Susanna Spiccia: The connector

re:imagine/ATL founder empowers teens to share their stories through multimedia

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Gathered around a table covered in art supplies, a group of kids are putting the finishing touches on a model dolphin crafted out of round cardboard pieces. They’re about to start shooting a music video for Atlanta-based noise duo Aww Phooey with Kim & Kooi.“It’s about this kid who is having a dream where he turns into any animal he touches,” explains one boy as he tests out the dolphin’s range of motion. “The song has no lyrics. It’s … experimental.” The other kids nod seriously.The Green Room, a two-week summer filmmaking camp created by Atlanta nonprofit re:imagine/ATL, is a place where kids aren’t treated like just kids. Paired with a team of local film industry volunteers, campers from fifth grade through high school are tasked with making professional-grade music videos for eight different Atlanta bands. There’s a hair and makeup station, a wardrobe area, a puppet-building workshop, a craft services station, a post-production studio, and several different staging areas kitted out with all the latest equipment.“I want to empower kids, not just feel sorry for them and give them stuff,” says Susanna Spiccia, re:imagine/ATL’s 30-year-old founder and executive director.Having grown up in the self-described “bubble” of Alpharetta, Spiccia entered the nonprofit world in college when she started an after-school program for disadvantaged youth in Milledgeville. “I didn’t realize at the time that I had a serious white savior complex,” she says, recalling how she mistook giving for empowering. “It was embarrassing.” For her, re:imagine is a chance for a do-over.In the two years since its launch, Spiccia’s nonprofit has grown to include an impressive array of partners and projects, all geared toward enabling and equipping Atlanta-area youth from all backgrounds to share their stories through multimedia. In addition to the Green Room, there’s a monthly teen networking meet-up, an educational podcast, and a 10-week videography program for metro-Atlanta high schools.Dubbed re:imagine/COMMUNITY, the latter program pairs students with corporate sponsors who “hire” the students to create video PSAs for local nonprofits. They’ve addressed issues such as youth homelessness, food access, and sex trafficking.In 2017, re:imagine will add several new projects. There are two teen-driven documentaries in the works — one on sneaker culture, one on education in low-income communities — and a new teen-produced digital channel called “No Comment,” created in partnership with VOX ATL. The pilot season will include six web series on themes chosen by the teens: identity, music culture, censorship, stereotypes, community, and whitewashed media. “We don’t really know the entire process yet; we’re just going to see how it goes,” Spiccia says. “The kids are finalizing everything, so it’s up to them.”For local youth, re:imagine/ATL offers an unprecedented opportunity to tap into the often-exclusive echelons of Atlanta’s multi-billion dollar film industry. For industry folks, it’s a chance to invest back into the city that has supported them by mentoring a new generation of content creators. So far, production companies and studios big and small have volunteered time and resources, including Turner, Motion Family, Tree Sound, and Spitfire Studios.


“We’re moving toward becoming a media company for the next generation,” Spiccia says. “Everything we do is really just building upon the last thing and trying to refine who we are and what are the stories these kids want to tell.”