The Photo Center NW
Connects
Us All
through programs that support youth and outreach education.
Club Photo/Seattle World School
The Photo Center is in its seventh year of Club Photo, a partnership with the Seattle World School, a school for newcomer youth from around the world. This after school photography club is made possible in part through a Youth Arts grant from the City Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs. Club Photo combines the teaching of photography as an art with a focus on literacy and language acquisition. The program serves immigrant and refugee youth who learn English as part of a general curriculum while acclimating to the American school system and daily life in a new culture. After attending the Seattle World School, students transition to area middle and high schools or to community college.
Seattle University
We offer studio classes in photography for all Photography BFA and Photography BA students at Seattle University.
American Indian Heritage High School
The Photo Center provides darkroom facilities use for American Indian Heritage High School at-risk youth participating in their alternative learning programs, which facilitate learning through photography and visual practice. American Indian Heritage High School is a public school designed to teach native youth about their culture and history.
Youth in Focus
The Photo Center has a long-standing and fruitful partnership with Youth In Focus (YIF), a local non-profit organization that empowers urban teens ages 13-19 through photography, to experience their world in new ways and make positive changes in their lives. The Photo Center offers scholarships for YIF alumni to support their continued work in the photographic arts once they age out of the YIF programs. The scholarship provides a new home for YIF alumni ages 18-25.
Community Garden
The Photo Center is proud to share a portion of its land with a group of local urban gardeners who have turned it into a vibrant community garden. The 13th & Marion Community Garden expanded to other areas of the Photo Center plot and continues to unite and connect the neighborhood.
King County Metro/City Panorama
The Photo Center NW has teamed up with King County Metro in a project to bring community artwork to bus shelters while contributing to adult education. Metro has more than 1,500 bus shelters that are being refurbished with over 100 photographs representing 50 photographers from our community. This project funded in part by a grant from 4Culture and the photographs are expected to be on view for at least 8 years.
Orion Center/TELO
In the Spring of 2011 the Photo Center partnered with TELO Skateboards and the Orion Center to engage homeless teen through photography and skateboarding. The Orion Center is a multi-service facility open to youth ages 13-22. It offers a safe, open place where youth can access a multitude of services from meals to case management. Led by an instructor this program empowers teens to use the camera as a tool for story-telling and skill building. Teens visit the Photo Center for gallery tours and darkroom time, field trips and shooting time are central to this program. Additionally, the youth will be designing skate boards and apparel which they will photograph in the Photo Center studios and then sell as a fundraiser.
