MAPS
Media Institute
Where Learning Starts With Story.
MAPS BY THE NUMBERS
Twenty Years of Story
Students Served
Communities Connected
Partners Invested
∞
Stories Told
The MAPS Student Path
Awareness
Discover Media Arts
- Who is it for: Students new to media arts who are curious about creative storytelling.
- Programs at this stage: Introductory experiences through school visits, community events, camps, workshops, and the MAPS Media Lab.
- Where it leads: Students discover new interests and opportunities to explore media arts more deeply.
Exploration
Try tools and techniques
- Who is it for: Students interested in developing their creative skills in a supportive, hands-on learning environment.
- Programs at this stage: Seasonal sessions at MAPS studios introducing tools, technology, and storytelling techniques across five media arts pathways.
- Where it leads: Students develop foundational skills and discover the creative disciplines that interest them most.
Experience
Put Your Skills to Work
- Who is it for: Students ready to apply their growing skills to collaborative media productions.
- Programs at this stage: Advanced learning opportunities and community- and client-based media production projects alongside working artists.
- Where it leads: Students build portfolios, develop professional habits, and connect their creative work to community purpose and career possibilities.
Entrepreneurship & Employment
Launch a Career or Business
- Who is it for: Advanced MAPS students and graduates ready to pursue professional work or develop their own creative ventures.
- Programs at this stage: Paid client projects, professional mentorship, and business development.
- Where it leads: Students transition into higher education, employment, and creative entrepreneurship in Montana and beyond.
MAPS in the News
Blackfeet Youth Take Center Stage in HEAVY on Sept. 24, A New Documentary Celebrating Music, Connection and Community
What happens when young people have caring mentors, space to turn up the volume, and music and art to help them work through difficult experiences and create something of their own? That question sits at the heart of HEAVY, a new documentary co-produced by Browning Public Schools’ Heavy Music Symposium, Firekeeper Alliance and MAPS Media…
MAPS Media Institute – Fort Belknap Invites Community to Meet & Greet Week and Open House
HARLEM, Mont. – If you’ve driven down Harlem’s Main Street over the past year, you’ve likely noticed the striking buffalo mural on the side of one of the downtown buildings. It’s a fitting introduction to what’s happening inside: a working studio where Fort Belknap youth are learning to tell their own stories through film, music,…
Montana Teen Filmmakers Earn National Honor for ‘Walking Between Two Worlds’
A group of Montana teens who had never picked up a camera a year ago are now national award-winning filmmakers and they did it with a story about what it means to grow up Native in a city where their roots stretch far beyond the skyline. The documentary, “Walking Between Two Worlds: The Urban Indigenous…