Grantee Spotlight: Alaska Teen Media Institute brings youth voice to arts coverage
This highlighted grantee was a double-whammy of what ACEJ supports: local arts reporting, on top of developing the future workforce of Alaska journalists.
Spirit of Youth was the recipient of an Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism Arts Reporting Initiative grant in the Fall of 2024 round of funding. The grant supported the Alaska Teen Media Institute in recruiting youth producers for the production of a series of arts and culture stories for young Alaskans. The young producers, some recruited from Anchorage School District high school media classrooms, interviewed Alaska-based musicians and actors, highlighting arts and culture available to young Alaskans, for whom even “all ages” accessible shows are a rarity.
The project included ATMI’s first-ever video podcast, an interview with musician Grace C. Elliott, who became a headliner for an all-ages downtown Anchorage show after singer Vanessa Carlton canceled.
ATMI reporter Indigo Schlee interviews Hunter Menck, West High senior who starred as Orpheus in the school’s lauded production of “Hadestown: Teen Edition,” a musical retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and their fated trip to the underworld.
The project also had youth producers interview Anchorage Daily News photographer Marc Lester, local band “Glimpse”, high school musical lead Hunter Menck, who led the attention-grabbing production of “Hadestown: Teen Edition” at West High School (and later the Performing Arts Center for an encore-to-the-encores show). Some of the interviews were live during the ATMI team’s “In Other News” monthly radio show on KNBA. The team also created a newsletter for all-ages arts and culture happenings, called “Dear Charlie.” (Sign up for the newsletter here).
The Alaska Teen Media Institute’s mission is to give young Alaskans the skills and voice to tell their own stories. When the local youth band, “Glimpse” met ATMI youth reporters at the KNBA studio in March, they said they didn't even know that people in Anchorage were telling stories like theirs. "I'm so glad this exists,” one band member told the team.
Additionally, ATMI youth reporters get a sense that their community values them through this youth journalism work.
"My work at ATMI is incredibly fulfilling, and makes me feel valued and productive. I feel very proud showing people the things I have made," ATMI wrote youth reporter Nathan Pobiego. "I made my friends and siblings listen when I was first on the radio :)"
ACEJ hopes that Nathan and other ATMI youth reporters continue telling stories for and by youth in Alaska, on the radio and beyond.
Do you have an Alaska story or series idea that needs funding to achieve? Check out our Grants opening, through Oct. 1, 2025. We offer grants for Arts Reporting, like this series, and Impact reporting. See other examples of reporting we’ve supported on our Impact page.