Human Rights & Photography Fellowship, New York

Deadline: 9 December 2013
Open to: students, experienced professionals living and working outside of North America and Western Europe
Fellowship: full tuition for 6 credits, travel, room and board during the program

Description

In 2014, the Magnum Foundation will offer five Human Rights Fellowships for the fifth year of its summer program, Photography and Human Rights at the Department of Photography & Imaging of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, led by Professor Fred Ritchin and Susan Meiselas, Magnum photographer and President of Magnum Foundation.

The six-week program is comprised of three courses and is designed to enable students to explore strategies for creating effective documentary projects in pursuit of human rights. Students will explore multimedia and traditional presentation strategies for their photo essays, which they will develop through two studio courses. A lecture course will provide participants with an opportunity to look at photography’s strengths and weaknesses, both real and imagined, in attempting to determine new strategies for impact as both society and technology evolve. The final component is a discussion and writing course correlating with public guest lecture series featuring speakers from the fields of photojournalism, law, and media.

Human Rights Fellows will remain in New York for an additional week after the coursework is completed to meet with local editors, publishers, and other experts in the field and explore museums, galleries, and other cultural resources.

Eligibility

Intermediate and advanced international students, including experienced professionals living and working outside of North America and Western Europe are eligible to apply. Two fellowships supported by Open Society Foundations will be awarded to photographers working in China and Egypt.

You MUST speak English. All classes will be conducted in English. You are NOT eligible if you have studied photography in the United States, Canada or Western Europe. You are NOT eligible if your home is in the United States, Canada, or Western Europe.

Fellowship

The Human Rights Fellowships cover full tuition for 6 credits, travel, room and board during the program.

Application

The application process is now open and rolling until 9 December 2013. Apply online HERE and select the appropriate link that corresponds with your home country, then fill out the contact information form. You will also need to answer the following essay questions in 150 words:

• Why are you interested in creating documentary photography projects in pursuit of human rights? What motivates you?
• Please describe a human rights-related project that you have worked on, or another type of initiative that has inspired you. It can be a photographic project or another type of initiative. What was the project’s impact
• Please describe at least three significant human rights issues in your home country. How might you apply the education and training you receive from this program to any of these issues in your home country?
• Please describe the documentary photography project that you have sent to us.

You will then click the “choose files” button in the “Upload Images” section and select up to 15 images that you would like to submit. Your uploaded image files will appear underneath the ‘choose files’ button. All files must be JPG files. Once you have filled out the form, written your essays, and uploaded your images click the ‘submit’ button at the bottom of the form. A confirmation page will appear that states your application has been successfully submitted. You will also receive an email that confirms your application is complete.

For questions and inquiries please write to humanrights@magnumfoundation.org.

For more information about the program please visit the official website HERE.