{"id":18240,"date":"2023-05-22T09:31:09","date_gmt":"2023-05-22T08:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artpluspeople.brussels\/?p=18240"},"modified":"2023-06-14T14:10:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T13:10:00","slug":"media-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artpluspeople.brussels\/en\/media-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Media project"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t

Media project<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The Culture Department of the City of Brussels seeks to create new connections between art and society. In the firm belief that young people have ideas they want to express, our team asked Sylvain Anciaux<\/a> to lead workshops to help groups of youths turn those ideas into concrete visions. Sylvain Anciaux is a journalist who trained at the IHECS. With expertise in photography, the art of interviewing, video editing and writing, Sylvain has chosen to put his knowledge to use and share it with young people. The JES youth organisation first put him in contact with a group of youths from the five blocks: Brian, Benjamin, Hajar and Sa\u00efda. Then, thanks to Yasmina Ben Hammou, youth worker at the MJ Chicago (Chicago youth centre), he met up with the Chicagettes group. An experience-rich story Sylvain has made sure to tell.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe young people of Brussels have things to say. And they\u2019re already talking. In September 2020, four youths from the five blocks neighbourhood, adjoining rue Antoine Dansaert, came together to form a group. Among them are Brian and Benjamin, who already have an Instagram account to which they post sketches, clips, and stories for their (over) one thousand followers. Joining forces with Hajar and Sa\u00efda, the quartet wanted to make things happen, to move up a gear, learn new techniques, and tackle substantive issues.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nPerfect timing, as the five blocks neighbourhood is facing the biggest transformation in its history. Soon, the five towers erected on the esplanade will be torn down and the neighbourhood will be revamped. The four youths (aged between 18 and 23 years old) want to leave a mark, recount sixty years of history in just a few minutes, and express their concerns about the new urban planning project.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTo give their project a boost, I encouraged the group to take part in a competition organised by france.tvslash (France Television\u2019s online presence) and Yard media, entitled \u201cFilme ton Quartier\u201d (\u201cFilm Your Neighbourhood\u201d). The brief: You have three minutes to show what it was like to “be twenty years old in 2020”.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nOver the course of three months, the group learned how to put together a mini-documentary, film it, write a voice-over, and edit it. Proud of a result viewed more than 5000 times on Youtube, Sa\u00efda, Hajar, Bryan and Benjamin devoted several afternoons to completing this project. Their submission would be selected among the top 30, but unfortunately did not make top 10. Nevertheless, this opened the door to writing grants.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Video directed by Brian, Benjamin, Hajar, Sa\u00efda and Sylvain as part of the media project<\/em><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The four young people I worked with know their neighbourhood like the back of their hand and love it with all their heart, so they were keen to talk about it. In terms of dynamics, taking part in a competition and getting feedback from professionals was important, as was the desire to pay tribute to the five blocks and to those who bring them to life. I would also like to thank Oc\u00e9ane Lestage, mediation assistant for the City of Brussels, for the precious help she has given to the project and to the cohesion of the team. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

“I learned that it wasn’t just a question of demolishing the five blocks. There’s a lot more at stake here. That’s when I started digging deeper and found out that some of the residents were going to be rehoused in areas far from the centre, even though that was where they had always lived. Not to mention that some of them had been living in homes with broken windows for a long time. You soon come to realise that the living conditions are unsanitary. I\u2019ve learned all this through meeting others.\u00a0[…] I think if I had to do it all over again, I’d would, but I\u2019d look at it from a different angle. It wouldn\u2019t just be an informative video, but rather a protest.” – Hajar<\/em><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

However it would be wrong to reduce the Chicagettes\u2019 project to a simple article published in a quarterly magazine. The most enriching part was to be found in the meetings, where discussions with young girls (almost) my age, and from different socio-cultural backgrounds, took place. Since we first met, everyone in the group, including me, has grown and learned from one another. While they might not all have taken part in the finished product, the exchanges that took place over the course of the year definitely contributed to it.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Initially, the women\u2019s goal was to put together a small documentary series on the struggle of women in the face of police violence suffered by their loved ones. While the Chicagettes\u2019 initial project never actually reached completion, they did, however, learn to take a journalistic approach in the treatment of a subject. Thanks to Yasmina Ben Hammou, for providing that spark of energy and for making this year of work all the easier. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t