With support from the California Arts Council, The AjA Project, in partnership with the San Diego Military Families Collaborative, will provide an additional year of innovative photography based programming to youth in military families at Farb Middle School and Serra High School in San Diego. The “Through my Lens” project will support students to process experiences, reclaim narrative and advocate for community change through the arts, while also providing artist mentorship opportunities.
The AjA Project has a strong reputation of delivering high-quality, high-impact programs to young people from diverse cultural, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds. This includes in-school and after-school programs as well as participatory workshops in collaboration with cross-sector partner organizations. AjA’s programs support young people to process experiences, understand their social and political landscapes and use the arts as a tool for creative self expression and social change. This year we have provided programming to newly arrived refugees, teen mothers, youth in detention, young people in military families, and youth across San Diego. The work at AjA remains grounded in the power of photography and visual arts as a tool for all youth, regardless of background, to see themselves as agents of change. AjA remains committed to igniting individual and social change from a grassroots, creative approach.