January 7 - March 11, 2019

The Lucas Museum partnered with EXPO Center’s afterschool Teen Leadership Program to develop "Through the Lens: Our Communities, Our Stories," a program designed to use film to enable teens to explore and analyze their own personal interests and concerns through documentary storytelling.

Approximately 50 teens from the Exposition Park and South Los Angeles areas participated in the nine-week after school program, which included training on technical skills to create documentaries, presentations by experts in filmmaking and animation, mentorship by teaching artists, off-site filming, and the opportunity to collaborate in a team to develop, film, and produce a short documentary film.

The program consisted of two-hour sessions held twice a week from January to March 2019. Program sessions were primarily held at EXPO Center, and some filming occurred at off-site filming locations. Teens were placed in groups of approximately seven students and tasked with developing a concept for and creating of a short documentary. The program ended with a culminating event where participants screened their films for friends and family.

The Lucas Museum is grateful to EXPO Center for graciously providing space, equipment, and staff expertise for this collaboration. As a result of their generosity, the museum was successful at recruiting and supporting a group of young South Los Angeles filmmakers through this nine-week creative process and the resulting 10 team-developed short documentary films.