Squeaky Wheel’s award-winning youth programs are a perfect addition to your young artists’ summer. Give them the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and access to 21st Century skills and tools that empower them to own their mediated space.
Courses are open to youth from ages 11 – 15 and take place in both morning and afternoon sessions for full days of fun! Our instructors are all working artists and experienced educators, and teach topics and skills that are related to their own art practice.
Light snacks and beverages will be provided, but we encourage you to send your student with lunch if they’re with for the full day.
Summer 2023 Program Details:
July 10 – August 4
1 week classes
Monday – Friday
Morning and afternoon sessions
$210 nonmembers/$189 members (10% discount)
July 10 – 14, 9am-12pm
Video Production: DIY Special Effects
Before computers, filmmakers used practical effects to create incredible illusions, all done on set and in the camera during filming. In this workshop, you will learn to create your own amazing DIY effects! You will also learn or improve your camera skills, write a short script based on a favorite film, and learn or improve your editing skills with Adobe Premiere. You’ll finish the week with a completed short film!
Instructor: Joan Nobile
July 10 – 14, 1pm – 4pm
Video Production: Live Stream Experiments
This workshop will teach students to produce live video content. They will capture video with a variety of cameras, use MAX/Jitter to apply real-time visual effects, and OBS to create video streams. They will use their new skills to create an exciting live multimedia performance!
Instructor: Michael Chernoff
July 17 – 21, 9am – 12pm
Interactive Musical Instruments
In this workshop, students will work together to create an interactive musical instrument. Using Arduino devices and basic coding, we will learn how to connect and activate electronic components to react to inputs like sound, touch, or motion. Ordinary objects and materials will gain extraordinary properties!
Instructor: Bello Bello
July 17 – 21, 1pm – 4pm
Video Production: Color and Light
In this workshop, students will learn the fundamentals of production design: the art of creating the overall aesthetic, or look, of a film. We will create simple sets, and learn how to use color and lighting to make them feel vibrant and alive. We will also learn or improve camera and video editing skills, and create a short film together!
Instructor: Avye Alexandres
July 24 – 28, 9am – 12pm
Interesting Decisions: Choice Based Game Design
Learn how to make interactive games! Using the free Inky engine, build a scalable text-based game that takes into account player choices when progressing its narrative. Inky is a very simple narrative scripting language for games that can stand alone in web browsers and be integrated into game production engines like Unity.
Instructor: Famous Clark
July 24 – 28, 1pm – 4pm
Believe it or not: Hoax Photography
What does it mean for an image to be “real”? Students will consider this question as they investigate the cultural implications of hoaxes. Beginning with a survey of UFO photography, we will make physical models and create photographs of UFOs, and then use Photoshop to remove any signs of trickery from the images. Students will build media literacy skills as they learn about AI and other new developments in image generating technology.
Instructor: Robert George
July 31 – Aug 4, 9am – 12pm
Stop Motion Animation: With Humans!
Stop motion animation is often used to animate things like cut paper, clay figures, puppets, and ordinary objects at a miniature scale. In this workshop, students will instead learn how to use stop motion techniques with real live human actors, and full-scale objects. The results are often surreal, or other worldly, and there is infinite space for experimentation with practical visual effects. We will work together to develop characters and stories, and then build a set in our studio. Students will learn to photograph scenes and edit their animations, and then add sound effects and music. Everyone will leave class with a finished short film!
Instructor: Salem Browning
July 31 – Aug 4, 1pm – 4pm
16mm Camera-less Filmmaking
Join us to learn about motion picture film, and manipulate the surface of the film using a variety of camera-less techniques: painting, scratching, masking, and tape-lifting to create an original, collective experimental film on 16mm. Each technique creates a different effect, with a range of textures, colors, and opacities. This process is an especially wonderful way to combine media art with traditional arts like drawing and painting. The possibilities are endless, and each film is a surprise, only revealing its magic when projected.
Instructor: Scott Puccio
