When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
-Audre Lorde
Anayansi Prado and Elease Lui founded IMPACTO PROJECT out of the desire to bring photography and filmmaking to youths who had little, or no access, to hands-on training in visual arts. IMPACTO PROJECT is dedicated to the empowerment of youth in the US and in developing countries through hands-on training in photography, filmmaking, and digital media to develop critical thinking, team work and communication skills as tools for creative development, and archival of their cultural and personal stories.
IMPACTO PROJECT - MATAGLAPA, NICARAGUA
In 2014 Anayansi and Elease invited Dawn to join them with veteran Nicaraguan filmmaker Kathy Sevilla. Together with 19 young woman from feminist organizations across the country and hosted at Grupo Venancia we produced short photo-essays about girls and women and the issues they face in their country. In three weeks 19 participants from various state of Nicaragua, mostly from the northern region, learned the basics of photography, how to produce a photo-documentary and how to design a web page. Our main objective is to equip the participants of these tools to form an artistic community that expresses in a creative way the social themes of their localities. They formed five groups that identified their topics to work in the workshop. The participants also edited their photodumentaries and designed their own web pages. Photos and photocuts can be viewed online at impactonica2014.weebly.com.
The Impact Project Workshop - Matagalpa, Nicaragua was funded by the United States Embassy in Nicaragua and organized in partnership with the Venancia Group, who selected the participants, welcomed us and provided space for classes and other resources. It also had the support of ACSUR-Las Segovias.
LEARN MORE
Alameda County Office of Education
A year long project with 20 youth from across Alameda County - from community and continuation schools to charter schools and regular high schools - came together to learn about the legacy of Cesar Chavez and develop a youth leadership summit and public sculpture at ACOE.
