eNews
Workshops Launches First Annual Appeal
Our new non-profit status now makes it possible for friends, businesses, and foundations to provide needed support for the school.
Just a few weeks ago we sent out the very first Maine Media Workshops annual appeal. Even in these uncertain economic times, the response has been positive and immediate. Generous alumni, faculty, and other friends are showing their support for our programs. In fact, we’ve already reached 60% of our goal – but we still have a ways to go and need your help! 
With tax-deductible gifts from these individuals and public funders such as the Davis Family Foundation, Bangor Savings Bank, and the Quimby Family Foundations, we’re able to make much-needed campus improvements, keep our technologies state-of-the-art, and build a scholarship endowment so that talented individuals who would not otherwise be able to, participate in our Workshops and Maine Media College programs.
If you’ve already received your 2008 annual appeal letter, we appreciate your consideration of a gift. For your convenience, and for readers who have not received an appeal letter in the mail but would like to make a gift, please visit our website and make a secure gift online.
Many thanks go out to our generous donors on behalf of the Workshops staff here in Rockport, our 35,000 alumni through the world, and the next students to arrive for their first Workshops experience.
It is through the shared commitment of the Workshops community that we keep the magic in motion.
PhotoPlus Highlights
The 25th annual PhotoPlus Expo hosted thousands of photographers last week in New York’s Jacob Javits Center.
As always, the Maine Media Workshops’ booth was the busy home base for our staff, former staffers, alumni, and faculty to touch base, visit with one another, and talk to potential students. Not a show just for still photographers, we were delighted to receive a visit from cinematography instructor, Steve Fierberg, ASC, who came to PhotoPlus to check out the latest technology.
October is the perfect time of year for us to visit with sponsors and thank them for their support throughout the year. It’s also a time to make plans for the 2009 season and introduce potential new industry partners to our programs.
This year we partnered with B&H to offer portfolio reviews in their Manhattan store Event Space. Forty-eight photographers signed up to meet one-on-one with Workshops faculty to get a fresh perspective on their work. We want to thank those instructors Arlene Collins, Jean Miele, 
Stephen Johnson, Sean Harris, Jill Enfield, Karen Marshall, Kate Izor, Yvonne Gomez, and Sean Kernan for being so generous with their time, and Jennifer Diamond and David Brommer at B&H for coordinating the event. We’ve gotten positive feedback from everyone involved and hope to offer more of these events during the year.
PhotoPlus is an incredibly busy and productive time for Workshops staff and we’re not able to spend much time in the booth talking to potential students. A huge thanks goes out to the amazing volunteer team who helped us with everything from set-up to break down, and many hours of booth time in between. We would not have had such a successful show without you: Ethan Jones, Grady O'Connor, Sarah Szwajkos, Mat Thorne, Deanna Witman, Trelawney O’Brien, Tommy Galloway. It’s good so many of you moved to New York from Maine!
Celebrating a Successful Season
Our 2008 workshop season soon draws to a close, and what an amazing year!
We’ve welcomed close to 2,100 students to campus, from 48 states and 49 countries. Our thanks go out to our industry sponsors, many of whom increased their support this year; to our world-class instructors so giving of their time, talents, and of themselves; to our tireless and talented summer staff for giving 150% in support of their classes; and of course to our students for whom the school exists and who make each season, each workshop, each day on campus one of inspiration and learning.
We hope to see you back in Rockport for our 36th season in 2009!
Workshops Team at PhotoPlus, October 23-25
Next week, Maine Media staff head for the “Big Apple” and the PDN PhotoPlus Expo.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of PhotoPlus. Hosted by Workshops sponsor PDN, the event draws thousands to the Jacob Javits Center to view the very latest in imaging technology at hundreds of exhibitor booths, and to access more than 100 industry seminars.
We’ll be meeting with sponsors and faculty and making plans for the Workshops’ 2009 season. Registrar Kerry Curren will be on hand in our booth (#755) to greet alumni and to answer questions of potential and returning students, with plenty of copies of the new Winter & Spring 2009 workshops brochure available.
Our thanks to all those of you who signed up for the Workshop’s PhotoPlus portfolio review sessions at B&H’s Event Space. We’re happy to report the event is fully booked. If you didn’t get a chance to reserve a spot this year, not to worry, we’re hoping to make this an annual event.
If you’re planning to attend the Expo – we look forward to seeing you at booth 755.
Student Image Graces Brochure Cover
It’s always an exciting challenge to decide on the cover image for the Workshops’ catalogs.
With each publication, we try to find a photograph that captures both who we are and what we do. With our world-renowned faculty and talented students, you might think the decision would easily present itself, but such a wealth of options makes it difficult to choose!
For this year’s Winter & Spring brochure, we are pleased to announce that a student image is featured on the cover. Kelly Joy Morrill, a photography student at the Art Institute of Colorado, came to Rockport this season to take Brenda Tharp’s Capturing Summer Light workshop in order further develop her eye for landscape photography. We were looking for an image that would represent our beautiful locale at any time of year. The striking rock formations and amazing blue waters of Kelly’s photograph capture the beauty and drama of Maine’s coastline in all seasons.
Our thanks to Kelly for assisting with us in the production of another quintessential Workshops cover.
Two Summer Staffers On A Cross-Country Quest for "Green"
When Morrigan “Mo” McCarthy and Alan Winslow met in 2007 as members of the Workshops’ summer staff, neither imagined that one year later, they would set out on a cross-country bike ride in search of “green” stories.
“Project Tandem” is the creation of these two passionate photojournalists – and avid cyclists – who want to find, record, and tell the stories of everyday Americans working in small ways to make significant changes in the way we care for our planet.
Through photographs and audio recordings, Mo and Alan are capturing the faces and voices of people from all walks of life who are having a positive impact on the environment.
Along the way, they’re blogging about the people, places, and ideas they’re introduced to. A Google© map on their website tracks their progress as they ride from town to town. Mo and Alan are also working with schools throughout their journey so that students can watch their progress, participate, and learn about ways they too can make a difference.
“We’ve found that approaching people on a bicycle with a camera is quite different from climbing out of a car with a camera,” says Mo about their trip so far, “The bicycle breaks the ice and gives us a reason to explain our photography project in detail. The kindness we've been shown by complete strangers has been overwhelming and very moving.”
After completing their 11,000-mile trek, the Tandem team plan to compile these stories and produce a traveling show and multimedia piece for the web. By celebrating even small efforts on behalf of the environment, they hope to bringing attention to the issue of global warming in a new way.
Their friends here in Rockport and across the country wish them a safe and inspiring journey.
Read more about Alan and Mo's project at www.projecttandem.org
Winter & Spring Workshops Brochure Online and in the Mail
The Workshops schedule of courses for January – May 2009 is now available on our website, and a new brochure is set to mail next week.
This brochure features a wide selection of workshops, from foundation digital and video programming, to many new courses in all programs.
Take advantage of the quiet beauty of Maine in the winter and spring months to immerse yourself in a project while working in our state-of the art digital photography labs and editing suites. Or get outside and explore the region in Winter Break Family Storytelling, Filming Winter Wildlife, or Wilderness Survival Production.
We’re offering several multi-week sequences, including up to five weeks of Design & Book Arts and Multimedia classes. These workshops can all be taken individually, or you can program a sequence that fits your needs. Tuition prices have been reduced for a number of classes offered during the Winter and Spring season.
If you have not yet signed up to receive a catalog in the mail and would like to do so, simply make an online request or email info@theworkshops.com. You can also download the 16-pg brochure from our website.
The full schedule of summer and fall workshops for 2009 will be available online beginning in January.
Maine Media Sponsors Bioneers & Kindle
Maine Media is proud to join The Nature Conservancy, the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service, and other organizations, to sponsor Kindle, A Northern New England Bioneers Conference, October 17 - 19 on the campus of the USM in Portland.
Bioneers was founded in 1990 to promote practical environmental solutions and innovative social strategies for restoring Earth’s imperiled ecosystems and healing our human communities. Each October, the organization convenes brilliant social and scientific innovators to share breakthrough solutions at an annual conference in San Rafael, California.
In 2002, Bioneers launched “Beaming Bioneers” to provide a platform for local networking and organizing. This year, the conference will have a coast-to-coast presence as 18 cities across the country “Beam” simultaneous and sometimes cross-venue Bioneers events to more than 10,000 people.
Maine Media College students and faculty will travel to Portland to take in conference events and meet participants and organizers in order to connect with the stories happening in and around this important National movement. Photography and film students will collaborate to produce short video documentaries, image essays, and multimedia pieces while delving into philosophical and practical approaches to sustainability.
The conference features a diverse program of talks, panels, and workshops along with films, dance presentations, and other cultural events – a true blending of science and society. Maine-based photo and video interstitials produced at the Workshops will be presented at intervals throughout the three-day event.
For more information about Bioneers and a Beaming Bioneers conference in your area, visit http://beaming.bioneers.org/. To register for the Kindle Northern New England Bioneers Conference visit www.kindleinme.com.
Julie Cawley Joins Workshops Board
Maine Media Workshops’ Board of Directors has welcomed Julie P. Cawley to join in their stewardship of the school.
A dedicated educator, community advocate, and philanthropist, Julie brings to our Board the extensive experience of both her work in the classroom and her service in the non-profit sector.
With a BS in Elementary Education from Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross in Washington, D.C. and a Masters degree in Reading from Towson State University, she taught in the Baltimore County Public School System for ten years.
Julie has served on multiple Boards and Committees including Meals on Wheels of Delaware, West End Neighborhood House, Project Assist, MBNA Foundation Grants Committees of Delaware and Maine, and the Camden Public Library, among others. She is currently a member of the Herring Gut Learning Center in nearby Tenants Harbor, Maine.
A Workshops alumna, Julie has first-hand knowledge of the magic that happens here on our campus. Each of the past three summers she has spent a week working on the digital photography sequence of workshops, completing Advanced Digital Photography this summer. “Continuing education is essential to me,” says Julie. “I enjoy learning in this environment, where beginning artists and masters at their craft come together to share work, and challenge each other. As an avid student and educator, I’m pleased to be participating on the Board and helping to plan for the future of this unique school.”
Workshops Portfolio Reviews at B&H During Photoplus
PhotoPlus is just weeks away. We always look forward to this time of year - heading to New York to visit with industry sponsors, photography faculty, and alumni, and to meet potential new students.
This year we’re also hosting photography portfolio reviews in the Event Space at B&H – just two blocks from the PhotoPlus’ home at the Javits Center.
Workshops master faculty are generously giving their time to meet one-on-one with photographers for 20–minute review sessions Thursday, October 23 from 1 – 3PM, and Friday, October 24 from 10AM – Noon.
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Portfolio Reviewers
Thursday, October 23 |
Portfolio Reviewers
Friday, October 24 |
