Bring the power of film directly into your classroom
Words by Paige Townley
What if you could get a creative storytelling curriculum for your classroom from a film industry expert—an expert behind one of the largest movie studios in the United States where major blockbusters are filmed? Now, thanks to the Story Arts Challenge, you actually can, and it’s totally free.
Story Arts, based out of Fayette County, Georgia, is a movement of outside-the-box thinkers who want to inspire and encourage creativity across all industries, products, and people. Its mission is simple: to help young people of all ages develop the knowledge, skills, and craft of Story. To accomplish that goal, the group has taken action with the Story Arts Challenge, a completely free learning experience that was designed for students in grades two through graduate school. The curriculum includes four brief videos and a challenge for students directly from Frank Patterson, CEO of the famed Trilith Studios. Trilith Studios—situated in a master-planned community just south of Atlanta—has established itself as one of the largest movie studios in the country (second only to Warner Bros. in Burbank, California), and it’s where blockbusters including Avengers: End Game, WandaVision, The Suicide Squad, and Loki have all been filmed.
Each challenge will encourage young storytellers to find their voice and share their unique stores by exploring conflict and resolution through the creation of their own short films. This one-of-a-kind curriculum is ideal for a variety of classrooms, particularly for educators teaching plot, digital media, imagery and metaphors, acting, sequence of events, writing, and editing.
The free learning experience is set up in multiple flexible modules that teachers can easily access via the Story Arts platform and take two to three hours of classroom time. While teachers can use the curriculum at any time they prefer—each virtual event will be recorded and offered for later use—the Story Arts’ hope is that teachers and students can attend the live virtual event, which also includes a live Q&A time featuring Patterson.
This challenge is the first of eight storytelling curricula and events that Story Arts is planning for the 2021-2022 school year. Each and every one will include an industry professional to guide students through a variety of storytelling topics. So join us for our first live virtual event on October 15 as we continue working toward our mission of shaping the minds of today’s students and investing in the story artists of tomorrow.
Story Arts Collective members include Fayette Country Public Schools, Trilith, Georgia Film Academy, Utopian Academy for the Arts, Landmark Christian School, Alliance Theatre, and The Forest School.