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Our Mission and History
Spy Hop Productions is a highly effective not-for-profit youth media arts and educational enrichment center founded in 1999, and located in the historic Art Space district of downtown Salt Lake City. Spy Hop’s purpose is to empower youth to express their voice and with it create positive change in their lives, their community, and the world. Spy Hop’s mission is to encourage free expression, self-discovery, critical and inventive thinking, and skilled participation via the big screen, the airwaves, and the world-wide-web. The values embraced are instilled in programs, and relationships with students, staff, and community, which include:
- Every experience and voice has value, and everyone deserves the opportunity to explore and express their ideas with confidence;
- A comprehensive understanding of media, how it is created and the role it plays in society is crucial to civic and social engagement;
- Learning takes place when people from diverse perspectives come together in a supportive environment of risk-taking, creativity, and respect.
In collaboration with community partners such as the Salt Lake Mayor’s Office, the Sundance Institute, the University of Utah, and the Utah State Office of Education, Spy Hop Productions provides a creative and dynamic studio environment where young people of all backgrounds actively engage in the production of their own narratives and solutions to the challenges they face. In 2007, over 500 Spy Hop participants worked with mentors and instructors in multiple media arts disciplines including documentary arts, film and video production, radio, sound engineering and interactive design. The young producers’ creative works reached local and national audiences exceeding 2,000,000 people.
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