Help Us Support the Next Generation of Rochester Photographers

Explore Rochester (@explorerochester) began over 10 years ago as a community Instagram account — every week, a different person takes over and shares their unique view of Rochester, NY. Since then, over 500 different people have contributed, creating a collective portrait of our city.

Now, as we celebrate our 10-year anniversary with an exhibition at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo), we're also looking toward the future.

We’ve launched the Explore Rochester Community Fund to support the next generation of photographers in Rochester. Our mission is to raise funds to sponsor resources, workshops, and classes for young photographers who may one day become contributors themselves.

We're proud to be partnering with Flower City Arts Center, home to Studio 678 Photo Club, an after-school photography program that has served over 450 middle school students since 1999. Our immediate goal is to help establish a camera library at Flower City Arts Center, so Studio 678 graduates can borrow film cameras and continue developing their skills independently while exploring Rochester themselves.

Photo credit: Schulyer Peck, Studio 678 student

Photo credit: Aleika Ramos, Studio 678 student

Explore Rochester has been an entirely self-funded project since its start. This fund is a way for us to grow our impact — by supporting community programs already doing amazing work and ensuring the continuity of this beloved community-driven project.

During the run of the RoCo exhibition, prints of all 502 featured photographs are available for $40. 75% of proceeds will go toward this fund, and 25% back to RoCo to support the exhibit and future programming. We encourage you to get a print to take home up until the final day of the exhibition, May 10. This online fund is a way for us to continue to raise the funds needed past May 10.

Your donation here will go toward:

Thank you for believing in the power of photography, community, and the future of Rochester.