Philadelphia has no shortage of youth media organizations. Now, those organizations have a place to convene and collaborate: the Philly Youth Media Collaborative (PYMC). PYMC officially launched in 2009, but was rather inactive for several years. Last year, Director of Temple University’s Center for Media and Information Literacy (CMIL) Sherri Hope Culver saw a need for an organization like PYMC and reached out to previously involved member organizations to see if they were interested in rebooting the collaborative.

“I realized recently that it was something that was helpful for everybody, and so we decided to bring it back,” Culver said.

PYMC is currently made up of 25 member organizations, including the CMIL, but Culver anticipates that number growing over the next six months as people realize they are active once again. 

“The goal is to use the knowledge of all these youth media organizations to improve overall youth media in Philadelphia,” Culver said. “As a city, Philly has an opportunity to be a leader in youth media.”

The CMIL focuses on scholarship, research and professional development related to media literacy at a local, regional and international level. In addition to their work with PYMC, the center hosts webinars on everything from diversity in children’s media to streaming services and produces Media Inside Out for Temple University Television.

“The CMIL has really changed my perspective on the importance of media literacy, which is something that I’m super grateful for just because it’s something I feel like I found some kind of passion within,” student worker at the CMIL Baker McNamara said. 

In his role at the CMIL, McNamara is an associate producer on Media Inside Out and often attends PYMC meetings. “I really admire how the Philly Youth Media Collaborative just really does cultivate a safe space for media organizations, whether they be new or old, to come in and kind of express themselves and their thoughts in whatever manner,” he said. 

Another one of PYMC’s member organizations is Big Picture Alliance. Filmmaker and musician Aleks Martray has lived in Philadelphia for 16 years and has been the executive director at Big Picture Alliance since 2016. The organization serves about 200 youth every year and has school, summer and workforce programs that focus on youth filmmaking.

“I can say personally from when I first came to Philly to now it’s incredible how much it really has grown into a true community and a true collaborative,” Martray said of PYMC. He noted that early on in PYMC’s development the collaborative was more of a space to share for its members, but now members work together to create programs that celebrate and connect all forms of media.

PYMC has held youth media awards and film screening events where youth from different organizations can attend in order to learn from each other and present their work. In 2019, eight youth media organizations in Philadelphia collaborated to launch Youth Set the Stage, another opportunity for youth to present their work on the Kimmel Center stage for other youth as well as community leaders in media.  

PYMC is continuing to meet monthly and grow their collaborative efforts. One of their recent projects is in youth media workforce development, and they are always learning from professionals in the field in order to best lead Philadelphia’s next generation of media producers.