The Appalachian Media Institute has been working with young
people, educators, and communities in eastern Kentucky since 1988. AMI is based at
Appalshop, a media arts and education center in eastern
Kentucky, and strives to help young people develop media skills while gaining a better understanding of their unique mountain communities.
In 1998, AMI was honored with the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities
"Coming Up Taller" award.
The Institute offers hands-on programs where young participants from eastern Kentucky learn about web,
video, and audio production. During the summer, student interns produce short documentary video projects,
study media literacy, learn about artistic investigation and leadership skills, then work in teams to
produce longer documentary videos about life in Appalachia. Later, student documentaries are screened
at local and national film festivals.
The website offers an online catalog of youth-produced
documentaries, including "Taking Care of Our Own," tracing the care of the elderly in eastern
Kentucky; "McRoberts: Eastern Kentucky Coal Camp," in which "residents of an eastern Kentucky
coal camp discuss the town's past, present and future in an era of economic downturn"; "Through
Their Eyes: Stories of Gays and Lesbians in the Mountains," exploring "the tensions between
identifying with family, church, and community roots while feeling pressured to hide an important
part of one's identity," and "Reaching for Higher Ground: Youth Activism in the Mountains,"
which "documents the power and practice of youth involvement in eastern Kentucky communities."
The work of the Appalachian Media Institute is unique in that it not only gives rural youth an
opportunity to develop sophisticated media skills but also enables them to give voice to isolated
communities that struggle to be heard in the modern world. The AMI website brings the culture
and needs of these communities to the world at large.
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