Hine Fellow Lauren Henschel Receives Funding to Extend Fellowship Project

2016-2017 Lewis Hine Documentary Fellow and CDS alumni Lauren Henschel has received funding to continue her fellowship project through 2018. Henschel's Hine Fellow project was a digital photography course at the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn, NY which used photography as a medium to understand identity, community and the world around us. The class was taught to 11 South Brooklyn youth and culminated in a book and an exhibition of student photography at Red Hook Labs in late Spring. 

The upcoming fall course will have storytelling at its core, using photography, audio and video to create a long form podcast in which students will collaborate to tell the story of what it is like to be a youth in Brooklyn in our society in this moment in time. This program has been funded through 2018 by the Price Family Foundation and Red Hook Labs.

"It’s hard to put into words what this class meant to everyone involved," says Henschel. "It was a collaborative experience that brought 13 very different minds together into a space in which art was made through thought and deep understanding of what it means to be human. I will forever be changed by the students who walked through my classroom twice a week and took the time to dig deep within themselves with never-ending positivity and acceptance. I am incredibly excited for what the future holds with this course and am thankful for my students who really made me believe in my ability to be a teacher in the future."

This extension of funding allows more youth to be given the opportunity to use art and storytelling as a tool for social engagement and self-expression. It provides students with opportunities to develop hard skills that can be applied across many facets of their lives and that can serve them in their futures as they begin to forge their career paths. The program also gives young people a safe space to spend their afternoons constructively after school.

Enjoy this video that highlights the project and demonstrates one of the fundamental tenets of the Lewis Hine Documentary Fellowship: connecting the talents of young documentarians with the resources and needs of community-based organizations.