Torchlight is a community-based multimedia arts and production studio in Belfast, Maine. Started in January 2024.
Torchlight provides access to production tools and skills, builds long-term sustainability for local public media outlets, creates education and mentorship opportunities, and improves community connection through storytelling and events.
Torchlight seeks to use media arts as a tool for empowering local voices through storytelling (cultural preservation, oral histories, and countering narratives typically applied to rural or lower income populations), economic resilience (youth workforce development, higher wage job creation in rural areas, training organizations to help tell their stories), and social advocacy (foster civic engagement, encouraging youth to participate in social change efforts within our communities).
The Torchlight Youth Multimedia Mentorship program began as a pilot initiative in January 2024 with 12 students, and has evolved into a multi-county, interdisciplinary, community-based program providing high school artists an opportunity to develop storytelling practices and express themselves creatively while connecting meaningfully with their communities.