MEET THE FOUNDERS

Douglas Herman and Sonia Nandzik met along the Serbian-Hungarian border in 2016.
He was working as a journalist following the path refugees were taking through The Balkans,
and she was part of a network of humanitarians providing live-saving aid for those stuck at the border.

Together they went back to LesVos in 2017 in response to the influx of refugees on the Greek islands. What they found
was a total lack of educational opportunities for people stuck in the camps waiting for asylum, some for up to four years.

immediately they started a pilot photography workshop at One Happy Family Community Center,
and Based off early successes they formed a foundation, opening the first real Media school on the island.

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

In 2018 we established The first ReFOCUS Media Lab on Lesvos because the island continued to host over 20,000 asylum seekers with more arriving every day.
six years later the exact same inaction and lack of problem solving from EU governments continue to impact new arrivals

our community is DEDICATED TO PROVIDING refugees with A PLATFORM to tell their stories,
and ensure they can develop marketable skills, pursue real careers and the futures they desire.

BUT our work is ALSO ABOUT DESPERATELY NEEDED PSYCHO-SOCIAL SUPPORT, CULTURAL EXCHANGE, GENDER EQUALITY, EDUCATION AND INTEGRATION.
EVERY SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITY THROUGHOUT HISTORY ENSURES THESE FLOURISH, AND SO DO WE.

WHERE PASSION MEETS PURPOSE: OUR EVOLUTION

Since STARTING REFOCUS, WE HAVE grOwN significantly.

OUR Core mission has always been to help OUR STUDENTS develop skills, portfolios, producE original
content, GAIN THE EXPERIENCE, AND the CONFIDENCE NECESSARY TO PURSUE CAREERS.

exhibiting their photography, films and producing feature-length
professional documentaries continue to serve as proof of mission,

our original feature FILMS, documentaries, music videos, MULTIMEDIA EXHIBITIONs have been presented at international film festivals,
conferences and events in Greece, germany, Poland, THE NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM, denmark, australia, and the united states.

2022 was a year of expansion and even bigger plans to fully develop our international network of media creation Labs.
we’re proud to declare new labs in Athens and KraKow are in full action, and we’re eager to add a new lab in Berlin in 2024.

Once an all-volunteer organization, now we’re providing living wages for graduates of our program,
financing new media projects, and activating new communities of international creators.

GLOBAL IMPACT: OUR MEDIA LABS

LESVOS

we opened our first lab in lesvos, greece in 2018 in the one happy family ( parea) community center
our program continues to provide new students with classes in photography, filmmaking and journalism.

Since the beginning refocus has welcomed many international volunteers
and media professionals as guest teachers to lead workshops.

ATHENS

In 2022 we finally realized a dream by establishing a second lab in Athens, which helped us expand
our network and meet a long-standing demand from the mainland community.

located in central athens close to victoria square, our lab is filled with students and artists from around the world
teaching and learning photography, graphic design, video production, podcasting, and producing new films.

Athens lab is equipped with photo studios, cinematography tools, video editing suites, pro audio tools, and a podcasting studio

KRAKOW

The Russian invasion in Ukraine created a powerful response within Polish society,
and Refocus Media Labs responded immediately to support ukrainian refugees

our kraków lab offers classes in photography, graphic design, scriptwriting, and cinematography.
we employ displaced ukrainian media artists who lead other Ukrainian refugees through immersive media training.


photography, design, and films by our ukrainian artists has been exhibited internationally