ABC LAUNCH 5-7 March 2010

ABC will host a series of media workshops that will offer 100 children the opportunity to work in a media environment. The children will be selected from 10 schools in the Lagos area and will be invited to participate in the 3-day media workshops. The final products that are produced during these 3-days will be broadcast on ABC. The intention is to offer the children the opportunity to be part of a production team that is concerned with the needs of young audiences and supports the development of media content produced by young people. A further 1000 children will be invited to participate in a Media Fair on the 7 March at the MiTV Studio’s in Lagos, Nigeria.

Workshops will include Radio, Television, Print, Animation, New Media and Social Networking such as FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube etc. The young people will be assisted in the production of iReport-type programmes where they are the centre of the story. Story-telling is still the most important skill and if young people are able to communicate their stories in the most appropriate and visible way they will become the generators of quality and respectful media that would place their concerns, issues, interests on the national agendas of Governments and International Agencies that are responsible for protecting and affirming Children’s Rights. Workshop themes will include entertainment, education, health, sport and new media. We will focus on HIV-AIDS, Media Literacy, Football, Arts and Culture, etc.

ABC has secured the support of Toon Boom Animation an Animation Solution Provider based in Canada with partners in South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya and Ghana to facilitate animation workshops with both the school children and also professional animators. Toon Boom technology has just been used in the recent Disney film “The Princess and the Frog”. ABC will host the inaugural Africa Toon Boom Alliance. This will be a 3-day co-production workshop with the 5-country partners. The Co-production workshop will result in a Co-production Treaty signed by the partners with a definite proposal for a series of Animations to be produced by the partners. Details of the Co-production Treaty will be concluded on the 7 March and presented at a Press Briefing during the launch of ABC.

ABC is also hoping to invite the UNICEF ‘oneminutejnr’ mentors to host a workshop that will result in a series of 1-minute films produced by the children. These films and also the one-minute films on the UNICEF Magic website will form part of the Children’s Slot that showcases children’s productions. This is an important aspect of the research, development and production of media content that is child-friendly and provides alternative content produced by young filmmakers. ABC will be the Nigerian partner for SPEAK AFRICA (www.speakafrica.org) –Speak Africa is a movement of young Africans using media, art, culture and other forms of dialogue to Xpress themselves and Xchange ideas as informed and active citizens.

On the 6 March ABC will have an Inaugural Address as the launch commitment to Children’s Media- we are inviting the Nigerian Acting President/ Key Minister to make this Address. The focus is on providing African children and youth an alternative media palate. We want to broaden the media landscape by engaging with the children and youth in a manner where they become the producers and aggregators of their own content. Other keynote speakers will be invited from UNICEF, UNESCO, Toon Booms, Media Research/ Expert. We want to present innovative Research that contextualizes the media habits of young people but with specific reference to African children and we also want to show how media can both support and distort the young person’s sense of self. This will be a high-level 2-hour programme that will be centered on ensuring that strategic partners attend.

7 March is the 24-hour launch of ABC. ABC will provide quality children and youth programming throughout the 24 hours including documentaries, talk shows, magazine programmes and feature films. The programmes will be both African and International and will offer a window into the world of children’s media.

5 -7 March
Time: 09:00- 17:00
Children’s workshops
Animation workshops for professionals
100 children: TV, Radio, Print, New Media, Animation workshops
Toon Booms Alliance and Co-production Workshop
Speak Africa Workshops

6 March
Time: 10:00- 12:00
VIP Guests from Government Ministries such as Women and Children
Affairs, Information and Communications, Education, Health, UN
Agencies: UNICEF, UNESCO
Special Guest: Acting President (TBC)
Keynote Speaker: UNICEF – Speak about ICDB
Presentations: UNESCO, Toon Booms, Speak Africa, Media Researcher and Child

7 March
Time: 09:00- 17:00
100 children: TV, Radio, Print, New Media, Animation workshops
1000 children: Media Fair at MiTV Station

Invited Guests:
Broadcasters, Government, NGO’s in Children’s Media, UNESCO, UNICEF, UN Agencies, Embassies, Advertising Industry, Regulators, Nollywood Stars, Media Professionals, Journalists.