The Battle Of M

Paul Griffiths visits the Merthyr Media Project

The pathway digging into the heartbeat of Merthyr Tydfil brings two large Ms. The street divides the golden M arch of Macdonalds and its neighbour The Merthyr Media Project. They both feed the mouths and minds of the Merthyr population. One concentrates on manipulation, obesity and milkshakes. The other on freedom, opportunities and belief. An invisible fight that will hopefully go past the proposed two ESF funded initiative.

Complacency is a difficult barrier to break; but any barrier has its weak spot. When Hillary and Tenzing conquered the monster Everest it started with one small step. Within the main entry of Merthyr Media Project (MMP) a series of high speed internet portals are available to the public. It's not a free beer or beefburger but provides a tool that can inspire and the first step into the land of MMP. Dr. Martin O'Neill the director welcomes me into the offices. A passionate character that speaks with no obscure phrases or rhymes but a man with a Merthyr tongue. A student of Merthyr with an understanding of its social climate.

The second floor provides the base for video and music production. A mixture of Apple Macs and high end PCs littered with music and video capabilities. This floor is where the project comes into its own. Its director Martin explains his teams vision and progress. "Opportunity" is a word thrown around the ring by Martin. "We want to open up a world of opportunities for people, from all backgrounds." The equipment shelves a million possibilities for young minds. A corner is dedicated to another project in which Martin is involved with called Merthyr Stories (http://www.merthyrstories.org.uk/). Its facilities are impressive and put some educational establishments to shame.The project was brought to Miwsig's attention via the Welsh Film Festival (Darren Weaver on Asbo Land ).

The recently designed website www.merthyrmedia.org.uk/ explains the core of the project:

"The project is based on the recognition that while the film media and multimedia industries are some of the fastest growing in Wales, these are areas that traditionally the working population of Merthyr Tydfil have not tended to consider as a potential career option.

”The project will seek to develop and encourage participants interests in the necessary skills for potential employment in this sector.”

Speaking to Martin it seems the project is much more than an educational tool. He mentions the fact that they have a wide variety of young people who turn up, and the fact that they never turn anyone away. It's clear that Martin himself was a little rebellious of education during his younger days and understands the restrictiveness of our schools. It seems the project echoes this approach by drafting in talent such as Karl Francis. Students seem to believe in this process as several have taken paths onto further education with film. The project is continuously expanding and hopes to drive on their web portal. "We want to create a portal similar to Youtube," expressed Martin.

It seems that Martin and his team have captured an idea that education establishments have failed to adopt. We're in the middle of a social revolotion: the 70s brought the punk, the 00s the internet social networking movement. People can now voice their political, emotional and musical thoughts through social networking groups such as Myspace and Youtube. Education has been swamped by analysis and statistics. In a time where education demands results in core subjects (English, Maths, IT, Science) the arts have been dismissed as an empty bubble. Macdonalds, pink shirts and Coronation street are their creative expression until organisations such as MMP break through.

Perhaps one day the big M will decay into obscurity and the little Ms will lead the masses with a symbol of creativity and subtle anarchy.

© 2007 Paul Griffiths

© Miwsig