The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts offers children and youth an opportunity to explore life through the lens of a camera. The museum’s children’s outreach program, Literacy Through Photography, is dedicated to the value that children’s education through photography is important and can influence them in a positive way. We feel it is necessary that every child has access to creative outlets and also believe that these creative outlets can enhance their character, develop their academic and sensory skills, and offer them a greater potential to succeed.
The museum offers free digital photography workshops to at-risk children of underserved communities. Organizations and schools can visit the museum for an educational tour of current exhibits and schedule a workshop in Downtown Tampa or onsite at their location. Children are loaned a digital camera for the lesson. The workshop sessions are from one to three hours. Age-appropriate lessons are presented with assistance from other professional photographers and hobbyists who volunteer their time. The brief introduction to the basics of photography is followed by an exploratory photo hunt outdoors. Once a year, the young artists are invited to attend a reception at the museum where they will find one photograph from each child, framed and displayed, at our annual Summer Children’s Show.
Past workshops have included sessions with the Academy Prep Center of Tampa, the Alpha House of Tampa, Children’s Cancer Center, Pace Center for Girls, The Children’s Home, Joshua House, Metropolitan Ministries, +SPIN (Positive Support for Parents in Neighborhoods), Asian Neighborhood Center, and Taller Inter-Cultural Hispano-American (TICH), St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital, the Boys & Girls Club of Tampa Bay, Kathy’s Place for Hope, Shriners Hospital for Children and Community Stepping Stones.
We hope to extend our program to reach more locations each year. Please contact the museum if you are aware of a group of children who would benefit from our workshops.
