About VII Academy

VII Academy’s mission is to provide tuition-free courses in visual journalism to practitioners in the Majority World and underrepresented communities in G20 countries. It aims to democratize the information narrative and give communities where media education is poorly resourced the tools to narrate their own stories.

As the educational wing of The VII Foundation, VII Academy promotes, teaches, and fosters high-quality journalism. We provide real-world, tuition-free training and practice as a new generation of journalists and visual practitioners build a contemporary global media environment.

VII Academy is the educational 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.

Today, VII Academy teaches online and in person at our campuses located in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Arles, France (The Alexandra Boulat Campus). Through our own teaching and by providing scholarships, on-campus seminars, and vocational workshops, VII Academy creates a valuable mentorship network between seasoned veterans and talented young visual journalists.

VII Academy core courses are 12-week seminars taught in multiple languages and offer advanced and unique visual education initiatives designed to diversify visual media education. Participants begin with the Level 1 course in photography before progressing to other levels.

You can learn more about VII Academy programming by visiting our Courses page.