Well, although it has been a while since I started this, a lot has happened. Plane tickets, passport, first round of innoculations, and other things. But this is not about me. It is about a country, about a people, about a desperate need, and about (I hope) art.
This adventure starts in November, 2005. In preparing to submit a proposal for a fellowship from SURDNA, a philanthopic foundation in NYC which, among other things, is dedicated to supporting specialized art schools that serve the public sector. My initial proposal involved participating in a workshop sponsored by the Maine Photographic Workshops. This workshop would be working with Stephen Shames and Thatcher Cook, both amazing internationally known photographers, documenting work with NGO's in Uganda. Unfortunately, no date was posted for this workshop at the time, yet it so captured my imagination and passion that I submitted this as a proposal, and was accepted as a finalist.
This bring us to late January 2006, about 1.5 weeks before the final 25 page proposal was due to SURDNA. Here is an exerpt from this proposal:
Prologue:
Why my proposal has changed:
My initial proposal centered on a photographic workshop in Uganda, offered by the Maine Photographic Workshops. At the time of my proposal, no dates were offered, and I assumed it would be in the summer, as most of their workshops are. However, after contacting the MPW administration and instructors several times, I was able to find out that the date for the Uganda workshop this year would not be until late October. This created several issues; first, my director at the Governor’s School was not happy about my being gone for 2 ½ weeks during the school year (I am also chair for the visual arts department). Yet, I was willing to fight for what I saw as an unbelievable opportunity for both my students and myself to experience the life of the artist reaching out into new areas. However, in an email from Kimberly Bartosik, I found out that the date also conflicted with the gathering of fellows planned in New York City later this year. That seemed more damaging to my proposal. So I began the process of rethinking my plans.
As I explored various alternatives, that is all they seemed… alternatives. I cannot tell you how ignited my passions were for creating images that truly searched for meaning and power. The location and people of Uganda provided, it seemed to me, an ideal combination of people in desperate need for compassion, yet also possessing an overwhelming desire to improve their position in life. I could not put out of my mind the images of young people struggling to learn in one room schoolhouses while wondering also where to sleep safely that night and how to find food for the next day. Because of this, I decided to continue looking at Uganda as a location, and rebuild the workshop part to create an experience that works better in the available time frame I have.
I have contacted as many resources as I could find. I have begun to register for an extremely highly regarded workshop entitled “Truth With a Camera.” I have sent out emails to the instructors of the Maine Photographic Workshop, first, to see if they would be willing to work one on one or to at least provide contacts. I am communicating with several photographers I have discovered on the Internet who have worked in Uganda and Rwanda, and plan to be there this summer about a possible collaboration. I am also planning on contacting the organization Doctors Without Borders to see if there is a network there I can tap into.
In short, I have tried to keep the strength of my original proposal by organizing a network of contacts and instructors /mentors / collaborators to ensure my experience is one that will sharpen and renew my artistic life and my work with students.
Well, I was awarded the grant.
Now it is time to get scared.
