Mosaic Film Experience turns students into skilled storytellers

Two years ago, Nuha Hussein sat among the crowd at a Mosaic Film Experience event, watching local filmmakers and Hollywood guests talk about storytelling, creativity, and endless possibilities. Her journey since then shows how this nonprofit organization helps students learn and grow in filmmaking. 

Hussein, now a Grand Valley State University freshman, has gone from watching in the audience to talking about her experiences with Mosaic and sharing stories and problems with younger generations who want to explore these careers.

“It helped me make a lot of connections with professionals,” Hussein says about Mosaic.

Mosaic Film Experience is a Grand Rapids-based nonprofit organization founded in 2012 that focuses on youth problem-solving and storytelling. It was founded 14 years ago by Skot Welch to take youths behind the scenes of the film industry as well as other emerging creative industries, giving students an insight into what they entail.

Showing students the industry

More than 400 students from schools across Kent County got a behind-the-scenes look at the magic Hollywood holds during the 2025 Mosaic event Nov. 6 at Celebration Cinema North. This daylong event was dedicated to exploring creativity, storytelling, digital media, technology, and innovation in the arts. 

“We had people from our relationships in Hollywood come in and give some talks about the industry and show some of their portfolios. We also had workshops for students provided by local professionals, and then the folks on the main stage were from the West Coast,” Welch said. 

The annual event is intended to help students get a better understanding of creative careers. 

“Students always get a lot from it,” Welch says. “We try to keep it very, very practical. It’s always been very positive. We are constantly changing it to be even better.” 

Giving students a look into the everyday activities of these career paths helps open new ideas and careers for them to explore.

“I think it shows them what’s possible,” Welch says. “I think it shows them that there are a lot of different opportunities. And for us, it’s not even that they go into creative careers. The purpose is really just to introduce them to problem-solving and storytelling. Whatever industry they end up in, they’re going to have to do that.”

Opening doors

Throughout its existence, Mosaic Film Experience has evolved, from expanding its engagement with students and the community by connecting with various businesses and inspiring youth through training and development to offering national mobile film competitions. Welch hopes to keep being innovative and help more students navigate through these experiences.

“Growing and being adopted in different communities around the world, allowing it to affect and impact those young folks,” Welch says, “that’s what’s happening now. We’re taking this model across different communities, both here in the U.S. and overseas, where they can utilize our ‘kit’.”

Mosaic’s mission has always focused on career exploration, media literacy, and workforce development with a commitment to creativity. 

“The mission really hasn’t changed over time. It’s always to focus on young people and give them skills that they can actually use in their careers,” Welch says. “Partnerships emerge because Mosaic opens doors. We really focus on trying to open doors for young people.”

Welch understands the challenges and importance of helping youth find their passion and future in what they love.

“It’s about providing young people with an opportunity to see themselves lead,” Welch says. “I was raised in a family that was really focused on education. If we really are serious about having a sustainable future, you have to involve the next generation.”

Finding a passion

Mosaic became that future for Hussein.

A first-generation American of mixed heritage, she lived briefly in Jordan as a toddler. Her path was shaped by loss and resilience after her father died when she was 13, two weeks before high school began.

Freshman year was difficult, but then Hussein had an awakening.

“The first day of sophomore year, I found this new meaning to my life. It was this newfound passion. Now it’s like my whole life.” 

In her sophomore year, she began reporting for East Kentwood High School’s Falcon News Network and learned videography in a video production class.

This led to a deeper interest in film, opening a new opportunity that led her to Mosaic.

“I was introduced to (Mosaic) through my high school superintendent. He said there’s this Mosaic challenge where you have to film a film in one minute, all on your phone,” Hussein said.

She decided to participate.

“I filmed this little thing in my backyard with my little sister, and I ended up winning first place back in 2023,” Hussein said.

Bigger experiences

After winning the short-video contest, she joined a six-week summer program at West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology, funded by a Sony grant. The program brought 11 West Michigan students together with local elders to produce Living Histories, an intergenerational documentary exploring identity and memory.

“It was phenomenal,” Hussein says. “Someone from Sony came out from L.A. to talk to us about his cinematography. I got to talk to local filmmakers, local people who work with audio and storytelling.”

Taking the skills she gained from Mosaic and the summer program, Hussein joined a nine-day journalism internship in Washington D.C., one of 24 students picked nationwide to participate. The students were divided into seven teams. Her team’s story covered rising tides, coastal erosion, and climate change on Tangier Island, Virginia, in Chesapeake Bay. Their story aired on PBS Newshour Weekend on Aug. 25. 

Hussein did all of the editing, most of the filming, and helped write the script and conduct the interviews. The story was titled Tangier Island residents work to preserve culture threatened by rising sea levels. 

Mosaic’s model spreading

Welch sees Mosaic spreading beyond West Michigan beyond the U.S to different regions and globally.

“Growing and being adopted in different communities around the world, allowing it to affect and impact those young folks, that’s what’s happening now,” Welch says. “We’re taking this model across different communities, both here in the U.S. and overseas, where they can utilize our ‘kit’ and they can have it there.”

Another of Mosaic’s success stories is Mariah Barrera, a 20-year-old Mexican American writer and filmmaker who works in New York City. 

“She won our contest a couple of times. We’ve actually used her to do some of the filming in Los Angeles for our Nourishing Narrative national mobile film competition in partnership with the Newman’s Own Foundation, which is the foundation started by acting legend, Paul Newman.” Welch says.

Nuha, now 18, is a freshman at GVSU studying journalism as a major and international relations as a minor. She says her internship sparked an interest in environmental journalism and climate change-related politics, which fits with her international relations minor.

“Politics is one of my major interests,” Hussein says. 

She wants to change how the world sees people of color.

“I definitely want to put a change into the world, telling the stories of misrepresented or minorities,” Hussein says. “I want to open the minds of people to things that maybe they’re not educated on.”

She says the Mosaic program strengthened her confidence and provided mentorship and lifelong connections.

“It helped me build a lot of connections with the professional industry, especially locally,” Hussein says. “It built me really great connections in the professional world. I still talk to some people to this day.”

Trying new things and exploring new possibilities will open new paths, Hussein says, including some that will benefit you for life.

“Take up every opportunity that you can. Don’t be scared to go out there and just jump in. Just don’t be scared. Go to things. You might find someone who may change your future forever.”

Mazonnah Holiday is a student at Northview High School in Grand Rapids, where she is involved in the school’s journalism program. She is both an author and a writer, with her work featured in two published books.

To learn more about Rapid Growth’s Voices of Youth project and read other installments in the series, click here. This series is made possible via underwriting sponsorships from the Steelcase Foundation, Frey Foundation, PNC Foundation, and Kent ISD.