Young people are growing up in a world of images they were never taught to question.
The World Economic Forum named misinformation the number one global risk two years in a row. This is not an arts problem. It is a literacy crisis.
Source: Pew Research 2024, Common Sense Media 2024, WEF Global Risks Report 2025.
"If you don't tell your story, someone else will — and they'll probably get it wrong."
We believe every young person has a story worth telling.
We believe visual literacy is no longer optional.
We believe underrepresented communities must tell their own stories before someone else misrepresents them.
Four Sessions. One Complete Story.
Each session builds on the last — from observation to creation to exhibition to archive.
What makes a photo meaningful — not just accurate?
- Camera basics: ISO, framing, light
- Rule of thirds and composition
- Photo walk: 3–5 intentional images
How do the places we live shape who we are?
- Ethical photography, consent, respect
- Documenting community with intention
- Photograph a place of safety: home and community
How can one photograph represent a person's story?
- Portrait basics: light, angles, framing
- Capturing emotion and authenticity
- Photographing people with dignity and respect
How do we choose and share our stories with others?
- Select 3–5 final images that tell a story
- Write a short artist statement
- Peer curation lab: sequence and present
You don't need a workshop to start. You just need a camera and something to say.
Every month, Youth Lens drops a new creative prompt. Students anywhere in the world can submit a photo. The best stories get featured, certified, and archived.
A new prompt is coming soon.
Check back at the start of the month for the next drop.
What you get for participating
The strongest submissions each month get featured on our Instagram and social media channels with your pseudonym and story. Your photo reaches thousands of people outside this platform.
Every student who submits to a monthly challenge receives a personalized digital certificate they can download, share, and add to a portfolio or college application.
Selected submissions appear on the Youth Lens homepage as featured stories and are added to the permanent digital exhibition wall — a real public gallery seen by schools, partners, and funders globally.
Every challenge entry earns 75 Lens Points and unlocks the Challenge Contributor badge. Consistent monthly submissions earn the Streak Keeper badge and move you up the level system from Storyteller toward Exhibitor.
How to participate
Pick up any camera — your phone is perfect.
Read the monthly prompt and shoot something true to you.
Submit your photo with a title, caption, and reflection. That's it.
The workshop is the engine. The archive is the product.
Four sessions teach young people to see, document, and share.
Every photo and reflection feeds a permanent global archive.
Selected work appears in public exhibitions with the artist's name.
The archive becomes a living library of youth perspectives.
Young people reclaim how their communities are seen.
Every session generates photographs, captions, and reflections that feed into a permanent global archive of youth perspectives.
Nearly half of U.S. teens are online almost constantly. AI is reshaping what looks real. Most young people have never been taught to question a single image.
Communities of color and under-resourced neighborhoods are chronically underrepresented in mainstream visual culture. If young people do not document their own communities, someone else will.
Adolescence is the peak stage of identity formation. Arts programs are one of the primary structured spaces where that development happens. When funding cuts eliminate these programs, something genuinely important is lost.
In a world where young people are surrounded by AI-generated images and visual misinformation, Youth Lens teaches them how to question what they see — and tell their own stories before someone else tells those stories for them.
Submit Your First PhotoReady to pick up a camera?
The next cohort is forming now. Participate through your school, library, or community partner — or join the global monthly challenge from anywhere.
REGISTER FOR A WORKSHOP
Your story belongs in the archive.
The Youth Lens workshop is free. It runs through schools, libraries, and community partners. Fill out this form and we will connect you with a cohort near you — or help you start one.
Free to participate. Four sessions. Real cameras. Real exhibition.
"When my photo was in the exhibition, I felt like my community finally got seen for real."
— Amara L., Grade 8, Philadelphia