This work by keynoter Ajamu Kojo was shown as part of a presentation at 21C Museum Hotel.
Photo by Chelsea Castillo
NWACC students in Debbie Miller’s Storytelling for Today’s Media class spent the week of March 3-6 covering the Spring Arts & Culture Festival. The students incorporated their own version of “Risk” in the week’s activities when they collected audio, video, and photos in addition to traditional print journalism reporting. Professor Jason Shifflett coached students through editing the video packages and producing a news segment. The work culminated in an Eagle View news broadcast posted to YouTube on March 6, the evening of the festival’s last day. It’s available on YouTube at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muQ8Jzwiib0
Below are students’ reflections about the week and their own risk taking during the festival.
This year’s Spring Arts & Culture Festival was super cool to see from a journalist perspective. As someone who is not super great at multimedia, I enjoyed being challenged and pushed to think outside the box. Although I was only able to attend one event, I still was able to grasp what this festival’s goal was. Night & Fog was incredibly impactful and created an environment for productive, educational discussion. The wide array of events last week provided something of interest for anyone who attended.
– Georgia Almaguer
During this past week, I felt very unprepared, confused, and honestly did not understand what was expected for this assignment. I don’t really have any video editing skills, so I was unsure as to what I was supposed to do with the footage that I got from the Spring Arts & Culture Festival. I enjoyed filming Ajamu Kojo’s Q&A, but felt anxious the whole time because I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to meet the assignment’s requirements. Aside from my anxiety, I liked hearing what Kojo had to say about being a black artist from Arkansas as he collaborated with celebrities and created his own art series centered around Black Wall Street. I also liked that Kojo combined other black history events like the Little Rock Nine into his work.
– Edie Brannon
Instructor note: Below is Edie’s edited video report with voice-over by Ryen Hale. The script for the voice-over was created by Alex Blanton. Chelsea Castillo did the video editing.
Some of my thoughts on the Spring Arts & Culture Festival were that it was very fun. I loved walking around and seeing everyone have their own subject and topic to show or teach. I was able to interview some people and the stories they told were amazing. All in all the festival was a blast and it sucks that I won’t be able to see another.
– Addison Tull
I enjoyed this year’s Spring Arts & Culture Festival at NWACC. I was able to try new ways of storytelling and gain new experiences. The events held this year were very impactful and gave me a new meaning of taking risks. Also, working as a team with my classmates was very fun, and I look forward to getting to experience that again.
– Chelsea Castillo
I enjoyed reporting on Ajamu Kojo because he had lots of valuable advice to give young artists. He told us to take risks and do things that scare you because that will help us reach your fullest potential as an artist. I also attended one of the open reading events, I loved hearing people’s poetry and excerpts from their favorite books. I think the whole festival is a great way to bring the NWACC community together. I hope it continues, and I look forward to seeing what events next year holds.
– Alex Blanton
I enjoyed seeing all my classmates WORK HARD and make great content for the SACF!
– Genesis Guerra
I didn’t get a chance to really participate or write as much as I would have liked. However, the only events I attended were the Night and Fog and the Women Taking Risks in Civil War. Both events were heavy on detail and heavy on the heart.
– Brett Nichols
This year’s SACF was stressful but still fun all the same. Besides the technical difficulties, we worked effectively and efficiently as a team. Thankfully everything was able to be pulled together at the last minute and we were able to make a wonderful broadcast.
– Kay King
I really enjoyed covering the Spring Arts & Culture Festival this week. Walking around to all the different workshops was exciting and I loved seeing the crowd getting involved. Speaking to the directors of each workshop and getting more information about each subject was something I enjoyed as well. My favorite part of this week was interviewing Professor Huggard about his upcoming book. I am a big fan of history and getting to hear what sparked his book was fascinating. I learned a lot about interviewing and capturing videos, which are both skills I would like to continue in the future of this class.
– Presli Sickels
It was an amazing experience to cover the SACF. I liked listening to and seeing my classmates discuss their experiences at the events they went to. Although I wish I could’ve experienced more, personal circumstances limited my involvement. The highlight for me was the Don Tyson School of Innovation band and viewing the true crime podcast on the book, “Snake Eyes in a Southern Town,” which was very engaging and memorable.
– Dylan Turner
Honestly, this was a very unique week. This is my second year and I personally didn’t know what to expect because I didn’t know about it last year. Overall it was some good stuff, some boring stuff but all in all it was really good. My favorite thing was the diva dance and I’ll be honest I enjoy dancing a lot and though isn’t really my style, learning a new dance is so cool. With Pres, Ryen, Riley, and Addi it was really dope seeing everyone kinda get out of their comfort zone. Huge shoutout to the homie Riley (Cook), who made this week special. I can say without Riley it wouldn’t have been fun. And to everyone in the class, thank you for all your work. I really hope y’all enjoyed it as much as I did. Also I gotta pic with Jud (Ferguson). Pretty cool!
– Terrance Poole
Additional related and unique coverage on this blog site includes:
https://eagleview.news.blog/2025/03/23/artist-professor-details-kickstarting-book-project/
See additional coverage in the print issue of the NWACC Eagle View being distributed on campus in late March.
Eagle View Newspaper 