We named The Creative Cornerstone as a recipient of the Sony Create Action Grant to support their mission in providing disadvantaged youth with media production skills. The Creative Cornerstone’s programs equip youth with foundational skills in a professional working environment, helping them see a vital career path they may not have had exposure to due to social economic factors. As recipients of the Create Action Grant, The Creative Cornerstone receives $50,000 in cash to continue and expand the organization's work, $50,000 in Sony Electronics products to support their action plan, and this Sony-produced short film telling their story.
“We teach kids audio production, photography, cinematography – everything from the lighting, to the audio, to the operation of the camera,” explains AJ Williams, executive director for The Creative Cornerstone. “It’s important to have adults that kind of pour into you, an adult that says, ‘Yeah, this is nice work.’ You have to make sure that you stay positive with it. Give them the opportunity to do it, because that might just be the one thing that they’re called to do, you don’t know.”
Through The Creative Cornerstone's after-school program, many students have excelled in learning something new. “I wanted to give up in the early stages because I didn’t really know what I was doing,” says program participant Nathan. “I just kept continuing, pushing through it – and I just found the motivation when I entered this program to just shoot for my goals.”
Another student of the program, Evie, explains how the program has been helpful for getting her out of her comfort zone. “When I realized that there were a lot of people who would help me, and that there were other people my age who were interested in the same thing – it definitely helped get me back into more photography.”
Students have the ability to showcase what they have learned within their community during The Creative Cornerstone's annual digital arts showcase at the end of the program. The showcase helps bring an awareness of the socio-economic disparities felt among the youth in the creative communities within Mecklenburg county.
Learn more about The Creative Cornerstone at creativecornerstonenc.com.
See more of our past Create Action winners at alphauniverse.com/createaction.
