Amount Requested: $30,000
The Woodstock Film Festival (WFF) Youth Initiative/Youth at Risk program is designed to give underserved high-risk youth the opportunity to learn and participate in the cathartic, creative, and professional possibilities of filmmaking.  The requested funds will help pay for instructors and guest instructors, travel, administrative coordination, equipment rentals at a fair market price, supply purchase, location rental and maintenance, and meals for students and staff.  Combined with the resources already available to WFF, the typical costs for many of these elements are diminished.  For example, instructors include esteemed industry members who are willing to work at a reduced fee through WFF.

Through educating high-risk youth and giving them the tools and the knowledge to create, represent, and present their own films while learning from industry professionals, WFF hopes to open the doors of a creative outlet for expression and professional growth. The program will provide a creative and structured learning experience for teens that would otherwise never have such an opportunity. This program will provide an alternative, artistic way of expressing feelings and dealing with negative life experiences, as well as learning valuable skills.  WFF hopes to broaden students understanding of not only how to cope with problems and difficulties, but realize their potential in life and in a professional setting.  Even if the students do not pursue a career within the film industry, the skills they learn during the program center around emotional tools that are essential to success in personal and professional life, such as self-confidence, self-awareness, and self-motivation.  This experience will supply them with an outlet to reinsert themselves into their education and involve them in the community with newfound enthusiasm in addition to pursue a respectable path after graduation.  The materials, resources, and connections that are created during the program will also aid them well beyond the program’s completion.