Reaching Out with Photography

We are happy to announce that we will be collaborating with Centro Pedro Claver, a neighborhood based non-profit in North Philadelphia for this outreach program. As a part of their summer art intensive workshop, ten teenagers will be joining our program.

CPC has been serving their community since 1978. Their primary goal is to empower the immediate neighborhood through community organizing and community development. CPC is committed to collaborating with local organizations and as such has been very helpful to our small outreach by providing us with ten students who can benefit from our program. We are very grateful for their encouragement and faith in us.

ROP will be possible because of the dedication of our volunteers as well as through sponsorship. We are now focusing on raising the funds necessary to support this program. Our fundraising goal is $1500 which will be used to buy all the supplies for the photography program including:

• 10 slr 35mm cameras
• 120 rolls of 35mm B&W films
• B&W Photographic Paper: 8×10 RC paper

If you are interested in contributing to this program, becoming a sponsor, or a part of our team, please contact us. Any support you can give to “Reaching Out with Photography” either in with kind goods or direct sponsorship will be greatly appreciated.

We hope this program will serve as a stepping stone for youth in the area to deepen their interest in photography and other forms of visual art.

No Comments | In: Art Education, Inspiration, Kensington, Outreach Program, Students | | #

My name is Tsuyoshi, and I am the Program Director at Project Basho.

For a long time, I have been interested in running an outreach program based on what we know— photography. I have had this idea since I started Project Basho six years ago. This was one of the key concepts that I wanted to actualize through Project Basho.

Since then, I looked into many different programs in the US to see if there was something we could replicate. I was inspired by Marshal Clarke, a Baltimore based photographer who has been running a small program with inner-city kids. Of course, I was also intrigued by the writing of Wendy Ewald, the founder of Literacy Through Photography at Duke University and an influential author of “I Wanna Take Me a Picture.” Though I was encouraged by many examples such as these, I never thought that I had enough time or resources to start an ambitious project like this on my own. Running a small organization like Project Basho has been more than a full time job. To me, the issue has always been the matter of time and resources.

Something changed my mind recently. I stumbled on a talk on TED by Jose Abreu, who runs El Sistema, a youth orchestra program in Venezuela. He started this program with 11 kids over 30 years ago which continues to grow and expand and transform the lives of youth. It was simply eye opening to think how many lives were positively affected by his work. I could only imagine how life changing and far reaching this program has been to the thousands of kids who have participated.

Well, admittedly we are no comparison to El Sistema in terms of the scale and history. And maybe what I have always wanted to start will never become as far reaching as El Sistema. Nevertheless, watching his talk helped to confirm my idea that we can teach something through teaching photography— self-esteem, discipline, and creativity. We can start it right here in Old Kensington right now.

We can always put off a project blaming it on a lack of time or resources. But, life is short, and you cannot wait around until the timing is perfect, if that ever comes at all.

Luckily, Project Basho has attracted many dedicated volunteers who run many aspects of the studio. Also, we have developed core constituents who believe in what we do. With their initiative and help, I know we can run a program like this. I sent out an email to those who are involved at Project Basho and sure enough, we soon had about 10 volunteers interested and on board.

This is how our photography outreach program in Old Kensington has begun.

No Comments | In: Art Education, Inspiration, Outreach Program | | #