Deadline: 19-Feb-23
Are you a visual storyteller eager to learn about ethical representation and looking for a way to use your skills to tell stories of people in a meaningful way? In partnership with the Chocolonely Foundation, NOOR foundation is organising an extensive educational programme in West Africa to bring together young talent and communities, create a collective space, develop creative collaborative processes, and shape up new narratives.
This initiative will bring together the talent of regional visual storytellers, the knowledge of community facilitators, the NOOR mentoring expertise and the underrepresented voices of the workers of the cocoa communities in Ivory Coast. By focusing on these stories and creating a wide-reaching platform for local talent, they aim to contribute to a shift in the power balance towards equality within the cocoa supply chain.
This educational programme offers a tuition-free 8 month training tract consisting of an in-person workshop in Ivory Coast and continued with an online mentoring phase. The programme is mentored by a group of photographers and industry experts from the NOOR team and the West African region. Through this programme, they aim to elevate your visual storytelling skills and facilitate your journalistic, investigative and visual expertise over the photographic medium. In addition, you will have the chance to network with other like-minded visual storytellers and become part of NOOR’s international professional network.
The workshop is divided in three phases:
- Phase 1: Online kick-off session(s), remote
- During the month of March 2023, the selected participants and the mentoring team will gather remotely in a (series of) kick-off session(s) aimed at setting up expectations, sharing bodies of work and establishing a personal connection ahead of the in-person workshop in Ivory Coast.
- Phase 2: 7 day workshop in Hermankono-Diès, Ivory Coast
- The physical workshop will take place in and around the city of Divo from March 31 st to April 7th, 2023 and the stories will be shot in Socoopacdi agricultural cooperative.
- During the physical workshop, you will focus on the development of a visual narrative story in tight cooperation with the cocoa communities. You will learn theoretical and technical skills, gain knowledge on how to structure work and how to implement it on the ground with limited time. You will be guided and supported through the whole process by the mentors who will facilitate your access, the approach to the subjects, guide you in finding the narrative of your stories and the visual impact that your images can achieve.
- Phase 3: 5 month online mentoring programme, remote
- After the completion of the 7-day workshop, you will participate in a five month mentoring program online to further develop your work, expand your knowledge and tighten relationships in what they hope might form a new community. Through regular online meetings, you will finalise and improve the edit and curatorial process of your stories. You will also gain access to online lectures from leading experts of photography with a varied mix of backgrounds on thematics and subjects such as curating, editing, visual anthropology, archiving or grant writing.
More Details
- The application and the workshop are free of charge. Travel expenses, accommodation and a daily stipend for food are also included.
- The participant photographers are expected to bring their own gear.
- All participants are expected to arrive/land in Abidjan two days before the workshop starts (no later than March 30th) and book their departure flight or trip at least one day after the workshop ends (not earlier than April 8th).
- Local transport from/to Abidjan and accommodation ahead and during the workshop will be arranged for the group.
- The workshop will be taught in French.
Eligibility Criteria
- Open to French speaking photographers of all ages, nationals of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
How to Enter
- Applicants are required to be fluent in French to be able to communicate and discuss his/her/their project as the workshop will take place in French.
- All submission materials need to be in French. Applications in other languages will not be considered.
- All workshops are tuition-free for the participants, and open for all emerging visual storytellers from/living in the following countries:
- What will the selected participants receive
- Tuition for the 7 day workshop and the mentoring online free of charge
- Accommodation from arrival to departure (all participants are expected to arrive/land in Abidjan two days before the workshop starts and book their departure flight or trip at least one day after the workshop ends),
- Daily stipend for food
- All travel expenses from/to Abidjan will be covered, and transport from/to Abidjan from/to the cooperative will be arranged daily for the group.
Judging Criteria
- Applicants are encouraged to include this work and indicate what they want to explore in relation to the work in their application portfolio and motivation statement. Your portfolio should reflect stories that you are currently working on as a personal project and want to push further with the workshop. They’re looking for powerful stories. Applicants should be ready and willing to push their project forward.
For more information, visit NOOR Foundation.