ICP has teemed up with Phonar Nation and the MacArthur Foundation’s Cities of Learning to provide 5 free courses in photography for anyone in the world. The crowd-sourced classes thus far are:
- Looking for Light
- Seeing the Unseen
- Telling someone’s story
- Making Sense
- Moving Beyond Pictures
Youth all over the world are being invited to help build Phonar Nation, the biggest photography storytelling class in history as a part of this year’s nationwide Cities of Learning initiative, supported by the MacArthur Foundation and powered by the Digital Youth Network and Badge Alliance.
Designed by award-winning photographer, National Teaching Fellow, and open education pioneer Jonathan Worth, Phonar Nation builds on his #Phonar (Photography and Narrative) class that was described in the European Parliament as “breaking new ground for photographers” and by Wired as “shaking up photo education”.
The Phonar Nation class is built on a mobile device, to be taught from a mobile device to a mobile user. Students learn to speak clearly with images and engage a connected audience. They learn to leverage and to be empowered by the network rather than feeling anonymised by it. Phonar Nation is more than photography; it is visual literacy and digital fluency for a connected 21st century.
Phonar Nation is presented in association with the University of California Humanities Research Institute, Digital Media and Learning Research Hub, Connected Learning Alliance, and Digital Youth Network. Phonar Nation’s partners also include World Press Photo in Amsterdam, OgilvyOne in Hong Kong and the International Center of Photography in New York, where the class will launch with the Phonar Nation Book-in-a-Box. The box features a uniquely curated selection of photography books and handmade journals, which, like a message in a bottle, will travel amongst selected Cities of Learning libraries, schools and community centers reifying the online Phonar Nation network as it goes.
Running concurrently with the Phonar Nation class, is the “Front Page” competition for the best youth stories.
Phonar Nation Photography classes are open to all for free.
ICP and the Worlds Biggest Free Photography Class
