In 1987, FotoFest brought teacher and photographer Wendy Ewald and her innovative photography education project to the Children’s Museum in Houston. Wendy Ewald achieved great success using photography to stimulate children to take pictures and write about their lives and dreams.

In 1990, FotoFest expanded the project to public schools and 1,000 Houston Independent School District children. Teacher and student response was enthusiastic and led to establishing Literacy through Photography as a permanent program. In 1991, FotoFest hired teacher and poet David Brown as full-time education director to create a full-year curriculum that modified the Ewald program.

The year-long LTP program begins with teacher training sessions held each fall. During the year teachers receive feed back and classroom visits from LTP staff, guided tours of FotoFest exhibitions, and the option to receive visiting artists in their classrooms. In May, FotoFest hosts it annual FotoFence, an exhibition of Literacy Through Photography student work, at a major Houston-area venue.

LTP has grown form a pilot project to a full-scale photography and writing literacy program that can be used with many different grade levels and core classroom subjects. The photography lessons in LTP can be used with both film-based and digital equipment. Each photo activity is accompanied by writing exercises keyed to state-mandated language arts requirements. LTP partners include Harris County Department of Education, KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) Schools, Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams), WITS (Writers in the Schools), the Houston Independent School District and surrounding school districts. School districts across Texas and in Colorado, California, Oklahoma, Colorado, North Carolina, and New Mexico have also used LTP. More than 20,000 students have benefited from the Literacy Through Photography program since its introduction in 1990.

As an extension of the Literacy Through Photography program and FotoFest Biennial events, two curricula have been developed to complement past Biennial themes of increasing importance to our communities: Just A Drop was written during the 2004 Water Biennial, and The Earth in conjunction with the 2006 Biennial. During the FOTOFEST2008 Biennial over 800 students toured the FotoFest China exhibitions.