URBAN VIDEO PROJECT
"Urban Video Project (UVP) [was] a media education program [that ran] at Satellite Academy (Forsyth St.) from the mid-1980s through the 90s, providing students with the opportunity to craft half-hour documentaries as a cultural preservation effort, exploring the culture of Black and Latino people in their communities and the legacy of the African diaspora. Started by Salvatore LaSpada, a philanthropic consultant, Urban Video Project became integral to school culture at Satellite. It was emblematic of everything they were about: raising interest in learning and commitment to school through alternative pedagogy, hands-on, immersive experiences, one-on-one instruction, and allowing the students to be in control. […] The mission of these documentaries was twofold: to engage the students in school through media production, allowing them 'to be the tellers of their stories,' as LaSpada puts it, and to preserve the cultural heritage and current community of Black and Latino people in New York." –Maddie DeLaere, XFR Collective This program includes three tapes made by the students at the Lower East Side's Satellite Academy as part of the Urban Video Project initiative, which have been preserved thanks to the efforts of the XFR Collective, Liz Andersen, and Salvatore LaSpada. NEW YORK, WEST INDIES: VOICES FROM THE JAMAICAN AND TRINIDADIAN MIGRATION 1986, 17 min, video High school students of the Urban Video Project in New York City interview immigrants from Jamaica and Trinidad. EL PASAJE: RECOLLECTIONS FROM THE PUERTO RICAN MIGRATION 1986, 22.5 min, video Interviewing the city's Puerto Rican residents, the students learn about their history and the history of their classmates. EYES ON HARLEM 1987, 29 min, video In this tape, the students look at the community of Harlem in the mid 1980s as one of the legacies of the African Diaspora. They learn about present aspects of Harlem and the threat of hostile outside developers. Introduced by Paige Laino (XFR Collective)!