SURVIVAL THROUGH CREATION
By Stephanie Centeno & Monica Lopez

"I'm here to help and inspire youth," says Trent Dickson, a video student during last years Youth Encuentro camp who returned as a video facilitator because his past camp experience was so rewarding. The Youth Encuentro, a media and art summer camp for youth of color, has become a great experience for youth in Texas and those coming from other parts of the country. For Trent, he was too old to be a student again, so naturally, he graduated on to instruct younger filmmakers. This kind of legacy echoes the overall mission of the Youth Liberation Network (YLN) and how the Encuentro began.

History:
The project began in 2001 as an effort of a group of friends from Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Atzlan (MECHA), political and educational organization for Chicanos at the University of Texas at Austin who were tutoring and mentoring youth in Austin, Texas. A group of 27 activists and artists have come together with the goal of revitalizing and nurturing creativity amongst over 34 youth of color. The group was inspired by a conference they attended in San Diego, CA which made them want to start their own camp where they not only became acquainted with participants but would come to build a relationship by encouraging collective learning and community/identity building through the exploration of art and media technology.

All of a sudden YLN existed, explains Ruth. The group began to meet one to two times a week, discussing youth issues along with their own. Soon the small number of people expanded as they began their own class with a hired teaching assistant, meeting at different friends homes every Sunday. The Youth Encuentro began with the desire for a not-so-typical camp one that anybody could come to. This is a camp not accountable to their grades or money, a program based on youths creativity.

YLN is not your everyday summer camp. It is a camp especially for youth of color. YLN members include students and facilitators, ranging from 12 to 32 years old. They discuss controversial issues while developing their own media.

Familias:
The Encuentro meets for one very creative week, dividing students into familias depending on their interests. They meet on the University of Texas campus. The organizers, who are college students and young adults organize this fun week by inviting teens of color and facilitators of all races who specialize in a variety of concentrations.

Preparing for the camp was a great responsibility. As the Network began their series of meetings, participation in other youth conferences, and designed workshops, they also held fundraisers, benefit concerts, applied for grants, and hired various artists to help in workshops. All of this work was completed by dedicated volunteers committed to encouraging youth of color.

Noemi Barajas, a eighth grader from Dallas, TX joined the art familia this year with the urge of becoming a better drawer and as a result has learned how to make stencils that will be used in the groups mural. Among the most important things she has learned throughout the camp is not to stereotype people, which she thinks will help her change her bad habits in the future.

Calling YLN a great art camp a school counselor suggested the week-long camp to Brandon Moreno, a 12th grader from Waco, TX. Brandon says Encuentro, taught him to have a loud voice when recording.

A part of the theater/video familia, Brandon is currently working on a set of three different stories, where the lives of each group of people will come together by a great tragedy. While he has been here, Brandon has learned that people might take things you say offensively and are treated differently based on who they are, that will help him begin to watch what he says.

Eddie Campos loves radio and he also loves music and he would like to pass it on to the youth so they have a way of expressing themselves in their own way, using different forms. Music is a way of self-expression for teenagers. That is why the Encuentro offers the radio workshop. Describing the workshop, Eddie says, it gives young people a chance to make music. Also the equipment (editing and recording) is expensive, so youth can use the equipment if they cant afford it.

Eddie likes working with youth, because they have such great energy, and they also like to work as a team. Even though they are a small group, the radio workshop still accomplished their goals. They created their radio show by rapping, singing and dee-jay spinning. A surprise for the group was that their show was broadcasted on KVRX FM, UT’s campus radio station.

Upon returning to Pearl Street co-op, we were presented with the opportunity to beautify the facility, tells us Daniel Ramos, a Teatro (theater) facilitator and camp coordinator from San Antonio.

The idea to have our own mural was actually one thought of last year, but was not able to be put to action. says Daniel. Encuentro counselors were asked to brighten the dorms dull walls.

"This is a great way to express ourselves and our beliefs, (using) the co-op, through art. It will be a great for the vibe of their home," adds Daniel.

He is happy residents have realized what Encuentro is and what we are here to do, and thanks them for their donation to our organization. He is amazed to see all the youth participants put so much time and energy into all that goes on and wishes the camp were longer.

Natalina Ross says, being with youth is a rewarding experience and I hope the teaching I do for the kids improves their lives. Natalina, a creative writer, writes when she needs to get in her own world. She is a facilitator for the creative writing group. The students in this group made a chapbook for their yet unpublished work, and wrote a poem to accompany a mural created by the art group. The poem and the mural will be presented during the familias demonstration at the end of the camp. Natalina finds it important that the whole of youth speak up for themselves, she says, kids and adults have the same issues in life. She also says writing has been her outlet, and that youth needs someone, who will teach youth to use creative writing. Kids have creative minds.

With the advancement of digital video, documentary film is a more accessible medium for young artists these days. Peter Hernandez a.k.a. The Hat Man likes to film with his camera, which is why he is in the documentary familia. His group project is a documentary on everyday happenings around the co-op, anything from a card game to the nighttime pool swim. The documentary group has been compared to New York City, in that it never sleeps! They make the film in different stages and clips and they have to stay up all night to put it together.

The Publishing Familia was the group that put together the YLN Noticias. The familia had two members from Dallas: Stephanie (12) and Monica (17). Throughout the week, they took a field trip to a college student newsroom, learned different writing styles, as well as the reality of the narrowing mainstream media. Stephanie and Monica were encouraged to think critically about where they receive their information about their communities and the world. After writing a serious review of the Gap Store by researching alternative sources, Stephanie felt that her favorite part of the week was, telling the truth about the Gap. After holding a press conference, taking photographs, interviewing camp participants, the Familia created and designed their own websites, newsletter and will be published on two separate online news outlets.

Workshops:
In addition to participating with a familia on a media project, campers attended five workshops that highlight social issues while demonstrating how art plays a role in expressing social issues, and how the campers could publicly voice their opinions on these issues.

The media workshop explored alternative media forms, the role of independent media in unearthing social issues, who controls the major media companies and why, and the common types of images and information fed to America and the world. They later watched a mini-film festival of works by students from across America and explored the role of the individual arts in each of their familias throughout the week.

The gender workshop focused on how personal identity and the preconceived identities of men and women affect how we communicate with and view each other. Campers built men and women out of clay, wrote character-sketches for each clay-person, and then shared their perceptions with the group. In the sexuality workshop students discussed questions about sexuality.

During the health & nutrition workshop the group learned fun facts like how much sugar is in cokes and how their hearts would be affected if they switched to a pure French fry diet.

Campers learned about their legal rights in the know your rights workshop.

The rhythms of resistance workshop explored how music genres such as Punk and Hip-Hop have formed to challenge status-quos and to express the views of emerging counter cultures.

Conclusion:
Encuentro means different things to each camper. Through the process of developing the camp, Ruth, one of the founders felt the YLN helped her get through school and deal with her own issues. Ruth has also enjoyed this experience in that she has been able to share a part of herself and her life with her family members who have come to participate in the camp.

Themes rise to the surface during the Encuentro and this year seems to have served as a great lesson for many students in being careful with their words. Joseph Cardenas, a ninth grade Austinite, has learned how not to offend people, seeing as some words can easily do just that.

Students are also enlightened to the notion that the American government is not as innocent as it appears and that, unfortunately, people often judge youth of color before ever knowing one.

This isn’t your everyday summer camp. This camp makes participants aware of the issues around the world. The youth are our future. If they don’t get it right today, when will they?

To close, we return to Trent who decided to return this year as a facilitator, apart from any tension that might have gone on, it was extremely fun. He made deep connections with people he never met before and learned a lot. Trent enjoys seeing the Encuentro from another perspective, finally knowing what goes on in those meetings late at night. He agrees as with many of the familias his group met its purpose: to capture the experience of youth.