Charlotte Hale, associate dean of the School of Media, Art & Design at Durham College, is currently accepting donations of digital cameras for the Cameras for Kids project. The international initiative will instruct children in the Dominican Republic on the basic principles of photography.
Durham College's generosity knows no borders as a team made up of members from the Sketch art group in Toronto, local photography teachers and community members prepares to travel to the Dominican Republic as part of the Cameras for Kids project. The charitable initiative exposes children in the country to the art of photography.
Charlotte Hale, associate dean of the School of Media, Art & Design, is encouraging members of the college community to get involved by donating digital cameras for their trip next month.
Hale, along with a group of volunteer instructors, will travel to Hainamosa, Dominican Republic from August 7 to 17 to help teach local children the basic principles of photography. She is expecting close to 30 children to be involved in this project.
"I'm very excited to bring back images from the children in the Dominican, snapshots of their lives from their perspective, to share with the college community," said Hale. "Photography is a very powerful social tool and being involved in this project as a representative of the college reflects our commitment to our global awareness and sense of community."
The concept for Cameras for Kids was initiated by Lydia Keen, a photography teacher at Eastdale Collegiate Vocational Institute in Oshawa. Keen was inspired by the movie, Born Into Brothels, a 2004 documentary about underprivileged children in Calcutta, who were given cameras and taught how to use them in exchange for the filming of their mothers who were prostitutes.
After seeing the movie and witnessing the improvements in the lives of the children, Keen developed the Cameras for Kids project and connected with Nancy Lorraine, a member of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church in Leaskdale, who is involved in a centre in Hainamosa that would host a team to teach the local children how to photograph.
Hale was soon recruited, as was Jay Yerema-Weafer, owner of the Magic Door Art Gallery in Sunderland. Weafer's gallery will host the first exhibition of the photographic results of the trip in the fall. Following the Magic Door Gallery exhibition, it will then travel to the Durham College campus for another showing. Both Hale and Yerema-Weafer will be actively curating the work while in the Dominican.
As the Cameras for Kids project is a volunteer initiative, it relies upon the contributions and charity of the community. Hale is currently accepting donations of point-and-shoot digital cameras or monetary donations, which would be used to purchase cameras.
Charitable receipts will be issued for any monetary donations.
If any members of the Durham College community would like to donate a new or used digital camera or make a monetary contribution, please contact Charlotte Hale at 905.721.2000 ext. 2708 or charlotte.hale@durhamcollege.ca.
Donations will be accepted until Friday, August 1.