Photography Teaching Artist & Mentor

Call for Artists: Photography Teaching Artist & Mentor

Juthoor: Roots Growing Voices, An Al-Bustan After School Program

About the Program

Juthoor: Roots Growing Voices is a new after-school program for high school students rooted in the belief that place is a teacher. Named for the Arabic word for “roots,” Juthoor is part of Al-Bustan (“the garden”) and is built on the idea that young people grow strongest when they understand what they’re rooted in: land, lineage, language, and community. We are looking for a photographer whose practice is grounded in land, ecology, and the environments we inhabit to help us build a space where young people can slow down, observe closely, and make work in conversation with the world around them.

This is not a photography class about technique for its own sake. It’s a practice of paying attention: to soil, weather, water, migration, growth, decay, and the ways a place holds memory and community. We want a teaching artist who can guide students to see their own neighborhoods, ecosystems, and inherited landscapes through a lens, as material, subject, and collaborator.

Who We’re Looking For

We’re seeking a photographer whose work is shaped by:

A sustained relationship to environment, land, or place

Attention to seasonal, ecological, or geological time

Site-responsive or site-specific methods

A visual language attentive to light, landscape, and the built or natural environment

Cultural, ancestral, or personal ties to land and belonging

Artists should also be familiar with contemporary art and culture from the Arab world, including its movements, artists, and ongoing conversations, and able to bring that context into the room as a living reference point for students, not a historical footnote.

Experience working with teenagers is valued but not required. What matters most is curiosity, patience, and a genuine desire to mentor, to let students find their own questions rather than handing them answers.

Culminating Event

At the close of the academic year, Juthoor students will present a final performance and exhibition at each school, created in collaboration with three other artist mentors working in different disciplines. This teaching artist will help shape how students’ photographic work developed over the year comes together with movement, sound, writing, or performance from the other mentors’ practices into a single shared showing for family, faculty, and community.

Responsibilities

Co-design and lead a sequence of after-school sessions that introduce students to place-based and environmentally engaged photography

Teach foundational and intermediate photo technique: exposure (aperture, shutter speed, ISO), composition, light, and focus

Teach students to operate digital DSLR cameras, including manual and semi-manual modes, lens selection, and basic care and handling of equipment

Introduce basic post-production workflow (importing, culling, light editing) using accessible software

Bring your own practice into the room: students should see how you think, observe, shoot, and edit

Take students outdoors when possible; treat the surrounding neighborhood, park, garden, or waterway as a working studio

Mentor students individually as they develop their own photographic voice and relationship to place

Collaborate with the three other artist mentors (across disciplines) to plan and stage a culminating performance/exhibition at each school at the close of the academic year

Support students in producing and printing/presenting work for that culminating showing

Collaborate with program staff on curriculum, logistics, and student support

Maintain a safe, welcoming, and low-pressure creative environment

Qualifications

Demonstrated photography practice centered on environment, ecology, land, or place (please share a portfolio or documentation)

Strong working knowledge of DSLR cameras and willingness to teach technical fundamentals to beginners

Familiarity with contemporary Arab world art and culture

Comfort working with high school–aged students (14–18)

Willingness to teach both indoor and outdoor sessions

Alignment with Juthoor’s values: curiosity, care for land and community, and art as a form of attention

Equipment

Program will provide a set of DSLR cameras and ipads for student use. 

Details

Deadline to apply: October 2, 2026

Program dates: January 4, 2027 – April 15, 2027 (teaching lessons); May 24, 2027 – June 6, 2027 (exhibition production/ presentation)

Location: On-site at partner schools, Philadelphia, PA

Time commitment: 22 sessions plus exhibition / performance prep and presentation at two schools

How to Apply

Please send the following to education@albustanseeds.org:

A short letter (1 page or less) describing your practice and why this program interests you

Portfolio or work samples (link or PDF, 8–12 images or equivalent)

Relevant teaching, mentorship, or community experience (a resume or a few sentences is fine)

Any thoughts on what a “place-based” photography session might look like for teenagers in Philadelphia

We especially welcome applicants who are local to Philadelphia and/or hold cultural or ancestral ties to the land where the program takes place, as well as artists with roots in or deep connection to the Arab world.

Questions? Reach out to Education Manager, Ahmad Al-Sholi, ahmad@albustanseeds.org

Juthoor: Roots Growing Voices is committed to building a program that reflects the diversity of the community it serves. Artists of all backgrounds and experience levels are encouraged to apply.