Media Literacy & Digital Storytelling Workshops w/ the Youth of Galiano & Penelakut Islands

For the past couple years I’ve been involved w/ a rad organization called AMES that provides Digital Storytelling & Media Literacy workshops & programming for school age youths.

Last year we launched a project called SalishHarvest.com and this year we’ve been working on a new project called Digital Foraging. The Digital Foraging project aims to document the stories of elders from Penelakut Island and Galiano Island as they share their knowledge of traditional foods and medicines.

Here’s a quick video from our most recent visit to Penelakut made by Kyle Kesterson.

Here’s some additional information about the program from the Access to Media Education website…

“Digital Forage is an intergenerational media arts mentorship project that expands upon a larger project entitled “Two Islands United: Gathering the Wisdom of Elders” (initiated by the Galiano Club in 2012).

The main objective of Digital Forage and “Two Islands United” is to bring together Elders from the neighbouring Islands of Penelakut (formerly Kuper) and Galiano to share their knowledge of wild and traditional foods and medicines. Through a series of inter-island gatherings the Elders discussed their experience with various locally harvested foods and medicines from the past and present. Part of the discussion was to look at Wild Food Foraging and food sustainability on both islands.

AMES worked with youth from both island communities to help them gain the ‘know how’ to record these inter-island gatherings. The youth are helping to preserve some of the essential knowledge held by their elders through the creation of a series of short videos and blog entries on SalishHarvest.com. The website will feature videos, background information, links and related recipes.We hope this evolving site also inspires the next generation to see, appreciate and ultimately connect with the wild abundance in their midst.

This project was initiated by the Galiano Club in partnership with the H’ulh-etun Health Society and the Access to Media Education Society. This project was funded by the BC Arts Council and New Horizons for Seniors and has been a joint effort between the Galiano Community Food Program, the H’ulh-etun Health Society (Penelakut), and AMES.”

Thanks to the peeps of Penelakut Island for their friendship, trust and support! 🙂 *hugs and highfives*