Siblings develop class to teach multimedia and podcasting skills to youth

A new local company has developed classes to teach multimedia skills that will help participants produce their podcast.

Podcasts come in a variety of forms, and are growing in popularity, especially among young people.

Hoop Snake Creative is operated by siblings Colton and Amelia Flick. The business name was inspired by a mythical Hoop Snake which can bite its own tail and roll away like a bicycle tire.

Amelia Flick says the brother/sister business combines both of their passions.

"Mine is marketing and the business side of things, and his is the video side of things," said Amelia Flick.

Brother Colton has a masters degree in interactive media and loves opportunities to teach, especially middle and high schoolers who are interested in creative pursuits.

"We talk a lot about story structure, screenwriting, podcasting, fiction podcasts which is kind of like a radio drama," he said.

He says audio podcasting can be done on a limited budget and still reach a large online audience.

"A lot of kids have 3 or 4 of them that they listen to," said Colton.

He says creating video or audio-video podcasts don’t have to require a lot of money.

"We have an upcoming course in video production with a big emphasis on things kids can do at home with equipment they already have," he said.

The Flick siblings teach a variety of skills required for success.

"You need to be a writer, an artist, a recording engineer. You need to know how to edit the audio once you have recorded it," said Colton.

A lot of the skills middle and high schoolers learn in the Flicks’ office space near North Hills are now required in many career fields.

"So getting those early is a great way for kids to not only prepare themselves for the creative work they want to do but also to prepare themselves for their working life," said Colton.

Most people might call it a summer camp but the Flicks prefer to call it a "class."

Amelia said, "We really wanted it to be a more hands-on experience that kids were not only learning how to do it but applying those skills."