IBC television camp builds self-esteem for girls

SARA ARNATSIAQ

Thanks to the Women’s Television Network Foundation and the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, 16 Iqaluit girls have a chance to build their self-esteem and shoot their own videos, at the first TV camp for girls in Iqaluit between July 29 and Aug. 10.

The WTN Foundation launched the educational and professional training program in 1997, and has since created opportunities for 160 girls aged 12-18 from across Canada to learn how to be television technicians.

They’ve held eight camps in the South between Halifax and Vancouver. This one is the first TV camp for girls to be held in Nunavut.

The WTN Foundation has received awards from Human Resources Canada and Industry Canada recognizing their work on leadership and community, as well as international recognition.

IBC’s Iqaluit station is the home base for the TV camp, where counsellors will guide the girls in camera operating, lighting, and audio and video editing.

They will take day-trips on the land, where elders will be involved. These activities are followed up with lectures on self-esteem and self-awareness, music, throat singing, drum-dancing and media literacy.

The girls will produce their own videos with topics they find important to express their views. They will either be dramatic, or in music video form, or whatever form they wish to express themselves in.

Heather Michael-Graham, 12, is one of the 16 participants. She said the camp is a lot of fun. She learned to take close-ups, medium shots, and wide shots with the camera.

She also said that it’s very different from what she’s done before. “I would come back next year,” Michael-Graham says.
Kalapik Sheutiapik, 13, said that it was exciting to go out in Greenlandic masks and scare people with their make-up. She said with a laugh that the lunches are great too.

When asked what she would say to other girls that are not participating in the camp, she said, “teach them to pay attention.”
Ulaaju Peter, 14, said it’s very interesting to learn some camera tricks. She’s interested in coming back next year as a counsellor to teach.

Peter said she encourages other girls to join and learn the positive things they learned in the camp, and show their work in a video.
She also said that it’s completely different watching television now, because she knows how it’s done. She says she knows now how to make her own video and how to teach others through a video.

Patricia Arreak, 13, says it’s easier now that she has family members in Iqaluit. She said she likes making up stories to put on video. She also wants to produce videos when she finishes high school; she’s also interested in coming back next year.

Rosie Simonfalvy, one of the nine counsellors for the camp, said that its been very good watching the girls go from being shy and timid to being more outgoing and curious.

She said that after some camera technique workshops, some of the girls were asking “Is that hand-held?”

Simonfalvy noticed that the younger girls were faster learners than the older ones, but also that once they were used to each other and were not shy anymore, that they started helping each other. They also started sharing what’s good and what’s bad about their lives.

Although this is a first experience for Simonfalvy in counselling, she feels that the triumph for these girls is that they broke out of their shells, gained confidence, and learned new skills, and now have an idea of how to present their ideas in video form.

Kath Clarida Fry, the producer of the WTN girls TV camp, said that because this is the first camp in Nunavut, it’s difficult to say whether or not it will become an annual event. This, Fry said, depends on funding being available.

On Aug. 10, during a video festival being held at the Astro Theatre, the videos produced by the girls will be shown to the public.