Imagine a photography and filmmaking school where your tutors are Ryan McGinley, Cass Bird, and Jamie Hawkesworth, amongst others. It’s a vision on the fast track to becoming a reality with the announcement of Red Hook Labs’ new programme, a photographic and video education called Red Hook Labs School.

With the inaugural classes kicking off in January 2019, Jimmy Moffat, founder of Red Hook Labs – as well as co-founder of agency giant Art + Commerce – states that he’s keen to close “the gap between (an) artist’s academic and professional life”. Alongside the newly appointed director of education for Red Hook Labs School, Stephen Frailey – who, for two decades, until recently, was the Chair of Photography at The School of Visual Arts – each bring more than 30 years of experience to the programme. Combine this with access to luminaries who are actively working – most daily – within the industries that these students are wishing to break, Moffat believes he can offer students a huge head start. The goal, he adds, is to ensure people are equipped to enter the industry, not just learn about it.

He observes, “In a world today where access to success is still systematically denied to so many, Labs is committed to connecting those the furthest from the top of the pyramid and every step of the way to those at the pinnacle of achievement.”

“Labs is committed to connecting those the furthest from the top of the pyramid and every step of the way to those at the pinnacle of achievement” – Jimmy Moffat

Amongst the curriculum – split into individual courses – are master workshops with leading image-makers such as McGinley, Bird, and Hawkesworth, and monthly portfolio reviews with key figures from Aperture, ICP, Time, and Conde Nast, as well as Moffatt himself. Monthly conversations with young artists such as Molly Matalon and Caroline Tompkins which will touch on contemporary issues such as representation will also take place. A week-long residency programme aimed at immersing photographers into the professional community by offering presentations from gallerists, creative directors, curators, and critics. Red Hook Labs School will also host a short film festival for budding movie-makers, and to round out the year will launch a year-long advanced fashion photography programme.

And it’s not just catering to creatives wishing to be photographers and filmmakers, but those working in lighting, styling, hair and make up, as well as creative direction.

Red Hook Labs is a public-benefit programme, and all the proceeds from Red Hook Labs School will feed back into the Red Hook Labs Education and Jobs Initiative 501 (c) 3. This ensures Red Hook Labs is able to teach photography classes to public schools and community centres in Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and London, as well as offering advanced education, skills training, and internships to teens and young adults in those same communities.

Find out more about each class, as well as costs and how to apply, here