ICP’s Community Partnerships and Teen Academy together serve more than 900 young people throughout the city each year by developing their knowledge of photography, critical thinking, writing, and public speaking.

Current students and alumni from these programs will share their images and writing, and reflect on the roles that photography plays in fostering self-confidence, community building, and social change. Bayeté Ross Smith and ICP faculty will moderate the panel and facilitate discussion about their individual and shared experiences in Community Programs.

Each panelist will share a portfolio of his or her images, along with a prepared written piece to reflect ICP’s curricular focus. The panel will conclude with a dynamic discussion among the participants and the audience of youth photographers in an effort to engage in a greater dialogue about how photography can serve as a platform for youth to tell their own stories, build community, and impact change.