We wanted to send a message out and let the people on Lighstalkers know about the upcoming application deadline for the 2007 American Diversity Project, which is January 1. In 2007 we will have a project staff of about 11 people, who will be working with the shooters to produce and publish multimedia pieces and oral histories of the Mississippi Delta. The addition of the multimedia staff is something we are excited about as the multimedia we were able to include with last year’s project was more of something some of the individual photographer’s choose to do on their own and we were glad to add it to the project. Though we are excited about the inclusion of more developed and structured multimedia, the American Diversity Project is still very focused on the still image.

There is a more formal description of the project below, and if anyone has any questions or feedback we would be glad to hear from you.

Jim and Carla Winn

producer@adpworkshop.org

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The American Diversity Project will take place over the week of May 13 – 19, 2007 and will focus on the Mississippi Delta. The project incorporates visual, audible, and written documentation of the specific town. The town chosen for 2007 is Clarksdale, Ms., located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta.

It is the second year for this long-term documentary project that was founded in 2006 by Western Kentucky University graduates Jim and Carla Winn. The goal of the project is to produce a week-long documentary on one of the small-towns scattered throughout the country, through the collaborative efforts of 10 to 12 photographers. The goal of the project is to move toward long term documentation, and for that reason the American Diversity Project is offering a 4 to 6 week paid internship to one of the 2007 photographers to continue stories begun during the project’s first week. In following years the internship will grow to be year long.

The staff for the 2007 project includes Patrick Yen as multimedia staff director. David Perini of the Jasper, In., Herald will work with the Project to edit the photographers stories, and will continue to work the photographer chosen for the 2007 internship. Lynette Kalsnes of Chicago NPR will be on staff in 2007 to record and assist in the development of oral history and audio production.

In 2007 the American Diversity Project will be accepting applications from both student photographers and established professionals. The deadline for the application this year is January 1 and is available online at http://www.adpworkshop.org/contact/ .

More information and work from last years project is available at :www.adpworkshop.org

For questions please feel free to email Jim and Carla Winn at: producer@adpworkshop.org.