En Foco, the non-profit membership organization committed to nurturing and supporting photographers of diverse cultures, turns 35 this year. They're marking the anniversary with a Kick Off party on June 24 at Calumet Photographic in New York where they will be showcasing the  winners of En Foco's New Works  Photography Awards Fellowship program from  2008-2009 2009 (deadline for New Works #13: July 31).  En Foco also publishes the tri-annual Nueva Luz Photographic Journal. For 25 years, Nueva Luz has showcased fine-art and documentary photographers of African, Asian, Latino and Native American heritage. 
    
For PDN's Careers and Self-Promotion Issue, we asked En Foco executive director Miriam Romais about the lack of diversity in the photo industry, why it matters, and what can be done to ensure more support  for minority photographers.  Romais, who will co-chair the 2010 Society for Photographic Education (SPE) conference, also addressed the efforts educators can make on behalf of student photographers of color.

PDN: Gatherings of professional photographers always look very white. Do you have statistics that show the lack of  diversity in photography?
Miram Romais: We do a lot of surveys and even at workshops we hear that we offer a sense of community that [photographers of color] either never had at school or don't have in the professional associations they're joining. There are plenty of artists out there that lack a support system. They're not getting it in school, or they didn't go to school. With a supportive community, they start to say: Maybe I can achieve what I want to do, maybe I can get my portfolio seen.  

PDN: What are we missing because of the lack of diversity among photographers?
MR: I think we're missing a big piece of humanity in a way. People usually think of diversity as color, specifically race, but it can go so far beyond that. It can clue us in to human rights issues, it can clue us in to our world in a way that creates understanding.  It can limit our creativity when we can’t envision ourselves as part of something greater.
   
Our program director's response to the problem is this: How do you imagine being an artist if you don't see anyone in your community following that same path? People who have immigrated to this country say [to their kids]: go to school, stay in school, study to be a doctor, don’t be a photographer. So even within the immediate family community there isn’t necessarily support.  Then everything in your day-to-day life, from ads in magazines and on billboards to???, steers you away from what could be a creative and fulfilling life.  So her take is: How do you picture yourself beyond what you see every day if nobody tells you, it's ok, it’s possible, you can create your own story?

PDN: How did you get involved with SPE?
MR: I attended my first SPE [conference] a few years ago. I was interested in their multicultural caucus. It was truly surprising to me to hear students and faculty say that they feel they're working in a vacuum and don't have access to teach about or learn about photographers of color. They said of the caucus, "It's my one chance to see people who look like me or think like me."
 
Back when I was in college I felt the same way, and I challenged the system, saying: Why aren't we learning about photographers from Latin America, or about African American photographers? Years ago the answer I got was that we don't have the time to do the research. These photographers are under the radar, or on a different radar all altogether. If we learn from our teachers, and in a sense we learn their limitations, what can we do to change the system? Some of the comments I've received are that people feel really isolated, that the instructors or advisers don't know where they are coming from, or understand the type of work they're trying to do.

Now I'm co-chairing the next conference. We want to have a forum for talking about whether something needs to be done to accommodate a more diverse population. Whether any solutions will come up at this conference--that may be too pie in the sky. But we can talk about what we can do for student photographers who fall through the cracks and don't fulfill their potential.  We’re talking about having a roundtable among emerging curators as well. It’s great to talk about diversity among photographers but if people who hold all the cards and are calling shots aren’t [diverse], then how will the system change?

PDN: A lot of the institutions that hire and exhibit photographers – ad agencies, magazines, museums, galleries – lack diversity as well. Does that limit their sensitivity to diverse photographic points of view?
MR: I don't believe it's on purpose. I just think that if you're used to getting imagery from one place, you tend to stick with it, and the people you train to do the job will do the same things.
A friend of mine is an art buyer at an ad agency, and she called me up one day and was looking for a photographer to shoot a campaign, and I said oh! Let me email you a whole bunch of names of people I think would do a great job.  She was thrilled beyond belief. She brought the list to the creative director and he said, "We're going to go with this guy [instead] because he is famous."  It’s who you know sometimes. 

PDN: What more could photography teachers do to keep minority students from "falling through the cracks"?
MR: No matter what your students are—white, black, brown, in a wheel chair, super queer, or purple—just try to learn as much about wherever they're coming from, and honor their interests. A lot of times teachers accept a norm that is not necessarily what an emerging artist might be shooting for. Keep an open mind.  That could mean reading up in different areas we don’t know much about. I'm speaking for myself here as well. We get used to teaching the same thing over and over again and that becomes limiting from a personal perspective as well.   [It's helpful] just being conscious of other artistic resources, and finding common ground in photo assignments that can help bridge similarities and differences. When sending photographers to write about an exhibition, sure, they have to know about ICP and MoMA but why not  send them to Museo del Barrio, or the Bronx Museum for the Arts, or the Studio Museum in Harlem, or a smaller, non-profit space?

PDN: What can photographers do?
MR: Don't wait for something to happen. A lot of it is about being persistent. Just because a magazine doesn't like your work, don't give up your vision because of them. A lot of organizations offer small grants, too, if you’re trying to get a personal project. The deadline for several of these is coming up.  The En Foco newsletter lists many of these. It's free, and you can sign up on our home page. www.enfoco.org.

PDN: What can established photographers do to help other photographers?
I would love to see more people mentoring. I think mentoring is fantastic. How else do you get the knowledge, especially if you didn't go to school for photography? How else do you improve your craft?

En Foco is having its annual portfolio review on June 20. Portfolio reviews are a great opportunity you don't get in school, when you may be relying on just one advisor.  One of the things we try to be more conscious of when we do our portfolio review is that we have reviewers who reflect the demographic of our members, so our reviewers are diverse as well as our photographers. We have some of the standard names, but we are showing that diversity can be in all areas [of photography].

 Part of our En Foco membership program is that [members] get a one-hour portfolio review with us. We'll sit down, talk to them about concerns, and see if we can offer suggestions of where to go next. That's part of the membership, which is all year long, and we hope that steers photographers in a helpful way.

More Resources
En Foco specific opportunities:

JUNE 20 - affordable Portfolio Review Sessions.

JUNE 24 - People/Places/Things: an international photography competition
to celebrate En Foco's 35th Anniversary sponsored by Canson.

JULY 9 - "Foot in the Door" - free professional development seminar for
emerging photographers

JULY 31 -New Works Photography Awards Fellowship deadline - open & free
call for entries

Calls for entry for Nueva Luz photographic journal and Touring Gallery
program are ongoing.

GRANTS:

National Association of Latino Arts & Culture - Grants for Latino artists
- July 13 deadline
www.NALAC.org

Other Arts Resources Romais Recommends.

Romais says these are "not photo-specific, but do provide support for photographers, too."

Asian American Arts Alliance - cool "Town Hall" event, free networking for artists:
www.aaartsalliance.org/townhall/ 

Asian American Arts Centre - "Art Slam 2009"
www.artspiral.org/new.html
gives emerging artists the opportunity to present and talk about their work, meet and network with each other as well as with more established artists and critics/curators.

Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance
www.nomaanyc.org/

Bronx Council on the Arts - BRIO Grants for Bronx-based artists
bronxarts.org/

MACLA (Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana)
www.maclaarte.org/about.html

Seeing With Photography Collective (Blind photographers)
www.seeingwithphotography.com/