A MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDERS – JOHN & STEPHANIE

Dear Friends,

Every day we have the privilege of helping young people find their voices and gain the confidence to imagine a better future.  In our Brooklyn Lab, teens work one-on-one with professional filmmaker-mentors to create remarkable films about their lives and communities.  In eight public schools –  from Brownsville, to Harlem to the South Bronx – we partner with amazing educators to bring our award-winning programs to youth who might otherwise never have the opportunity to express themselves through film.

But what happens when our students graduate?  We know that 99% or Reel Works teens graduate high school and 95% attend college.  But then what? Do we really have a long-term impact on the lives of the young people we serve?  Eleven years since our founding, we are now able to see the fruits of Reel Work’s labor reflected in the lives of our alumni.

Young people like Keisha Frasier, who today works for Peacock Productions.  And Vanessa Bateau, who is using the editing skills learned at Reel Works to create animations at TV Land.  And Aleksandra Gezenstvey who joined the editor’s union while working as an assistant on the production of Salt with Angelina Jolie.  And Towhid Hossain who created his own production company and who recently produced the second most popular music video in his native Bangladesh.  Reel Works filmmakers are filling classrooms of film schools and joining the film industry every day.  You might already have hired one!

In the coming year, Reel Works will double down on our commitment to become a bridge for teens to go from high school into college and careers in media – through advanced filmmaking classes, real jobs in our youth-run production company and  internships in media companies citywide.  We are training tomorrows top media makers today.

We have so much to celebrate at our 2012 Gala.  None of this could happen without our generous funders and individual donors, our amazing  Board of Directors, our remarkable staff and those brilliant young filmmakers it is our honor to serve.

Thank you!

JOHN C. WILLIAMS                 STEPHANIE WALTER WILLIAMS
Co-Founder                            Co-Founder
Executive Director                  Artistic Director