On November 20, 2018, Nicola Pine will be stepping down from her position at the St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN) as Youth Programs Director, and shifting focus to her family. I chatted with to her to reflect on her past twenty years at (SPNN).
Over twenty years ago, when Nicola was a student studying video production at Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC), she took a studio production class that was held at SPNN. Nicola proceeded to intern at SPNN, where she worked with a video class for Hmong girls in collaboration with Hmong American Partnership. Her internship led to other teaching opportunities in classes at SPNN, and eventually she was hired as an assistant in the Education Department. Only a few years later, Nicola was promoted to the Education Director position. “It was a dream come true,” recalls Nicola.
Her title has since changed to Youth Programs Director, but the mission remains the same: to support young people’s development through youth-centered media-focused programming. Nicola supervises staff who run after school and summer programs, facilitates the Youth Action Committee (YAC), manages partnerships with both local and national organizations, authors grants and reports, and works with the SPNN leadership team.
Nicola says she feels lucky to have worked at SPNN, remarking on the creative and innovative spirit that has kept her job interesting and challenging. “I’m grateful for the wonderfully supportive environment, where I’ve been encouraged to innovate and be creative in my position,” she says. “This has led to a number of awesome youth media programs, amazing collaborations, and many, many experiments over the years!”
From hosting youth media workshops all over the city, to covering the Rondo Days Parade, to making documentaries about climate change, to organizing a queer prom, Nicola and her team have been committed to being present, engaged, and facing current social justice issues in our community.
Reflecting back on the past twenty years at SPNN, Nicola speaks to the ways in which she’s grown individually in this role. “When I started at SPNN, I thought of my work in a very simplistic way — we teach youth how to use media technology,” she admits. “Now I see our work as part of a broader context — we teach community awareness, youth development, civic engagement, and creative expression.”
Nicola shares, “I’ve grown in my understanding of the meaning of my work, and how it connects to variety of efforts, which makes my work exponentially more rewarding.” Nicola herself is not limited to her job title. She’s also an organizer and an committed member of the arts community in the Twin Cities. Prior to working at SPNN, Nicola was also active in the local arts scene. She collaborated with other artists, made her own videos, helped out with a monthly queer women’s cabaret called Vulva Riot, and was a founder of the Women’s Prison Book Project, an organization that started in 1994 to provide women and transgender individuals in prison with free reading materials that cover a range of topics.
While Nicola will miss the community at SPNN, she reassures, “I will still be around SPNN, helping in smaller ways with our youth programs. So I won’t be gone completely!”
