Katie knows kids & teens. Operating a successful acting studio for the last 15 years, she is eye-to-eye with this vulnerable age while they learn to express and be themselves. And she listens. To their frustration, confusion and their deep desire to shape their future. At an age which is typically discounted in politics, Katie saw the reality in their profound voices she heard every day. She knew it was time to create a vehicle for them to be heard, so she wrote their narrative, “WE ARE”, turning it around in just 2 days.
“After listening to adults speak on behalf of the teens and kids I work with every day at my acting studio, I felt frustrated that their voices were not being heard or really considered. It was all just politics. I have hundreds of conversations with teens and know they are driven by re-shaping their future. Many of them feel that they are not being taken seriously, especially by the politicians that "speak for them". They feel an immense pressure to "fix" what the adults today are leaving them with. I wondered if anyone was really listening.”
We, Are Your Future
Katie’s motivation in sharing this is to encourage voter registration and expressing one’s voice, setting up the opportunities for our children and future generations to have their voice heard.
She comments, “My mission was to execute the power behind the words and passion of the teens in "WE ARE”. My hope is that voters will consider these young voices when they go to the polls. The younger generations are crying out to be heard."
It was important that we had a diverse collective of kids of all ages. Many of this actors in this video are activists themselves. We kept a really tight crew to capture the intimate feeling behind the words and movement of this project. We wanted the kids to feel like it was just them, telling their story. You can see from their expressions that this matters to them. It was a lot of work but at the end of the day everyone was in tears having spent so much time looking at the world from a lens of "what have you done to us".
Katie enlisted her close collaborator, Gary Nolton of Limbo Films, to direct the photography and edit the final piece.
Gary adds, “Anytime I can lend my art form to a cause and message I believe in, it’s the most rewarding work I can do. Together we crafted the visuals as Katie expertly guided her young and mostly inexperienced cast toward these lovely moments.”
Katie’s goal is to grow this video on a global level so the rising voice of this teen collective will carry the next generation into a more hopeful future. "Our kids are begging to be heard in this election. They know they will be responsible one day for all of us and they want to know we hear them. I will keep listening and keep asking others to as well"
There is hope…in them.
