When I turned sixteen and began to shift my focus from drawing mediums and portrait work to film analysis and film study, I quickly realized the lack of resources and ways to display my work as a young, inexperienced writer and aspiring film critic. Drawing offered me the world, one of endless opportunities for school art shows, Scholastic Art Awards, and group projects with local theatres and museums, all of which I took part in. While at the time, I was full of hope for this career ahead of me and sharing my portraits with the country in the future, this hope was not well translated when I picked up film studies. With cinematography jobs and film criticism, along with possible short films on my mind, I became aware of how little I could do with the resources and materials available to me. I became aware of the slim group I had to cater to, with social media algorithms so unreliable. I’ve always had incredible art teachers. They have inspired me, motivated me, and provided me with groups to work with in order to share whatever I was working on at the time. When I revealed that I was planning on majoring in film studies in college, they scratched their heads and didn’t have much to say to ease my uncertainty of how I was going to get a step up. I had this same reaction, myself until my portfolio teacher handed out an assignment to curate my own art show. Instead of taking this assignment at its surface level, I decided to pour into it all of the resources and opportunities I wish I had in real life, that I wish everybody was given. This was my dream assignment that would allow me to create my dream show, the way I had always wanted to display what I was passionate about. If given the opportunity to create anything I could ever think of creating, I would want to create a platform. One for all aspiring filmmakers like myself. One for writers, film critics, journalists, and cinematographers alike. I would create an organization, with a website, social media, and followers that are creators themselves who feel they have never had a place to display their work. As the creator, I would allow applications and submissions of student films and independent shorts that would be reviewed before they were added to the website and shown to the world. They would be divided into topics depending on what subject or issue they focus on, which outside viewers could then choose from. These topics could be anything from political issues, such as Black Lives Matter, healthcare, LGBTQ+ rights, and misogyny, to personal films such as self-discovery or just creative and abstract experiments. The idea of this organization would be to give young people a way to share their work and offer them exposure and potential payment through donations or links from the website to their own social media accounts or websites. Not only would short films be included, but submissions of writing, storytelling, analysis, and criticism would be considered as well and included in their own categories with all of the same resources and exposure. Through donations and fundraisers/sponsorships, the organization would also offer virtual and in-person art shows to showcase the work of those admitted to the website. The assignment given to me by my portfolio teacher allowed me the opportunity to take the time to visualize what this would look like, and brought to light a vision I have always had and wanted to accomplish. Once or twice a year, I would love to upload a poll to the public, casting their vote for a winner of each category that would then make its way to a large art show, where each winner’s work would be shown and would represent the category that their work fits into. This would include traditional work and performance art revolving around a central theme and would not only offer payment through the price of admission, but would also offer large exposure to the public, and whoever views online. No discrimination, no biases, simply a place for young creators to feel safe in showcasing what’s inside, what they never had a place to share before. I want young people to stop watching other filmmakers, other critics, reading the work of other writers, and believing that it will never be them. That they have no experience, that there is no way for them to ever leave their living rooms or their small towns. I want to offer them a place to go when they feel there is nobody around them who takes them seriously. A place for young creators, made and managed by young creators. That’s the world I dream of, and this is the first step into something enormous.