Out of the darkroom and into the light: the Weston Collective is where science, technology, and art meet through photography to enlighten students’ lives. Founded in 2004, the Weston Collective (TWC) – a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in Monterey County – puts cameras into students’ hands, enriching their lives by expanding analytic and creative thinking through learning photography. TWC is committed to teaching analog (film) and digital photography to students on the Central Coast of California (primarily Monterey County), regardless of age, disabilities, socioeconomics, demographics, race, or sexual identification.
TWC teaches after-school, summer, and elective photography classes to elementary through high school students, holds the annual Weston Scholarship, offers workshops, courses, and open studio/darkroom hours to adults, and hosts exhibitions and artist-in-residency programs. TWC offers mobile photography programs, bringing teachers, cameras, and individualized curriculums to campuses and youth centers in Monterey and Aromas Counties. Inspiring students and the community each year, TWC awards Weston Collective Scholarships to over 25 high school and college students from Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties for their winning photographic portfolios. Since 2004, the Weston Scholarship has awarded 447 scholarships totaling over $130,000. TWC was created to celebrate, draw attention to, and preserve teaching and learning photography in high schools and colleges.
In 2018, the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD) and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School of the Arts (MLK SOA), a public elementary school in Seaside, California, presented TWC with the opportunity to build a darkroom, studio, and exhibition space at the school and to teach classes to the students and members of the public. Opening the darkroom in 2019 at MLK SOA created a much-needed multidimensional space in which photography transmits cultures, stories, ideas, and emotions through the photographic print, where the image becomes a place of exchange between the photographer and the viewer.
Through TWC’s unique approach to teaching photography, students learn a hands-on skill set that teaches discipline, patience, task completion, and attention to detail. TWC and the schools it serves see a direct correlation between increased educational performance, increased interest in creative expression, excitement in our curriculum and programming, and involvement in our organization. TWC’s mission is to exhibit, teach, and support anyone interested in photography: Participants gain self-esteem, learn interdisciplinary thinking across the arts and sciences, and see the world through a new and different lens. TWC’s unique approach utilizes photography as a rare medium containing artistic, mathematical, and scientific elements, allowing individuals to capture and tell their stories while preserving and documenting their surroundings. In addition, through learning photography, participants gain self-esteem by learning interdisciplinary thinking and technical skills in the arts and sciences.
TWC’s educational programming is made possible through generous donations from individuals, non-profit foundations, and local businesses. TWC seeks to preserve Monterey Bay’s rich photographic history, inspired by Edward Weston’s work, while simultaneously expanding and building upon the region’s photography legacy. TWC seeks to expand and preserve Monterey Bay’s connection to photography by building upon the region’s history by engaging the public, local schools, students, artists, and photographers. TWC both preserves and continues the region’s legacy by creating new accounts and images through fostering artistic growth, teaching classes, awarding annual student scholarships, and offering a space for photographers to develop and exhibit their work.
The Weston Collective (TWC) is where art, science, math, and technology meet through learning photography. Founded in 2004, TWC – a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in Monterey County – teaches and exhibits photography and expands students’ analytic and creative thinking by putting cameras into their hands. TWC is committed to teaching film and digital photography to students on the Central Coast of California, regardless of age, disabilities, socioeconomics, demographics, race, or sexual identification.
TWC teaches photography classes to elementary through high school students, supports and organizes the annual Weston Scholarship and exhibition, and offers adult classes, darkroom rental, artist-in-residency programs, art shows, and exhibitions. TWC's educational approach to teaching and exhibiting photography is unique because it combines artistic, documentary, and scientific elements. TWC supports and provides students and adults with access to learning photography, an artistic medium that captures and tells one's stories while simultaneously documenting and capturing connections.
I can’t even begin to describe how emotional it was for me to see the Martin Luther King Jr. School of the Arts 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students' photographs hanging in the Weston Collective Scholarship exhibit! Those students have been a part of a consistent after-school photography program that has given them a community, access to darkroom photography, curriculum, and teachers to guide them in this specialized art medium. It has been so rewarding to watch the program grow to other schools this past year. The Weston Collective’s expansion to reach new students is evidence of their goal to bring the arts to more communities of young people. - Wendi Everett, Visual Art Teacher at Monte Vista Elementary in Monterey and former teacher at Martin Luther King Jr. School of the Arts
- Wendi Everett
