FAQ - about YBAMA

Mastering the creative skills in the field of Digital Media Arts… choosing and getting into top notch post secondary schools… finding great mentors and jobs… building a successful career… becoming known in the field as an important entrepreneur…. building a great network of peer artists friends and dedicated business partners… are all reasons for joining and growing the Youth Broadcast and Media Association, YBAMA.

See Useful Links for a partial directory of the various Guilds, Unions, Associations and Societies you can join.

Professionals belong to specialty guilds - directors, actors, writers, cinematographers, musicians, animators, technicians - to improve their incomes, hone their skills, protect their rights, and have advantages in sharing and growing with their peers. Most ‘craft’ guilds are exclusive requiring an existing member to sponsor new members or require having paid professional job credits to earn a 'guild card’. Professional guilds are like unions. They set professional standards, help with specialized training, handle professional ethics and behavior, and offer protective and work benefits procedures like wage rates, retirement accounts, health coverage, for employment for their members. Professionals also belong to open ‘associations’ that create large gatherings and trade shows to display innovations and provide recognition and awards for their members, to promote growth and knowledge of the constant changes in technology and practice. Both types of organizations help their members keep up and improve their possibilities, careers and earnings.

YBAMA does not seek to replace such specialty guilds and associations, but seeks to introduce students to the types of networking and practices, that such guilds promote, as well as generally prepare students for membership in these types of organizations. It is assumed that students will eventually seek to join the organizations that promote their chosen interests, if they so desire.

First and foremost, we are committed to a just, peaceful, loving and extraordinary life and world for all people. We believe that youth are the solution, not the problem. Youth creativity and civic engagement will transform society and all our relationships. Cooperation and collaboration are the foundation of ‘studio’ relationships, and studio – our community - is the basic structure of all media production where interdependence and partnerships lead to shared knowledge and wisdom that result in great media. Excellence is our constant goal and standard. Integrity and being a person of your word are essential to our ethics and professionalism. We strive to produce beauty, meaning, and the elevation of human being and spirit through all our work.