Media Fellow, it’s over!

All the meetings took place, 3 documentary films about the project were made and many connections were made through this project! Teleduca in Barcelona, the French Federation of Participatory Audiovisual, the Offener Kanal of Magdeburg in Germany and the University of Santiago de Compostel all agree that Media Fellow went well both in its organisation and in the results obtained. The human relations were strong and rich, and this project allowed us to experience the influence of participatory media both in our respective territories and on a European scale together for 3 years.

The four structures involved in the project already had links prior to this project, having met during European universities organised by the Federation of Participatory Audiovisual in 2001 and 2003, as well as during the European meetings of participatory audiovisual in the framework of the European programme „Youth in Action“, gathering in 2011 60 participants from 9 countries during three days. In Media Fellow, we have carried out 7 transnational meetings allowing us to exchange regularly and to elaborate trainings in a companion logic. Indeed, in keeping with our practices, learning has always taken place between peers, by experimenting with new techniques or by generating debate. In order to bring this to life, we got to know each other in our specificities, linked to know-how, commitments and our different contexts.

These regular meetings have led us to travel to better understand each of the territorial issues and meet nearly 180 actors who gravitate around our participatory audiovisual practices. In total, 14 people guided by 4 referents have benefited from mobility to participate in the orientation of the project and its implementation. Together, we set up collegial decision-making processes to cooperate throughout the project and bring it to a successful conclusion. The three training sessions enabled the companions to meet each other, to share their skills and to acquire new ones. The first took place in Barcelona, the second in Lille at Labo 148, a member of the Federation of Participatory Audiovisual, and the last in Magdeburg, Germany. On each occasion, 10 to 12 participants spent 5 days experimenting with pedagogical methodologies in the field of participatory audiovisual. For each of these companionship sessions, the hosting structures mobilised teams of 3 to 5 people who accompanied and participated in these horizontal training sessions. Some companions followed all the training sessions, which gave the project a stronger foundation; this was the case for 3 people from the Federation, 2 from Teleduca and 2 from the Offener Kanal in Magdeburg.

All of this sharing of experience has enriched the practices of the partner structures, as the project has been a breeding ground for experimentation and reflection on teaching methodologies. As planned, we made three documentary films about the project, reporting on each of the three periods of companionship. These films complement each other, as the one made in Barcelona presents the different supports for the exchange of practices and the participants‘ experiences, as well as their understanding of participatory audiovisual. The one in Lille represents the structures and the political stakes of our participatory audiovisual practices. In Magdeburg, it was a TV set that presented the results and feedback of the week-long companionship while being a practical experiment in itself. It was broadcasted live on TV (state DTT) and on Facebook. Their public broadcast during the Federation’s meetings in May 2020 was cancelled due to the health crisis and in the end we were unable to establish a programme. This particularly disrupted and disruptive year of 2020 also impacted the webcast. The subtitled films, the project website and the federation’s website were finalised at the end of 2020.

The communication of the project results through broadcasts and press articles will take place in the first half of 2021. The project has also contributed to motivate the realization of a collective book on media literacy which was written by the collective of the Friche, structure of the Federation of Participatory Audiovisual, and the university research laboratory GERIICO. The Media Fellow referents are cited in the book for their field expertise on media literacy issues. It is also a way of synthesising the debates that took place throughout Media Fellow and making them accessible to the general public. The small critical handbook of media education will be published in March 2021 by the Editions du commun.