Determined Minds Empowerment Program’s purpose is to use fascinating methods to insight passion in youth. This is done by targeting their current interests and fostering opportunities to peak new ones.
While every child is capable of learning, they do it differently. Just like adults, many are avid readers and gain knowledge through books. Others learn visually through pictures and video. Still others are hands-on and learn through a more applied approach. Regardless of the method used, it should never determine “if” they learn. It is important to reach people, especially our youth, where they are and through means that speak to their learning ability. Expecting a child with little interest in reading to master a skill by way of a textbook is essentially setting them up for failure. However, we can apply an easier way for them to receive and retain what is being taught by simply associating that skill with a method that interests them.
WHAT ARE WE UP TO?
Experiential Entertainment or “Experiential Edutainment” is one of the most powerful ways for to communicate messages in the most impactful and engaging way. By creating a physically engaging activity, participants are informed, entertained and educated, at the same time.
The African American Mobile Experience combines cutting edge technology with a creative approach to educate youth and adults alike. Using interactive cutting edge technology, high definition video, special effects and integrated historic video footage, participants will warp through African American History. The experience will take them through a number of periods from slavery to the election of our first African American President, witnessing many key contributions African Americans have made to the world. Through this interactive experience, participants will realize the significance of protecting the legacies of African Americans and begin to personalize the belief that we can achieve so much more.
The African American Mobile Experience is not a comprehensive replacement for formal education in African American history. It is however, an appealing platform for peeking further interest and a deeper dive into our culture, while providing incidental entertainment value. This mobile medium has seen exponential success for a variety of organizations in areas like finance, health, safety/accident prevention and numerous others. It is now time to take this theater and African American History to the streets and exploit its ability to reach, entertain and educate our community, especially our youth.
According to the 2018 Theme Report published by the Motion Picture Association of America, more than 1.30 billion tickets were sold in the U.S./Canada box office equating to more than $11.9 billion in revenue. More than 263 million people attended a cinema in 2018 in these two markets alone.
In 2018, movie theaters drew more than twice as many people as all theme parks and major U.S. sports combined (baseball, basketball, hockey, and football).
By comparison, African Americans are the second largest purchaser of movie tickets in the U.S. and Canada.
Seventy-six percent of all U.S. leisure travelers participate in cultural or heritage activities such as visiting museums. These travelers spend 60 percent more on average than other leisure travelers.
There are approximately 850 million visits each year to American museums, more than the attendance for all major league sporting events and theme parks combined.
Smithsonian officials announced that the National Museum of African American History and Culture had 3 million visitors in its first full year of operation. An average of 8,000 people a day attended the museum, double the number anticipated. The museum has become an “essential stop” for tourists, and patrons are diverse and international (not just African American and domestic). By the end of 2018, the museum had received just under 5 million visitors since it opened, 1.9 million of whom visited in 2018. It was the organization’s sixth most-visited museum, behind the National Portrait Gallery (2.3 million) and ahead of the National Zoo (1.8 million).
Other Program Initiatives
A program that adopts 10-20 youth per calendar quarter to educate in a areas entertainment. These include trips to theaters, concerts, television and film studios and music recording studios. Youth will enjoy a number of productions and have opportunities to meet the production teams and artists behind these events of varying sizes.
Youth who complete the program each quarter will have an opportunity to apply their new skills and produce a full-scale event. Only assisted by a knowledgeable production team, the youth will take their place in the producer’s chair to bring a full feature event to their community. Not only will they receive full recognition for their role, they also gain invaluable experience that they will carry with them throughout their careers.
It’s important to note that while slavery is nothing to be celebrated, those enslaved contributed greatly on the plantations on which they worked. Today, it’s not uncommon to be celebrated in the work place for doing exceptional work. However, those enslaved may have never received proper recognition for their hard work. Through these scholarships, we will recognize and celebrated the legacies of known slaves and their contributions to the plantations on which they served. The scholarships may be awarded to students who excel academically and desire to pursue higher education, particularly in an occupation in which the slave worked.
Donate
Creating unique opportunities that educate and inspire individuals to excel is fiscally challenging. However, we cannot think of anything better than investing in the potential of greatness. We make every effort to provide our educational services at little to no cost, to the communities in which we serve. It is through generous donations and the efforts of great people including educators, engineers, entrepreneurs and historians that we are able to present educational opportunities to the masses. These opportunities not only allow us to discover historical figures and revisit historical moments but we discover who we are as descendants and gain a better appreciation of the journey that got us from there, to here. If you agree, we welcome your partnership and appreciate your financial support.
Giving is easy. Just select the Donate tab and know that you are making a difference.
