FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toronto Photographers Andrea Rees and Ken Schultz Collaborate to Support Mobile Photography Initiative in South Africa.
Toronto, ON Toronto photographers Andrea Rees of Andrea Rees Photography and Ken Schultz of Ken Schultz Photography are collaborating to offer Limited Edition Portrait Sessions in support of The heART of a Woman Project (THOAW). The campaign is called ‘Portraits For A Cause’ and a portion of the session fee will go to THOAW. Sessions can be scheduled for in studio at the West Toronto studio location and there are a number of outdoor fall sessions appointments with Ken available. Sessions that take place by November 10th will be in time for Christmas and the holiday season. Please see The heART of a Woman Project website or the respective photographer’s websites for further information. www.andrearees.com/blog and www.kenschultzphotography.com
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The heART of a Woman Project (THOAW) is an initiative conceptualized by Toronto based professional photographer of 10 years, Andrea Rees. THOAW is a project which enables the up skilling of unemployed women and mothers living in tough conditions in one of South Africa’s poorest townships, Khayelitsha. In December 2012, Andrea visited eKhaya eKasi, an art and education centre just outside Cape Town and was struck by the difficulty of life for woman living in the townships and faced with the reality of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, high unemployment, domestic abuse, alcoholism and a high incidence of displaced families and orphans. Andrea was inspired by the model of education and empowerment through the arts and came up with an idea to help using mobile technology and photography.
With more than 80% of people in this township being impacted by poverty, living on a few dollars a day and not knowing where their next meal is coming from, initiatives of this nature are increasingly important.
Project #heARTSouthAfrica – at eKhaya eKasi, November 15 – November 29, 2013.
Andrea will host a workshop for up to 10 participants. The participants will learn how to use a mobile device, the fundamentals of photography, the lifecycle of an image from creation, to selection, to editing and preparing the image for print as a photographic art product as well as social media with Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to support their small business. Education in mobile photography will empower and generate an income and small business through the sales of their photographic art products. The goal of the workshop is for each participant to have 200 limited edition postcards available for sale in the on-site art boutique at eKhaya eKasi, distributed elsewhere in Fair Trade and Tourism in South Africa as well as a variety of ways online and around the world through events.
STAKEHOLDERS
The project is in collaboration with ArtAidsArt (www.artaidsart.org), a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization in California promoting education and sustainable economic development through the arts and founders of eKhaya eKasi. eKhaya eKasi (www.capetownshiptour.com) is an art and education centre that works to benefit the community in Khayelitsha through a diverse range of programs and supports over 400 people. Working in partnership with local mothers, the Women’s Skills Development Programme trains unemployed mothers to operate self-sufficient small businesses.
THOAW is accepting financial donations through their IndieGoGo campaign, directly through the website, used iPhone 3gs/4/4s/5 donations and corporate sponsorship.
For further details, please visit www.heartofawomanproject.com. For sponsorship, donations or interviews, please contact Andrea connect@heartofawomanproject.com.
For session information, please visit PortraitsForACause on the Andrea Rees Photography Blog