What an Evening!

The Parallel Visions Youth Photography Exhibit and fundraiser was a HUGE success. We had an amazing evening with over 200 supporters in attendance and over 50 silent auction items. We raised nearly $10,000 that will go directly to the Transitional Youth Academy program. Thank you to everyone who attended and helped support our youth photographers and TYA! For more information about Interfaith and our program please go to http://www.interfaithservices.org/.

Join Us to Support the Transitional Youth Academy!

The Parallel Visions Youth Photography Exhibit and Fundraiser is quickly approaching! We are busy finishing the details of what will be an exciting and inspirational evening at the Oceanside Museum of Art on November 12th from 6 to 9pm.Taste of Europe Catering, Holiday Wine Cellar, Stone Gap Winery, and Stone Brewery are graciously hosting an eclectic array of gourmet faire, specialty brews and wine, followed with sweet treats complemented by a Colombian coffee bar. Musical guests include North County’s Bossa Nova virtuoso, Tony Lasley, and TYA’s very own A Cappella Group, the A Cafella’s.

The fundraiser will include a silent auction, opportunity drawings, and opportunities to purchase the exhibit photographs and prints. Don't miss out on winning Southwest tickets, a Mammoth condo getaway, a week stay at La Costa Resort and Spa, skydiving, hot air balloon rides, Charger's tickets, a Corum watch, dinner at the Oceanside Museum of Art and much, much more!

Admission is complimentary but must accompany a reservation. Please confirm your reservation by November 4th, 2011 by calling Larry Christensen at 760-489-6380 x 224 or email at lchristensen@interfaithservices.org.

SAVE THE DATE!

Please SAVE THE DATE for our Parallel Visions ~ Visiones Paralelas exhibit fundraiser where 100 of the most captivating images from our photography project will be displayed.

Oceanside Museum of Art

November 12, 2011

6:00 to 9:00pm

There will be food and drinks, live entertainment, as well as a silent auction with many great items to bid on including: one week stay at La Costa Resort & Spa, theme park passes, golf equipment, hot air balloon rides, sky diving, and so much more! All proceeds from our fundraiser will benefit the Transitional Youth Academy. More information to come so keep coming back to our blog.

Over 10,000 images so far!

We are winding down the photo taking part of the project. So far, 41 youth have gone on 10 field trips and have spent nearly 50 hours taking over 10,000 images!! Now the fun part begins - choosing the images that will hang on the walls of the Oceanside Museum of Art at our exhibit fundraiser on November 12, 2011. We have been busy planning this exciting event which will include music, food and drink, and a silent auction to raise money for the program. More details to come! We have been truly amazed and inspired by the talent and dedication of our youth photographers and can't wait for their hard work to be displayed for everyone to see! Here is a picture (taken by one of the youth) of the TYA staff having fun on one of the field trips.

TYA Staff: Rae, Leigh, Jeannine, Laurie, Shay, & Vu

Go Pirates!

TYA staff and 4 Oceanside High School students equipped with professional cameras explored the campus and took photographs of whatever inspired them. We plan to pair their photos with photos from the Colombian youth to show the parallel visions that have emerged during this project.

Discovering Encinitas

Staff and 14 youth headed down to Encinitas to take photographs at the beautiful Meditation Gardens of the Self-Realization Fellowship followed by the Encinitas antique car show. Youth were serene exploring and photographing the peaceful gardens and transitioned to full of energy at the lively car show. Thank you to John Pohlman for once again volunteering his time and talent helping our youth capture Encinitas!

Downtown San Diego!

We headed to Downtown San Diego with 15 youth to capture the city in the early evening. The youth explored Seaport Village, the Convention Center, and Harbor Island. The photographers were excited to be surrounded by busy city life but made sure to take time for a dinner break and an ice cream at Ben & Jerry's!

North County Parks

We decided to explore two great parks with the youth: Kit Carson Park in Escondido and Leo Carrillo Ranch in Carlsbad. The youth were inspired by the sculpture garden at Kit Carson and the adobe buildings and peacocks of Leo Carrillo. Thank you to John Pohlman who came with us to Kit Carson to teach the youth about landscape photography.

Photography Clinic in Oceanside

TYA youth had the opportunity to participate in a photography clinic led by Stan Kim and John Pohlman, two amazing photographers who graciously volunteered their time to teach our youth. They learned about portrait photography and essentials to good picture taking. We shot at Oceanside High School where most of these youth attend school and took a walk to the Oceanside Farmer's Market where they captured great photos of the vendors and items for sale.

Invasion

Karol and the Colombian youth set out on their last photo field trip for the project. They visited an area in Cartagena that is a settlement for those without home. The location is called an "invasion" meaning that all of their habitants are squatters. Karol wrote in her email that this location was "very interesting and sad at the same time".

Old City Cartagena

The youth set off with Karol for their first of two days taking photos of historic Old City Cartagena. Images of the fortress surrounding the city, the colorful buildings, and statues that the youth photographed are amazing and really capture the beauty of the city.

TYA's First Photo Field Trip to Balboa Park

We have officially started the U.S. componenet of our photography project! TYA staff and 12 youth explored Balboa Park in San Diego. Youth shot images of the historic buildings, beautiful gardens, and colorful scenery. We also had the opportunity to take the youth to an IMAX movie after a full morning of picture taking.

 

The Photo Taking Has Begun! Field Trip to La Boquilla

Today was the first photo field trip in Colombia. Karol and 9 Colombian youth went to La Boquilla, a fishing village just outside of Cartagena. The youth participating in the project are Jhon, Cristian, Diana, Mirleidys, Edith, Wendy, Carmen, Viviana, and Sergio. We really hope to get to know these youth through the images that they take. Here are just a few amazing images from their trip.

Karol Arrives in Colombia!

Our fabulous MSW intern, Karol, has arrived in Cartagena, Colombia. She has already met with the principal and teachers from the school that will be collaborating with us on our photography project. Karol will be meeting with 9 Colombian youth in the next couple of days to introduce them to the project and plan their photo field trips. We are so excited to see the images these youth take of their communities and can't wait to share their images with our youth!

Transforming teens lives through art & technology

At the Transitional Youth Academy, we’ve learned that art and technology provide some of the best opportunities to engaging struggling youth with opportunities that motivate and empower them to move their lives in a more positive direction.

Last year we were able to combine these interests with our photography program. Students learned not only the art of photography, but the science and technology of it as well, by working digitally with their creations. Students were deeply impacted by the opportunity to learn, to express their own creativity, and to exhibit their creations in a gallery where they were recognized for their hard work and inspiration.

Everyone at Interfaith Community Services was incredibly proud of the students, whose vibrant artwork hangs in the halls of the Coastal Service Center.

This year, thanks to some incredible community partners, we have an opportunity to expand on this amazing program.

The Transition Youth Academy was recently awarded a grant from the AT&T Foundation to support an expanded art and technology project with our youth. With these funds, the program is developing another photography project for 2011, with the goal of integrating technology in a way that will build bridges between TYA students and students from Cartagena, Columbia, through the use of video, email, skype, and photography.

This international artistic and technological exchange will add a cross-cultural relational dimension to the photography program, bringing an awareness of, and appreciation for, diversity amongst the students in the project.

The goal is simple yet breathtaking: to meaningfully connect the youth of two continents through art and technology so they may share their life, their culture, and their experiences with each other and learn that others are not so different than themselves.

We believe this “cultural exchange” has the potential to empower and enrich the lives of these students by helping them become more globally minded, more technologically sophisticated, and more artistically inspired.

And it gets even better. This year we have been given the unprecedented opportunity to culminate our project with an exhibit of our student’s photography at the Oceanside Museum of Art, in November, 2011.

These are the kinds of opportunities that change student’s lives. With fewer and fewer art and technology programs being offered by the financially struggling school system, it has become increasingly important for organizations like Interfaith to offer the kinds of enrichment activities that will transform and empower our community’s youth.