Making Mov(i)es from Stephanie L. Rogers on Vimeo.

Making Mov(i)es was a collaboration between The Advocate Center for Culture and Education, Cycles, and Stephanie Lynn Rogers. This project began as a series of workshops for teenagers at the Advocate Center on bicycle maintenance, led by Jacob Kenney of Cycles and Stephanie Lynn Rogers. During these workshops, it was clear that the youth had a lot of experience with both bike repair and biking, and that they used bikes to travel all over the city of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia has the highest bike commuting percentage of any big city in the country, due in part to the strong traditions of cycling for both transportation and recreation in neighborhoods like North Philadelphia. If you looked at images or read stories about bicycling in Philly though, you might get the impression that it’s mainly a white, middle class activity. We used GoPros and a DSLR to record the bike experiences of teenagers at the Advocate Center.

Shortly before we began this collaborative project, Neighborhood Bike Works (Philadelphia’s bike non-profit) consolidated their programming in West Philadelphia. Our hope is that by combining bike resources (Cycles) with a community organization that has a powerful social justice framework (the Advocate Center), needed tools and resources will continue to be available in North Philadelphia.