ASMP Foundation Press Release

The ASMP Foundation is pleased to announce grants to five non-profit groups working to educate photographers—and to announce that it has begun accepting applications for the next grant cycle. Applications for summer 2006 grants are due by May 15.

The five recipients are:

* AINA Photo, a Paris-based branch of AINA, Afghanistan’s Media and Cultural Center (www.ainaworld.org), trains Afghan men and women in photojournalism. Its goal is to build local talent and foster free expression, in a country where even the possession of photographs was forbidden by the Taliban. The agency has received a grant of $1,500 for its “Afghanistan through Afghan eyes” program to help support photojournalism students develop their skills.

* The Society for Photographic Education (www.spenational.org) has been awarded $1,500 to help support student portfolio reviews at the 43rd Annual SPE National Conference to be held in March 2006 in Chicago. SPE portfolio reviews provide a structured, yet casual, environment in which emerging photographers can present their portfolios, receive mentoring and critical feedback, and connect with gallery directors and curators.

* The Sante Fe Center for Photography (www.sfcp.org) offers symposia that educate photographers in key aspects of the business side of fine-art photography: marketing and promotion, book publication, and working with collectors and curators. SFCP has been granted $1,500 to help support the symposium titled “The Creative Edge: The Business of Being an Artist,” to be held January 21 in Santa Monica, CA.

* FotoFest, an photographic arts and education organization (www.fotofest.org) based in Houston, Texas, is the creator of the international Biennial of Photography and Photo-related Art as a showcase for important new photographic talent. FototFest was awarded $1,500 to help support speaker expenses at a workshop called “Making the Most of Digital Technologies” which will be presented at the 11th Biennial of Photography and Photo-related Art, to be held in Houston, Texas in March and April of 2006.

* The Central Florida chapter of ASMP (www.asmpcentralflorida.org) has received $350 to help support a student seminar series to be presented over the coming four months. Led by Amanda Sosa Stone, a creative consultant and artist representative, the series will provide instruction on assisting, corporate and editorial photography, and business practices in photography.

Foundation Background
The ASMP Foundation exists to support the education of ASMP members and the creative photographic community to which they belong. Our goal is to encourage the professional and artistic growth of photographers.

The ASMP Foundation grant program is designed to get maximum leverage from the foundation’s assets by making a number of smaller awards to assist with educational programs for working professionals and students around the country. “We are a small foundation, so we aren’t in a position to offer huge grants, ” Board President Dan Lamont explained, “but we believe we can really help put worthy programs over the top in their fundraising.”

The grants are awarded twice each year. The number of grants and specific amounts given will depend on available funds and the needs and merits of applicant programs. The application deadlines for 2006 are May 15th and November 15th. Application information and forms are available online at www.asmp.org/foundation

Current members of the ASMP Foundation board include Mary Virginia Swanson, a noted photography consultant; Kenny Irby, Head of Visual Journalism programs for the Poynter Institute; Ben Colman, a commercial photographer and ASMP board member; John Giammatteo, a commercial photographer and ASMP board member; and Dan Lamont, chairman of the Foundation board, ASMP board member and photojournalist.  Colman, Giammatteo and Lamont are also educators.