Photographic Center Northwest Programs
Gallery Exhibitions and Public Programs
Include the presentation and interpretation of internationally renowned photographers working in all genres of the medium, offering visiting artist and curator lectures, workshops, portfolio reviews, a print collection, emerging artist edition prints and a print sponsorship program. A highlight this year included the unique presentation of photographer, and nanny, Vivian Maier whose street photography has recently made history after her death:
http://pcnw.org/gallery/exhibitions/upcoming/vivianmaier/
Outreach Programs
Include community partnerships, youth programs, and access programs for under served communities throughout our region which aim to empower; using photography as a visual language through which to explore issues of identity, culture and creative self - expression.
CLUB PHOTO is an illustrative program where newcomer youth from around the world use cameras to acquire language skills while adapting to American culture: http://pcnw.org/outreach/club-photo/
Education and Artist Resources
The Photo Center offers workshops, master classes and courses through our accredited certificate program which serve a diverse array of students, from teens to seniors, on a variety of photographic media related topics. We offer low cost or free access to darkrooms, studios, digital labs, project sponsorship, and provide a peer-to-peer creative environment for hundreds of emerging and professional artists annually. Highlights include our new Artist-in-Residence program, in partnership with Artist Trust, and our Print Sponsorship Program: http://pcnw.org/gallery/call-for-entries/printing-sponsorship/
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
Our goal as an institution is to be on the forefront of creating a vibrant arts community in the Pacific Northwest with a focus on the photographic arts. We have enhanced all of our outreach, public,and educational programming; we have built a strong board and staff; increased our volunteer community by 100%; significantly improved the financial infrastructure; updated our branding and mission to align with the direction of contemporary photography; participated in the re-accreditation process for our educational programs; and have created visionary strategic plans that are functioning and strong models.
We have also made substantial investments in our student and community resources by recently completing the construction of a state of the art MEDIA LAB and DAYLIGHT STUDIO.
Essential to the growth & sustainability of the Photo Center is to strengthen our infrastructure by outfitting our offices with functioning computers and a donor database tracking system. The biggest challenge will be to fund this project. In addition, we have made significant investments in our facilities by adding a new media lab & daylight studio
--2 brand new spaces to meet the evolving needs of working photographers and our artistic community. A MAJOR challenge will be to secure general operating funds to build our reserves back up after these expenses.
With additional support to facilitate our work, we can keep our gallery admission free to the public, 7 days per week, expand our facilities access for current and upcoming outreach programs, making state-of-the-art analog and digital facilities available to our community partners across the Seattle area through a variety of different programs.