Phoenix Rising Alternative School (PRAS) is a partnership between the Tulsa County Family Center for Juvenile Justice and Tulsa Public Schools with additional support from the Phoenix Rising Alternative School Foundation. PRAS serves students in Tulsa County, grades 9–12, who are involved with, or are at high risk for, involvement with the juvenile justice system. Typically, Phoenix Rising students have not experienced success in traditional public school settings due to factors such as parental incarceration, unstable housing, unaddressed trauma, bullying, and parenting their own children. PRAS provides additional supports through innovative curriculum, targeted case management and mental health interventions to ensure every student has an equitable opportunity to graduate high school.
The photos in this exhibition were taken during a five-week Cell Phone Photography Class: Expressing Your Voice Through Photography. Local Photographer, Anitra Lavanhar, taught this class as part of ahha’s Artists in the Schools program. In this class students learned photographic composition skills, explored the work of other photographers, had visits from guest artists, and practiced their photography skills via numerous field trips to an old warehouse, downtown Tulsa, and local museums and galleries.
All work is available for sale to benefit both ahha Tulsa programs and Phoenix Rising student artists.
