Kid Camera Project Blogs

Saturday, November 6th from 2 to 6pm we will have a table set up at New Orleans 8th Annual Book Fair with merchandise for sale as well as hands photo fun!

This is a great event. so come out and buy a tee, support the camera project!

A very belated update about a wonderful project KCP was involved in this past winter.

As part of the second phase of the Dreamcatchers Project by KIDsmART: An art program for the Porch at the 7th Ward Community Center with Xavier University's Art Department, KCP conducted a number of photo workshops with youth in the 7th Ward. The concept was "My Story" and throughout the 8-week course, the participating youth worked with different artists to assemble a book about their neighborhood and themselves. Thank you Echo, Asante, Jeffrey, Ed and Voice for making this such a great experience for us and for the kids.










Showing off the finished product!

KCP was delighted to spend a few days discussing the elements of photography as well as sharing examples of audio slideshows with the United Houma Nation youth during their week-long Summer Camp (July 6-9). Their finished projects were presented on the last day of camp. It was held at Bayou Segnette State Park, in Westwego, LA. During camp, students also experienced a variety of outdoor activities, personal growth and healthy lifestyle workshops, along with some cultural events.

The New Orleans Kid Camera Project will be creating large-scale photographs with a group in a location yet to be determined. The project is funded by Transforma Projects Creative Recovery Mini-Grant Program.

New Orleans Kid Camera Project will facilitate a group of youth in a series of workshops designed to explore 'What my neighborhood means to me". Participants will work together to design a public photography installation in their community. Students will learn technical aspects of photography, along with the role and impact that art can have on a community level. As they learn how to become visual storytellers, students will document their impressions of the community, what they feel is important, what makes them proud and what they'd like to change.

Students will take photographs in their neighborhood, engage in image-sharing sessions, and eventually select one photograph each that will be printed as large 7 X 7 feet outdoor vinyl banners to be displayed in the community. The images will be displayed in their community; outside walls of buildings that we will be granted permission to display work on. These large scale images will serve as a very public recognition of young people's voices, and a compelling glance into their neighborhood as seen through their visions. Such public art exhibitions "create an intimate reminder of who lives inside the houses that outsiders pass everyday" (Wendy Ewald, Literacy Through Photography).

To learn more about Transforma and the other projects they fund, go to Transforma

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 16, 2009

Contact: Jen Gick
jgick@longuevue.com
504-488-5488 ext. 320

LONGUE VUE HOUSE AND GARDENS PRESENTS
THE PONTCHARTRAIN PARK PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT OPENING

New Orleans, April 17, 2009— Longue Vue House and Gardens, supported by a Save Our History grant from the award-winning channel, History™, will host the opening of The Pontchartrain Park Photography Project on Thursday , May 21, 2009 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Longue Vue House and Gardens. This exhibition, comprised of photographs and oral histories taken by the students of Mary D. Coghill Elementary School, documents the history of Pontchartrain Park, the neighborhood in which the school is located. On display will be powerful photographs of the students’ literal and artistic interpretations of the neighborhood’s homes and landmarks as the residents work to rebuild following Hurricane Katrina. Guests will also have the opportunity to view a documentary, created by media students at Delgado Community College, that chronicles the students’ journey through the project and features oral histories from neighborhood residents. The opening is free and open to the public.

The Pontchartrain Park Photography Project a collaboration between Longue Vue and The New Orleans Kid Camera Project, Tulane University, and Delgado Community College, was developed to help students forge meaningful relationships with Pontchartrain Park, the first neighborhood in New Orleans developed for the African American middle class. The collaboration has enabled students to preserve and share the unique legacy and culture of their predominantly African American enclave, empowered them to positively impact their community, and increased community awareness of local historic neighborhoods and the importance of their preservation.

Longue Vue House and Gardens, the former home of philanthropists and civil leaders Edith and Edgar Stern, is an internationally recognized historic site that serves as an educational and cultural institution. Longue Vue’s mission is “to preserve and use the historical and artistic legacy of Longue Vue and its creators to educate and inspire people to pursue beauty and civic responsibility in their lives.” The Pontchartrain Park Photography Project actively demonstrates Longue Vue’s commitment to its mission and to serving the Greater New Orleans community. This collaborative project has helped to nurture the growing relationship between Longue Vue, Coghill students, and the residents of Pontchartrain Park, a neighborhood that the Sterns were instrumental in establishing.

Longue Vue House and Gardens was one of just eleven organizations nationwide to receive a History™ Save Our History grant. “History™ receives stacks of applications for Save Our History grants,” said Dr. Libby O’Connell, Senior Vice President, Corporate Outreach and Chief Historian, for History™. “Longue Vue demonstrated the creativity and commitment to preservation and education that we believe is fundamental to giving our past a bright future. Building partnerships within the community is key to achieving long term preservation goals.”

History™, with the counsel of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) and American Association of State and Local History (AASLH), created the Save Our History Grant Program as an extension of the Save Our History philanthropic initiative. History™ is committed to inspiring and motivating local communities to learn about and take an active role in the preservation of their past through projects involving artifacts, oral histories, sites, museums or landmarks that exist in their own neighborhoods. In five years, 2,445 historic organizations, representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia have applied for funding through the Save Our History Grant Program.

About Longue Vue House and Gardens
Longue Vue House and Gardens is a historic city estate museum that was the home of the late philanthropists, Edgar Bloom Stern, a New Orleans business man and cotton broker, and his wife Edith, daughter of Julius Rosenwald, the Sears magnate. The Classical Revival style mansion is surrounded by eight acres of gardens. Longue Vue is open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. General admission to Longue Vue is $10 for adults and $5 for children. All of Longue Vue’s programs are open to the public. For more information, call 504.488.5488 or visit www.longuevue.com.