Descriptions en français

About

At NOOR, we strongly believe that visual storytelling is a powerful medium that can bring awareness to underrepresented stories and human experiences. We believe that everyone, regardless of background, should have the opportunity to tell the stories that matter to them.

Are you a visual storyteller eager to learn about ethical representation and looking for a way to use your skills to tell stories of people in a meaningful way?

In partnership with the Chocolonely Foundation, we are organising an extensive educational programme in West Africa to develop and produce stories around the cocoa communities in Ivory Coast.

This initiative will bring together the talent of regional visual storytellers, the knowledge of community facilitators, the NOOR mentoring expertise and the underrepresented voices of the workers of the cocoa communities in Ivory Coast.

By focusing on these stories and creating a wide-reaching platform for local talent, we aim to contribute to a shift in the power balance towards equality within the cocoa supply chain.

This educational programme offers a tuition-free 8 month training tract consisting of an in-person workshop in Ivory Coast and continued with an online mentoring phase. The programme is mentored by a group of photographers and industry experts from the NOOR team and the West African region.

Through this programme, we aim to elevate your visual storytelling skills and facilitate your journalistic, investigative and visual expertise over the photographic medium. In addition, you will have the chance to network with other like-minded visual storytellers and become part of NOOR’s international professional network.

About the Workshop

The workshop is divided in three phases:

Phase 1: Online kick-off session(s), remote

During the month of March 2023, the selected participants and the mentoring team will gather remotely in a (series of) kick-off session(s) aimed at setting up expectations, sharing bodies of work and establishing a personal connection ahead of the in-person workshop in Ivory Coast.

Phase 2: 7 day workshop in Hermankono-Diès, Ivory Coast

The physical workshop will take place in and around the city of Divo from March 31st to April 7th, 2023 and the stories will be shot in Socoopacdi agricultural cooperative.

During the physical workshop, you will focus on the development of a visual narrative story in tight cooperation with the cocoa communities. 

You will learn theoretical and technical skills, gain knowledge on how to structure work and how to implement it on the ground with limited time. You will be guided and supported through the whole process by the mentors who will facilitate your access, the approach to the subjects, guide you in finding the narrative of your stories and the visual impact that your images can achieve.

Phase 3: 5 month online mentoring programme, remote

After the completion of the 7-day workshop, you will participate in a five month mentoring program online to further develop your work, expand your knowledge and tighten relationships in what we hope might form a new community. Through regular online meetings with your mentor, you will finalise and improve the edit and curatorial process of your stories. You will also gain access to online lectures from leading experts of photography with a varied mix of backgrounds on thematics and subjects such as curating, editing, visual anthropology, archiving or grant writing.

More details

• The application and the workshop are free of charge. Travel expenses, accommodation and a daily stipend for food are also included.
• The participant photographers are expected to bring their own gear.
• All participants are expected to arrive/land in Abidjan two days before the workshop starts (no later than March 30th) and book their departure flight or trip at least one day after the workshop ends (not earlier than April 8th).
• Local transport from/to Abidjan and accommodation ahead and during the workshop will be arranged for the group.
• The workshop will be taught in French.

What will the selected participants receive

• Tuition for the 7 day workshop and the mentoring online free of charge
• Accommodation from arrival to departure (all participants are expected to arrive/land in Abidjan two days before the workshop starts and book their departure flight or trip at least one day after the workshop ends),
• Daily stipend for food
• All travel expenses from/to Abidjan will be covered, and transport from/to Abidjan from/to the cooperative will be arranged daily for the group.

About the organization

We are a global, multilingual collective of highly accomplished journalists, authors, photographers, artists and filmmakers documenting, investigating and witnessing our world. We approach our work with integrity, passion, and respect. We believe stories have an impact and inspire action. We believe in the power of still and moving images.

NOOR, which takes its name from the Arabic word for light, launched in 2007 as a platform for its members to take financial control over their work and leverage the power of a group in a changing media landscape. Since then we have become industry leaders, producing images for large media companies and small startups, institutional clients and non-profits. We also teach, host workshops and public programs around photography, media literacy and representation.

And while the content of our work is broad, it's unified in our desire to connect the dots around critical issues such as the climate crisis, over consumption, forced migration, the rise of authoritarianism, the injustices of patriarchy and the power of art and music to keep us human.

How to Enter

Applicants are required to be fluent in French to be able to communicate and discuss his/her/their project as the workshop will take place in French.

All submission materials need to be in French. Applications in other languages will not be considered.

All workshops are tuition-free for the participants, and open for all emerging visual storytellers from/living in the following countries:

Judging Criteria

Applicants are encouraged to include this work and indicate what they want to explore in relation to the work in their application portfolio and motivation statement. Your portfolio should reflect stories that you are currently working on as a personal project and want to push further with the workshop. We’re looking for powerful stories. Applicants should be ready and willing to push their project forward.