Future Voices
Congratulations to all of the 2025 Future Voices Festival film & photography winners!
Teachers, REGISTER NOW for information on how your students can participate in the 2025-26 school year.
Lensic Future Voices encourages students ages 12–18 across New Mexico to tell their stories through original photographs and short films. In partnership with Santa Fe Workshops, Future Voices provides high school and middle school students with the support they need to create high-quality projects that are judged in monthly contests and a year-end competition, all with cash prizes. In-class or virtual workshops, led by filmmaking and photography experts, are also available.
Questions? Email Marcella Ernest, program manager, at FutureVoices@lensic.org
Future Voices Annual Film & Photography Festival
The annual festival showcases three-minute films and original photographs created by students, for students, with cash prizes for winning entries.
Monthly Film & Photo Contests
Through our monthly contest for student filmmakers and photographers, students are invited to submit short videos and original photographs. Winners are selected by a panel of professional judges and receive a monetary award.
Monthly Contest Submission Deadlines
The 15th of each month, October through March
Photo by Samantha Trujillo (New Mexico School for the Arts, Santa Fe)
Basic Guidelines
Film
Categories: Animation, Comedy, Documentary, Experimental, Narrative.
Submissions: Films must be less than three minutes long, including credits.
Photo
Categories: Animals, Architecture, Color, Black & White, Humorous, Manipulated, Most original, Portrait, Street.
Submissions: Images may be color or black & white. Limit: two photo entries per student.
Classroom Support: Film & Photo Workshops
Future Voices offers an array of workshop modules, led by professional filmmakers and photographers, to enhance classroom curriculum and support production of students’ three-minute films and photographs. These workshops are available upon request.
Our Team
Marcella Ernest is a video artist and scholar of contemporary Native art. She earned a PhD in American Studies from the University of New Mexico, where she is a scholar in the Department of Art History. Marcella has been working with and mentoring young people in film and photography for more than 20 years, ten of them in the Future Voices program. She considers it an honor to be in community with New Mexico film and photography students and teachers.
Reid Callanan is founder and director of the Santa Fe Workshops, which for more than 30 years has offered photography and writing workshops to the international imaging community. In addition to workshops in Santa Fe, there are also educational programs in Havana, Cuba, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Reid volunteers his photography and teaching talents to help judge photo submissions and provide instruction to Future Voices students.
Winning Films & Photos
Future Voices 2025
Photo by Ethan Quintana de Andrés (Santa Fe Prep) / Second Place, Black and White Category
Future Voices 2024
Still from “Colors of a Memory” by Hayden Moody (Public Academy for Performing Arts) / First Place, Experimental Category, 2024
Future Voices 2023
Photo by Izaak Buetens (Santa Fe Prep) / Second Place, Manipulated Category, 2023
Future Voices 2022
Photo by Nico Spangenburg (Mandela International Magnet School, Santa Fe) / First Place, Street Category, 2022
Future Voices 2021
Still from “A Silent Dream’s Journey,” by Lucas Griego (Public Academy for Performing Arts, Albuquerque) / First Place, Animation Category, 2021
Support Future Voices
Lensic Future Voices, like all of the Lensic’s performing arts education programs, is funded by contributions from the community. Your tax-deductible donation to support Lensic education programs encourages a new generation of creativity and self-expression!