Exposures || 2008 Summer Program

Please read below for information and details about the 2008 Exposures program.
Scroll down for application materials.

Exposures 2008
This summer Exposures will expand to take place in three host communities: Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, New York City and the Brattleboro area in southern Vermont. Several local youth will have the opportunity to participate in Exposures’ artistic and cultural programming in each of these regions. The program as a whole will travel between locations over a four week period, beginning in South Dakota in early July, then continuing to New York and concluding in Vermont in early August. Recent fundraising has created the possibility for a small group of youth to participate in the full four week program. In this pilot for extended traveling programs in the future, eight youth will be selected to travel with Exposures staff to join local participants for programming in each host community location.

The Exposures program is based in artistic collaboration and cultural exchange. Over several weeks prior to the summer program youth will begin initial assignments which serve as a means of developing project topics and introducing themselves, their stories and their communities to one another. Traveling participants and local youth will then work together in each host community to learn artistic techniques, create collaborative projects and share and develop their perspectives of place, community and culture. Following their time in the program, youth will continue creative exchanges and contribute to compilations created from the program projects.

As in past years, 2008 program projects are designed to get students working collaboratively and in the community. The intensive curriculum combines learning and practicing artistic skills with experiential community and cultural activities. Participants will work on creative projects based in their engagement with the place, community and culture in each program location. The traveling group will have an important role connecting the creative works and themes developed in each host community to form an extended collaborative project.

During the program students are introduced to a variety of photographic techniques and processes such as setting up portable studios and making portraits and landscape images using 4”x5” cameras with Polaroid film, using digital cameras to document events and develop photo-stories, and printing photographs onto cloth for the creation of photographic quilts. Projects often incorporate other arts such as writing, collage, interviewing, and bookmaking.

The Exposures group explores and photographs the landscape, community and surrounding areas in daily project fieldwork as well as during extended trips. Local youth help to introduce travelers to their communities, while often experiencing aspects of their regions for the first time themselves. Past trips in the Pine Ridge area have included hiking and camping in Badlands National Park, horseback riding and visiting Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore Monuments, Wounded Knee and the Black Hills. Participants have also attended pow-wows and have been invited to sweat lodges and sacred Sun Dance ceremonies, where photographing is not allowed. This year participants will attend presentations and cultural events and visit local sites in each host community. Youth will explore and develop projects in New York City and Vermont through community events, trips along rivers and trails and visits to local neighborhoods, landmarks, museums, studios, and galleries.

The Exposures program is rewarding, but also quite intensive. Participation should be taken seriously and requires a genuine interest, commitment and willingness to engage in challenging experiences and to actively contribute as an invested and accountable member of the group. All youth are responsible to begin assignments before and to continue projects after the traveling program.

Eligibility
Youth who are from Exposures’ participant regions of southern Vermont, New York City, Navajo Nation in Arizona, and Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and who will be ages 15-21 during the summer program are invited to apply for the 2008 traveling program. Youth ages 14 and up may apply to participate in the program segment in their local region. Due to financial and logistical constraints, we can only offer 8 total youth slots for the full four week traveling program. The majority of this year’s participants will take part in programming in their local area. Youth from South Dakota, New York City and southern Vermont who apply for the traveling program will automatically be considered to participate in the program segment in their home region. A separate application is available for youth who would like to apply to participate in their local area.

Schedule & Locations:
(Please note that dates may be adjusted by a few days.)

Local Area Programs
- Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota: July 6th – July 15th
- New York City, New York: July 17th – 24th
- Southern Vermont: July 26th – August 3rd
Local participants and traveling youth and staff will meet daily for artistic workshops, project fieldwork and trips to local sites and events.

Four Week Traveling Program, July 5th – August 4th
July 5th: travel day to South Dakota (NYC, VT & AZ travelers fly to SD)
July 6th – 15th: South Dakota program
July 16th: travel day to New York City (NYC, VT, AZ & SD travelers fly to NYC)
July 17th – 24th: New York program
July 25th: travel day to Vermont (all travelers to Vermont)
July 26th – August 3rd: Vermont program
August 4th: travel day home (NYC, SD & AZ travelers return home)
Travelers will stay with Exposures staff in group housing in each region.

Segment One: Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, July 6th – July 15th
Exposures programming will begin as local and traveling youth come together on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Located on the plains of South Dakota, Pine Ridge is remarkable in its historical heritage and cultural depth. In the course of the last 150 years it has been at the center of many landmarks of Native American history. It is a place of many contrasts: flat, open landscape yielding to the spectacular grandeur of the Badlands and Black Hills; tradition within the context of contemporary American culture. Exposures’ summer program has taken place on the Reservation since 2003. Many local youth participate each year, and families, friends and community members have hosted Exposures travelers at dinners, ceremonies and activities in addition to participating in artistic programming.

Segment Two: New York City, New York, July 17th – 24th
The traveling group, now with travelers from South Dakota, will fly to the city to join local youth for programming in New York. New York is the most populous urban area in the country and is known as a center for arts, culture and activity. Several of its landmarks and neighborhoods are known around the world. New York’s dense architecture spans five boroughs, which are home to many cultural communities and movements. Local hosts, participants and staff will explore many diverse aspects of the city through artistic projects and fieldwork.

Segment Three: Southern Vermont, July 26th – August 3rd
Exposures’ final programming segment will take place as travelers join local youth in the Brattleboro area of southern Vermont. This part of New England is home to the In-Sight Photography Project and the Hall Farm Center, the two organizations that founded the Exposures program. It is known for its green hills, forests, rivers, and family farms, as well as a lively small-town arts scene. Local youth and staff will have the opportunity to share their home with travelers as all students explore the landscape and community while creating artistic projects together.

Program Cost
It is our goal to make Exposures affordable to everyone who wishes to participate. We ask for an $800 donation for traveling participants from those who can afford it. Exposures is funded entirely by grants and donations, and the $800 suggested donation covers less than half of the approximate cost per traveling participant (including all meals, housing, transportation, and supplies). We also ask for a $200 donation for students participating in local programming. However, lack of financial resources will not prevent anyone from participating in the program. We are happy to work with participants or families to determine the amount they are able to contribute, as well as to offer ideas for fundraising toward their donation. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about the program donation.

Application
If you would like to apply to participate in this year’s Exposures programming, please download an application below. You may also email us at ExposuresProgram@gmail.com, or call Erin Barnard at 773.292.9247.

To download the application for the 2008 traveling program, click here.

To download the application for programming in your local region (South Dakota, New York City or Vermont), click here.

To download the program description and information, click here.

Youth from South Dakota, New York and Vermont who apply to the traveling program will automatically be considered for programming in their local region.

Application review begins April 28th 2008 for applicants to the traveling program and May 1st for those applying for programming in their local region.

Please feel free to contact us at ExposuresProgram@gmail.com with any questions or concerns related to the program or to the application process.