Friends
of Photography 
250 4th Street
San FranciscoCA94103
 Program:
Ansel Adams Center for Photography/Education: Partnership and Community Outreach Year Started: 1989 Focus: Photography Youth Served: 300 Ages: 11-17 Budget: N/A Discontinued For nearly 30 years, the artist-founded Friends of Photography has promoted the development of creative photography. When it relocated to San Francisco, Friends opened the Ansel Adams Center for Photography and initiated a youth outreach and education program to create new partnerships and involve a broader spectrum of the community. The program involves a variety of youth with special needs who are identified by partner organizations. These organizations pay any nominal fees. Artists work once a week over 8-to-12 week sessions with teen girls, English-as-a-Second-Language youth and others attending after-school programs at community organizations. During the ongoing sessions, youth not only work on technical skills in photography, but also take part in other activities such as writing projects. The program always includes gallery and museum visits and concludes with a student exhibition. "Learning takes place in many different ways, and photography provides an outlet for those who may be more visual learners," says Deputy Director for Public Programs Deborah Klochko. Friends of Photography conducts several specialized programs, including a Saturday Teen Docent Program, which provides paid training for high school students who gain appreciation of art and public speaking skills, and a Teen Girls Program, which is run with the San Francisco Educational Services and focuses on how self-image is defined by media. The programs are about more than just photography and art. "We want young people to become visual consumers and see how media can influence what we think about ourselves," says Klochko. |