How Photography Can Help Close The Achievement Gap

How Photography Can Help Close The Achievement Gap

We thought it was high time we came together as a community to give back to the community. And so #TogsGiveBack was born. The concept: We give you some awesome discounts, and your donation goes to arts education. It’s a win-win all around.

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All proceeds from #TogsGiveBack will go directly to Urban Arts Partnership (UAP), an amazing non-profit based in New York City, working hard to advance arts education in inner city schools. Urban Arts Partnership uses the arts to address educational inequity and provide the opportunity for young people to gain the skills and understanding they need to move on to college and career.

To find out more about Urban Arts Partnership and the incredible photography programs they run, we spoke to Erika Kapin, a UAP Photography Teaching Artist.

PhotoShelter: Tell me about your role within the photography programs at Urban Arts Partnership (UAP). What do you teach and how long have you been involved?

Erika Kapin: I’ve been teaching photography at UAP for about 2.5 years now.  I starting at UAP about 4 years ago teaching music and then transitioned into teaching photography.

What’s the goal of the photography programs at UAP?

A big part of what UAP programs focus on is closing the achievement gap.  Through photography, students have the potential to develop so many skills from the specific technical camera skills and understanding, to computer technology and image editing software, to project management, to team work and collaboration, to vocabulary and language skills to social and historical issues…the possibilities are really endless depending on what type of approach and projects the class focuses on. I would say the overall goal is to help students expand their understanding and abilities in order to close that achievement gap.

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Photo by UAP Photography Student: Bianchi

What kinds of projects are your students currently working on?

This year I have a great group of young people and it has been super rewarding.  Earlier in the year they created Public Service Announcements on issues of their choosing.  They learned how to process and edit their images with Photoshop to create posters about a range of topics from consent, to not smoking, to stopping gang violence.  More recently they just finished a stop-motion film where they addressed different important factors and challenges in human relationships.  They chose this topic for their project and addressed idea such as: telling the truth when it’s hard, not arguing, taking care of people’s feelings etc.

Why do you think it’s crucial to teach students in inner cities about photography?

Photography is an integrated part of everyday life in the city and I think it’s important for students to gain a visual intelligence so they can be thoughtful and aware about the way images work in our culture.  Also, the basics of photography can be taught fairly quickly so students can usually jump in and start to see results right away.  This makes photography a great tool for students to self express, explore their world and use the camera as an ‘in’ for delving into other concepts.

As a UAP photography Teaching Artist, what’s been one of the most rewarding experiences you’ve had? Has there been a specific event or student that’s made an impact on you? Tell us about it.

For me, the most rewarding moments are when it becomes apparent the students feel they are in a safe space to be themselves.  I love it when through the images or through conversation, and a student is brave enough to share something personal or controversial because they feel it is a space where they can do that.  I love it when one student is excited to have learned a new skill and teaches it to a student who was absent that day.  It’s hard to pinpoint a specific experience because it’s about little magical moments here and there.

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Urban Arts Photography Student: Johandri

For more information about Urban Arts Partnership and how you can donate to #TogsGiveBack, visit www.photoshelter.com/togs-give-back.

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