25 years in, Baltimore’s Wide Angle Youth Media has many more stories to tell

The U.S. Soccer Foundation needed a touch of Baltimore to tell its story to the world.

With America co-hosting June’s FIFA World Cup — expected to be the most-watched sporting event of all time — the charitable nonprofit organization, which aims to grow the sport in the U.S., wanted a public service announcement to promote youth coaches’ influence on kids.

It could have chosen any big advertising firm for the job. It turned to Wide Angle Youth Media, a relatively small-but-mighty Baltimore nonprofit group and creative studio that teaches city students and young adults how to tell compelling stories, in their own voices and styles, across all types of media.

“They were fun. They were really collaborative,” said Kelly Clemens, U.S. Soccer Foundation’s director of brand and communications, of Wide Angle, which created the spot’s concept. “They did a great job of showing the [PSA’s] core theme of ‘Yes, Coach!’ and the message that one coach can change a life.”

The 30-second, fast-paced commercial shows the ways coaches help players on and off the field. Its diverse cast, Clemens noted, was Wide Angle’s emphasis. The clip will run throughout the World Cup on Telemundo, which owns the tournament’s U.S. Spanish-language TV rights, and will air on Comcast and NBCUniversal networks starting this month.

“It’s going to definitely be our biggest reach ever,” said Susan Malone, Wide Angle’s executive director.

Wide Angle, which turns 25 this year, has come a long way from its initial mission of running after-school programs to help Baltimore students graduate to producing national campaigns seen by millions.

In recent years, the youth organization has expanded its mission, from media education to apprenticeships and commissioned content for NBCUniversal, Under Armour and other major companies. Wide Angle has produced nearly 5,400 media projects, said Moira Fratantuono, chief development and communications officer.

As Wide Angle’s reputation and profile have risen, the group is fulfilling increased demand for its storytelling services, Malone said.

The Remington-based organization has been on a fast track thanks to NBCUniversal, which selected Wide Angle in 2022 for its Creative Impact Lab. The program partners nonprofit creative studios like Wide Angle with companies and other entities — such as the U.S. Soccer Foundation — to create video content that airs on NBCUniversal’s platforms.

Today, Wide Angle’s plans are only growing more ambitious, including a new pre-apprenticeship program for high school graduates.

In a majority-Black city, however, the big-picture goal remains the same. “We want to change the diversity of who’s in front of and who’s behind the lens to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to amplify their story,” Malone said.

Wide Angle offers workshops and training for ages 10-26 on all the ways media is made — including filmmaking, digital photography and stop-motion animation. It operates from its modern headquarters and production studio at 2507 N. Howard St., where the group relocated in late 2024.

Developing a strong sense of agency and creative freedom empowers participants, instilling confidence they take with them into their careers, whether in media or not, said Lendl Tellington, a filmmaker and former Wide Angle teacher.

“We find space with them to be their authentic selves,” said Tellington, a Baltimore native. “At Wide Angle, you begin to see a semblance of how they want to be in this world.”

Wide Angle is busier than ever. Besides conglomerates like NBCUniversal, Wide Angle has worked with local companies such as Hampden cafe Good Neighbor and Taharka Brothers ice cream. It designed, for the latter, a bright pink vinyl truck wrap with illustrations of cassette tapes and boom boxes, along with text that reads “From Bmore With Love.”

Last month, Wide Angle hosted a screening of short films made by the organization and commissioned by the Maryland State Arts Council to promote its own apprenticeship program. Evocative stories about folklife art — like a father-daughter duo distilling Puerto Rican moonshine in Frederick County — riveted the sold-out crowd.

“Despite divisiveness and ugliness emanating from certain parts of the world and our government, I think we can all recognize that the arts have this magical way of bringing us together,” Maryland Comptroller Brooke Lierman said at the event.

In the last year, more than 9.1 million people have seen Wide Angle-produced videos, according to Fratantuono.

The U.S. Soccer Foundation commercial for the World Cup, though, will be a new level of exposure: 9 million Telemundo viewers alone watched the 2022 tournament’s final match, per the network.

Wide Angle understands “the power of storytelling from a broad range of perspectives,” said Jessica Clancy, senior vice president of corporate social responsibility for NBCUniversal.

“The quality of their work is rooted in the strong arts instruction and mentoring embedded in WAYM programming,” Clancy said in an email, “as well as the significant resources dedicated to helping WAYM students advance their careers.”

There’s more to come. In the year ahead, Wide Angle will launch a pilot program for a pre-apprenticeship workforce development track, for which Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks helped the group secure $700,000 in federal funding.

The new 18-month program, Malone said, will look to provide 450 hours of training and 120 hours of work placement for high school graduates who aren’t yet ready for a full-time apprenticeship.

“We’ve been working really, really hard to develop that [track] and to make sure it aligns to what employers want in the marketing digital landscape,” she said.

The future of media production and consumption feels unpredictable, so Wide Angle plans to adapt as technology does — including the use of artificial intelligence, she said. The nonprofit, which employs about 40 part-time and full-time workers, already uses AI for help with scriptwriting, interview transcriptions and video editing.

“Young people who thrive are not the ones that are trained on a tool,” Malone said. “They’re the ones that are prepared to adapt and interpret and lead as those tools change.”

Kamaria Avery, a Wide Angle educator and editor, said she loves giving city students a head start in media training.

“I always think about, ‘Dang, I’m giving these students the education I received in college, and they’re in high school,’” Avery said.

She learns plenty from them, too. There are few things more inspiring than seeing students’ confidence and skills flourish.

“The youth have ideas, and they have a voice,” Avery said. “They’re not afraid to share it.”

This story has been updated to clarify that U.S. Soccer Foundation is a separate entity from U.S. Soccer.