Programs
Point of View
PLI’s flagship program, is a three-tiered exploratory course that engages South Dallas youth, aged 10 to 17, in writing, art, and digital media exercise. These exercises aim to empower young people as they explore and express thoughts and feelings about themselves, their community, and their world. The 12 week school-based curriculum includes: writing exercises to promote effective literary composition building; peer collaborations and discussions of media influence with the goal of developing story concepts and interpersonal skill building; photographic journeys and interview segments within school campus and surrounding communities; interviewing and bonding exercises with family members; exercises in audio-visual recording, editing, and scoring; discussions of community resources, assets, and blights; and the production of film shorts on a number of social, political, and historical topics. The literary exercises, photographic excursions, and digital recordings culminate into a collective sharing of work in a multimedia exhibition entitled Through the Eyes of Our Children.
In 2004, Preservation LINK, Inc. partnered with Don and Ellen Williams (The Foundation for Community Empowerment) and Area 2 – Dallas Independent School District to bring Point of View to children at Joseph J. Rhoads, Charles Rice, H.S. Thompson, and Pearl C. Anderson Learning Centers, as well as Lincoln Humanities/Communications Magnet. Preservation LINK, Inc. has taken its Point of View photojournalism program from a seven-week program serving approximately 30 students to a twelve-week curriculum-serving 90+ students (ages 10-17 years old). The agency has since added After School All Stars (Miracles) and University of Texas-Dallas to their list of partners. Over the last three years, Preservation LINK, Inc. has served over 650 students and parents through art and art appreciation initiatives and/or programs.
The students involved in Point of View have created an expansive collection of multimedia work documenting various community assets in the South Dallas/Fair Park area that culminated in an exhibition entitled Through the Eyes of Our Children. In the spring of 2006, this exhibition, Through the Eyes of Children – Something Beautiful, opened at the Dallas Museum of Art with over 100 black and white photographs and has traveled to the Meyerson Center and the African American Museum in Fair Park.
Through the Eyes of Children – Something Beautiful will begin its 2007 exhibit tour on May 8, 2007 at the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA). The exhibit is comprised of black and white photographic images captured by the Dallas Independent School District’s (DISD) Area 2 photojournalism students, as part of the Point of View photojournalism program. In it’s fourth year, Through the Eyes of Children will not only be displayed on exhibit at the DMA, but now through a book, the general public will have access to a collection of some of the most touching pieces created since the program’s 2003/04 inception.