEER YOUR TIME WITH US

LEARN MORE Send us an email. contact@midstory.org

More information online. www.midstory.org/

www.midstory.org/get-involved

YOUR CITY, YOUR VOICE

MIDSTORY MEDIA THINKHUB: A VOICE OUT OF THE POSTINDUSTRIAL MIDWEST

CONTACT@MIDSTORY.ORG WWW.MIDSTORY.ORG #MIDSTORYTOLEDO (FB, IG, TWITTER)