Based on templates developed by Pamela Jaye Smith of MYTHWORKS, Mythic Challenges™ uses the timeless lessons from the world's collective stories. Mythic Challenges is your guide to discovering the role you play in an age old tale. It gives you the appropriate tools of Mythic Themes, Archetypes, and Symbols to effectively tell your story to global audience and move them to awareness and action.
Our Partners
Click on an image below to learn more how are partners are changing the world.
Who knew that stealing sand was a big money-maker for international organized crime? Wrong on so many fronts, do check out this concerning tendency that’s damaging beaches around the world as over-development runs rampant over ecology.
This problem involves two of the 15 Global Challenges: 1 – Sustainable Development & Climate Change and 12 – Transnational Organized Crime. Our Mythic Challenges consultations offer Mythic Themes, Archetypes, and Symbols to help you ‘Create Stories that Change the World’.
Los Angeles, CA, May 29, 2013—Students at Grover Cleveland High School’s Media Academy in Reseda continue to create social change with their video “Give and Take” to be screened at the Neon Venus Short Film Festival on Friday, May 31 at 7:00 pm, in Hollywood at the Neon Venus Theatre 7032 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.
“Give and Take” was created in early 2012 and continues to show its ‘legs’, a media industry term used to describe a long lifespan in the marketplace. “Give and Take’s” creative team used Mythic Challenges™ to map their story and script. Mythic Challenges™ is an English and Media curriculum developed by Pamela Jaye Smith of MYTHWORKS. The program studies each of the Millennium Project’s 15 Global Challenges through the lens of storytelling. Students find solutions by tapping into ancient myths and their meanings. To create “Give and Take,” the students used a modern day Robin Hood myth to highlight their interpretation of Global Challenge #7: Rich Poor Gap. Ultimately, the students-turned-media creators’ videos will be translated and distributed through the Millennium Project’s international partners.
James Gleason, lead film instructor at the Academy remarked, “My students were immediately engaged and motivated with “Give and Take.” In just a short time, the group was able to go to a higher level of thinking about their stories.” Evelyn Seubert, head of the International Media Class at the Academy, enthused, “My students were able to find the story structure and symbols that will move their audience to take action.”
The curriculum used for “Give and Take” was developed when Smith, along with Jill Gurr of Create Now, and Brian Dyer attended the Media Futures Think Tank, “State of the Arts 2011.” Jerome Glen of the Millennium Project delivered the keynote held at c3:Center for Conscious Creativity at the Los Angeles Film Center Studio. He and Kate McCallum, Chair of the Millennium Project’s Global Arts and Media Node, moderated the think tank where the project took form, ultimately finding its way to Grover Cleveland High School and the Media Academy.
About MYTHWORKS – A consultation and information company, MYTHWORKS features “Applied Mythology for a more Rewarding Reality.” It offers Mythic Themes, Archetypes, and Symbols for use in story, communication, leadership, and creativity. For more information, visit www.MYTHWORKS.net or call (323) 469-5681.
About Cleveland High School Media Academy – To make future filmmakers aware of media communication as one of the most powerful means of influencing the hearts and minds of people around the world, Cleveland High Media Academy teaches technical, intellectual and artistic skills allowing students to take the initiative, anticipate rather than react, and problem solve. For more information about CHSMA visit www.chsmediaacademy.org or call (818) 885-2338.
About c3:Center for Conscious Creativity – c3: is the Arts Node of the Millennium Project. The Millennium Project is a global participatory think tank that produces the annual State of the Future report, the Futures Research Methodology series, Collective Intelligence and related software, and special studies. The Millennium Project has about 50 Nodes around the world that identify participants, translate questionnaires and reports, conduct interviews, initiate and conduct special research, workshops, symposiums, and advanced training. The Millennium Project’s mission is to improve thinking about the future and make that available through a variety of media for feedback to accumulate wisdom about the future for better decisions today. www.millennium-project.org/millennium/LA-2030.
Along any path, one meets fellow partners that wish to reach the same destination. Mythic Challenges’ destination is a fully realized global community that is able to solve the problems facing humanity. One partner traveling to the same destination is the International Youth Media Summit (IYMS). To be held in Belgrade this year and return to Los Angeles in 2014, IYMS brings together teen filmmakers and teen diplomats from around the world to explore ways to inspire and empower their generation to shape the future through media and action. Past participants have come from around the globe: Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, England, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong – China, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Macedonia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Serbia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, and The United States of America.
Mythic Challenges, along with The Millennium Project, through it’s Delphi Intelligence System, gathers information from the leading thinkers around the globe to understand the issues facing us collectively. As such, IYMS is addressing specifically, five of the Global Challenges through its program’s focus on Women’s Rights, Health Issues, The Rich Poor Gap, and Peace and Conflict. More importantly, it is creating leaders that will find and create solutions to all fifteen Global Challenges through IMYS’ seventh focus, Youth Empowerment.
Mythic Challenges and The International Youth Media Summit (IYMS) are walking step by step towards a better world.
For more information on how you can take part with IYMS, visit their website http://iyms-usa.org/.
Now that we are one month into 2013 it is time to take an objective look at Mythic Challenges’ year-long journey. The idea for Mythic Challenges came in September 14, 2011 at c3/VisionLab‘s 2011 State of the Arts Think Tank., attended by leaders and activists in many fields: science, media, government, business, and education. By the end of November, 2011, the curriculum had been designed. Applicable to any person or organization, we worked to make sure our high school program met all California state education standards. Through a lucky meeting with Evelyn Seubert at a holiday event, by January 17, 2012, the pilot at Grover Cleveland Highschool’s Media Lab. Seubert and James Gleason used Mythic Challenges to focus the scripts that the students were writing and from which they would create their projects. Sister schools in Afghanistan also participated in the Mythic Challenges program, under the aegis of the U.S. State Department. Input from the students in both countries contributed to a global perspective on the selected Challenges. By June 2012 seven films were ‘in the can’ defining the students’ views, reportings and documentations of the Millennium Project’s 15 Global Challenges.
In August, “The Tower of Youth” media conference in Sacramento chose Raheel Shah’s “Give and Take” to present at their conference. Shah used Mythic Challenges to write his script.
In September, the Center for Conscious Creativity chose Mythic Challenges as the first recipient of the FutureVision Award.
The Center for Conscious Creativity’s FutureVision Award
In November, The Water Channel, a co-creation of MetaMeta Communications, Nymphaea, UNESCO-HE and Cap-Net, selected “Use It – Don’t Abuse It” as part of the video vault on water conservation. The video was created at Grover Cleveland High School using the Mythic Challenges curriculum. View it on the Water Channel by clicking here.So it seems that 2012 was a very successful launch for Mythic Challenges. The Mythic Challenges team is grateful to all who participated. We wish you much success in your 2013 endeavors. Please contact us and let us know how we could bring the Mythic Challenges globally focused program to your organization, be it business, entertainment, education, technology, government, public services, or non-profits. Mythic Challenges also offers Teacher Training programs.
Mythic Challenges is a featured panel at this years State of the Arts 2012: Amplify. Come join us at Los Angeles Center Studios, September 22 at 1:00 PM. Easy access to the studios downtown off of the 101. Visit http://www.c3so.com/speakers-2012.html for more information.
