About the VII Academy

We will soon be announc­ing a com­pre­hen­sive series of pro­grams at the VII Academy. The strat­e­gy of the VII Academy is to pro­mote, teach, and fos­ter high-quality inter­na­tion­al jour­nal­ism in the major­i­ty world and under­rep­re­sent­ed com­mu­ni­ties in G20 coun­tries.

We do this by pro­vid­ing tuition-free edu­ca­tion to emerg­ing pro­fes­sion­als and stu­dents from these com­mu­ni­ties in media prac­tice, visu­al jour­nal­ism, nar­ra­tive, ethics, busi­ness, and entre­pre­neur­ship, there­by enabling in the long term a cul­ture where­by the infor­ma­tion nar­ra­tive is democ­ra­tized.

The VII Academy is the edu­ca­tion branch of the VII Foundation, and is fund­ed by Jennifer Stengaard Gross and Peter Stengaard of Blue Chip Foundation and The William, Jeff, and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation. The VII Foundation is an inde­pen­dent, char­i­ta­ble media and edu­ca­tion non-profit orga­ni­za­tion. It was found­ed by Ron Haviv and Gary Knight in 2001 when they rec­og­nized that media fund­ing for long term projects was dimin­ish­ing. In order to con­tin­ue to pro­duce work that addressed com­plex social, eco­nom­ic and human rights issues they start­ed the VII Foundation as an inde­pen­dent non-profit struc­ture to secure sup­port for con­tin­u­ing doc­u­men­tary prac­tice and edu­ca­tion.

With cam­pus­es in two strate­gic loca­tions, the VII Academy offers the high­est stan­dard of edu­ca­tion in pho­tog­ra­phy, jour­nal­ism ethics, busi­ness prac­tice, and real-world train­ing. Through schol­ar­ships to estab­lished pro­grams, on-campus sem­i­nars and work­shops, and events like 2019’s “VII in Sarajevo: Festival of the Image,” the VII Academy is cre­at­ing a valu­able men­tor­ship net­work between sea­soned vet­er­ans and tal­ent­ed and com­mit­ted young pho­tog­ra­phers.

Directors

Gary-Knight-Headshot-Credit-Alize_2

Gary Knight

Director

Ron-Haviv-Headshot

Ron Haviv

Director

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Andrew Turner

COO

Staff

Yonola_Viguerie_VII_Academy01

Yonola Viguerie

Curator, Boulat Campus, Arles, France

Hasnija

Hasnija Zulic

Manager of Operations, Sarajevo Campus, Bosnia and Herzegovina

LejnaCelebicic

Lejna Čelebčić

Program Coordinator, Sarajevo Campus, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Board of Trustees

École Éphémère

Jennifer Gross, Gary Knight, Ron Haviv, Andrew Reid

Sarajevo Campus

Jennifer Gross, Gary Knight, Ron Haviv, Andrew Reid, Atka Reid

Boulat Campus in Arles

Jennifer Gross, Gary Knight, Ron Haviv, Andrew Reid, Annie Boulat

Partners

U.S. Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina

London College of Communication, University of the Arts London