Brooks Photographers Team With Adoption Organizations To Raise Awareness
SANTA BARBARA, CA (October 3, 2007) – A forum addressing the needs and challenges of the adoptive and foster care system in Santa Barbara County has been added to opening night of a professional photography exhibit showing youngsters and adoptive families.
The Heart Gallery show is sponsored by Brooks Institute and Santa Barbara County Child Welfare Services at the Brooks Cota Street campus in downtown Santa Barbara.
The forum will be held on the show’s opening night, Thursday, November 1. The public is invited to both events at the Brooks Institute Cota Street Gallery, 27 E. Cota Street in downtown Santa Barbara. The opening celebration is from 5 to 8 p.m. The forum will be from 6 to 7 p.m. in classroom C-1.
During the forum Anne Rodriguez of Child Welfare Services will outline the challenges faced in Santa Barbara County and will review how the public can help resolve the problem, Brooks photography instructor Jim McNay says. Also, two local juvenile court judges will address the topic from their perspective.
McNay says that the photography exhibit will show foster and adoptive youngsters in a presentation designed to help lift the stigma surrounding these children, and that viewers can see the individuality and special beauty of each child and the people who care for them. Currently there are more than 900 children in Santa Barbara County’s foster care system. Many of the children pictured are among those available for adoption or fostering through Santa Barbara County Child and Welfare Services.
McNay was president of the National Press Photographers Association in 1996.
Brooks Institute alumni and faculty members donated their time to shoot and edit pictures of nearly 40 children and 12 families, McNay said. Venues for the picture sessions included the Sunken Garden at the Santa Barbara Courthouse and Butterfly Beach.
The Heart Gallery title refers to photography shows of children from local communities held around the country. The project started in a New Mexico social services agency and has grown to include similar projects in 40 states. Many states have held multiple shows each year.
This first Heart Gallery display in Santa Barbara will have the pictures on display from October 15 through November 21. The November 1 opening coincides with the start of National Adoption Month and is part of the monthly “1st Thursday” series of open gallery tours in downtown Santa Barbara.
Much of Heart Gallery’s support is derived from donations and volunteer efforts. Printroom.com, an on-line photography lab, donated considerable funds to print the final gallery images. Other local organizations such as A Capella Restaurant will donate food and wine for the event and Derroy, an international award winning guitarist and adoptee himself, will offer a special performance.
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