Waterbury Police Activities League (PAL) and After School Arts Program (ASAP) are offering a free afterschool photography program to 15 Waterbury High School students. The program will take place at Waterbury Arts Magnet School  (WAMS) beginning on October 3 for eight Thursdays -- from 3:15 p.m. until 4: 45 p.m. -- ending on November 21. This program is free for PAL members and you can become a PAL member if you would like to participate. To register, please call Bob Cizauskas at 203-346-3921 or 203-573-5084

ASAP is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing artistic and cultural opportunities for children and adults. They offer more than 100 workshops in the literary, performing, visual, martial, and culinary arts to students pre-K through adult across Northwest CT.

Fifteen members of the PAL Waterbury youth population will use photography as a vehicle for self-discovery. They will be immersed in Dr. King’s speech, learning about the conditions of segregation in the US during the late ‘50s and ‘60s, seeing footage of the Children’s March that took place in Birmingham, as well as discovering other courageous, nonviolent actions people of all ages and races have initiated for human rights throughout history.

Students will grow in their ability to articulate what they dream for themselves and describe through photography and writing their individual and collective dreams of a world where everyone is equal, connected, caring and free. These artistic expressions of civil rights created by the participants will be incorporated into the film to celebrate the relevance King’s dream has to kids’ lives today. The class will also culminate in an exhibition, open to the public, of the students’ writing and photography at the premiere of the film at the Warner Theater on January 10, 2014.