Photojournalist and photographic artist, 1975 – present. Photojournalism photography published in national media and local media, Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union Tribune, San Jose Mercury News, among others (see below). Fine art photography shown nationally and locally, including Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, Ansel Adams Gallery, the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. (see below).

Founder and CEO, Hopscotch Productions & Art for Social Concern. Social action video production company. 1996 – present

Faculty, part-time, Institute for Community Service Learning, California State University Monterey Bay, Sept. 1996 – 1998. Visual Arts Consultant 1999 – present.

Visual Arts Consultant and Lecturer, Institutes for Human Communication and Earth Sciences, California State University Monterey Bay, 1997-present

Co-Director and Videographer, "Weaving a Vision: Two Artists For Social Change," Stanford University, Multi-Media/Video Department, 1994

Director of Photography Department, KPBS Television and Radio Stations, San Diego, CA. l979-l989 Produced still photography for national and local television productions, magazines, and newspapers.

III. SOCIAL ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY PUBLISHED IN PRESS & MEDIA, 1978 – 2003:

Newspapers:
Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union/Tribune Newspapers, Sacramento Bee, San Jose Mercury News, Nashville Banner, Monterey Herald, Coast Weekly, Olympian, Agrarian Advocate: California Action Network, among others.

Magazines & Journals:
Rutgers University Journal, Pan American Pesticide Journal, PBS’s On Air Magazine, California Physicians Magazine, Photo Review, TV Guide.

Television :
KPBS TV, San Diego, CA: Documentary photographs on cultural, political and ethical issues involving Tijuana, Mexico and the San Diego; United States border issues on sewage and business; bilingual education controversy; drug/alcohol use and its effects on pregnancy; twenty-five years of the U.S. presidential chiefs of staff; coverage of African-Americans pushed out of agriculture by corporate farming; and homelessness.

NBC and HBO, 1994: President Clinton’s “Health Care: Town Hall Meeting,” broadcast from Sacramento, CA. Social action photographs witnessing need for health care reform used as 10-foot backdrop behind President Clinton’s talk on NBC’s statewide broadcast. Broadcast nationally by HBO with interactive participation of audience and at-home viewers.

HBO, “Comic Relief,” 1985. Social action photos about homeless people in Los Angeles. Photos published in books for actors and participators, and televised for promotion. Enlarged photos used in performance halls in fund-raiser for L.A. homeless.

IV. BOOKS PUBLISHED, SOCIAL ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY:

When the Bough Breaks: Pregnancy and the Legacy of Addiction, Corvallis, Oregon; NewSage
Press, 1993

Struggle To Be Borne, San Diego, CA: State University Press, l988

Home Street Home, Los Angeles, CA: HBO/Comic Relief, 1984. National Red Cross, Washington, DC. l986V.

PHOTOGRAPHS PUBLISHED in Collaborative Photography Books:

“ Pobrecita,” photograph witnessing lack of access to prenatal care. In Pregnant Pictures:
     A History of Images of Pregnancy, Yale University Press, 2001.

Calyx, A Journal of Art and Literature by Women, Corvallis, Oregon, l990

Pacific Review, Art & Poetry, San Diego State University Press, l988

Homeless, by Cheryl Gorder, Blue Bird Publishing, and Tempe, AZ l988

The California Dream, The California Nightmare," 5.2 Million People With No Health Insurance."

Health Access, San Francisco 1988

“Regional Task Force on the Homeless,” New Directions. San Diego, CA: Office of the Mayor,
     1986 & 1987VI.

AWARDS AND GRANTS:

California Photojournalism Award & Nikon International Photo Award, l980
National Endowment for the Arts Award, l987
California State Senate Award for Artistic Excellence and Social Collaboration, l988
California Council for the Arts. Funding for exhibit in Sacramento, 1994
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Women's Training Grant
Photography Award, Union/Tribune Newspaper, l98l
Penn Partnership Award, CSUMB for working in Service Learning on the Witnessing Welfare book,
     and www.welfarequilt.com in collaboration with EOP at Monterey Peninsula College
Patron of the Arts, Leadership Award 1999, Monterey Cultural Council for the Arts
California Wellness Foundation, Flora and the Laughing River , 1998-1999
Schools and Community Outreach Grant, Monterey County Arts Council & County Libraries, 1997-1998
Thomala Foundation video, “Weaving A Vision: Two Artists for Social Change,” 1995 –1996.
James Irvine Foundation Grant, $30,000 for “A Matriot’s Dream: Health Care For All,” 1992
Franklin Award from Publishers Marketing.

VII. EDUCATION and SCHOLARSHIPS:

A. Education

B.A. Journalism, Concentration in Photography, San Diego State University, l983
Specialized Training in Art and Educational Technology, 1982
Specialized Management Training, National Women's Training Grant, Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
     KPBS TV and Radio l982-l983
Photography Editor, Montezuma Magazine, San Diego State University, 1979-80

B. Scholarships

Copley Press Journalism Scholarships, San Diego State University, l980 & l98l,
Academic Scholarships, San Diego State University, l980 & l98l
Friends of Photography Workshop Scholarship, Carmel, CA, June l986
Final Cut Pro Editing Workshops Scholarship, CSUMB 2001 & 2002

VIII. SOCIAL ACTION WEBSITES:

www.matriot.org
“A Matriot’s Dream: Health Care For All” website based at CSUMB. Photography/poetry collaboration with Frances Payne Adler, Director, Creative Writing and Social Action Program, Institute for Human Communication. The exhibition combines poetry with photojournalism and includes quotes, facts, stories, and historical/cultural context. Website allows viewers to participate by directly e-mailing the Whitehouse with their concerns.

www.kiracorser.com/soc_art/index.html
Website includes educational and social action photographs and text from collaborative books and exhibitions, Struggle To Be Borne and When the Bough Breaks: Pregnancy and the Legacy of Addiction.

www.wateroverthedam.org
Project director of year-long community action to educate the public and oppose building a new dam in Monterey County. Organized 39 photographers, political leaders, local activists and 90 children in the community to write, photograph and take action to save Native American sacred sites, protect endangered fish and frogs’ habitat, and protect children who live near the proposed blasting. Founded and coordinated the project.

www.welfarequilt.org
Visual art and photographic technology consultant to Monterey Peninsula College. Collaborated and produced website about women on welfare. Inter-active website set up as educational resource, linked to sites for social action and reflection on the values and assumptions of society’s views toward women on welfare. Linked to CSUMB students’ website and book titled Education as Emancipation.

IX. POSTERS:

"Victims At Birth,” KPBS Television Station, l989
"Enfoque Nacional” celebrating Latino broadcasting, l988
"Child Abuse" - United Way/Hewlett-Packard sponsors, l986
"Stop Teen Dropouts" - United Way/Hewlett Packard sponsors, l986
Community Outreach on Drug and Alcohol Use during Pregnancy, Washington State, 2000X. PHOTOGRAPHY

EXHIBITIONS:

A. “A Matriot's Dream: Health Care For All”
Seventeen-piece exhibition containing 48 photographs. A collaborative photography/poetry project with poet Frances Payne Adler, about the current crisis in access to health care. Electronic version of exhibition housed on Creative Writing and Social Action website.

Funded by a grant from the Irvine Foundation and sponsored by California Health Decisions, with additional funding from the San Diego County Foundation, the Health Access Foundation and the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation.

B. “Who Says I Can't? The Spirit of Special Olympics”
Fifteen piece exhibition containing 52 photographs. The exhibition includes black & white and color prints framed with stories about people who are developmentally handicapped. Exhibition sites:

Funded in part by the City of San Diego Arts Commission and the Copley Foundation.

C. “Struggle To Be Borne”
A twenty-four-piece exhibition and book published by San Diego State University Press, with poet Fran Adler depicting the crisis of pregnant poor women shut out from prenatal care. National tour:

Funded in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Combined Arts and Education Council of San Diego, with additional support from the Copley Foundation and the March of Dimes.

D. “When the Bough Breaks: Pregnancy and The Legacy of Addiction”
A twenty-three-piece exhibition containing 60 photographs. Kira Corser, writer/photographer and Frances Payne Adler, writer/poet. An exhibit about the inter-generational cycle of addiction and child abuse, documenting drug and alcohol use during pregnancy. Book published by NewSage Press, Portland, OR, l993 publishes the book. National tour includes

Funded in part by an art grant from Las Patronas and an education grant from the
March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation.

E. “Home Street Home”
A twenty-four-piece exhibition and book on homelessness, in collaboration with poet Frances Payne Adler, 1984. Tour has included:

Funded in part by grants from California's Combined Arts and Education Council, David Copley, Catholic Community Services, the National Mental Health Association, "Comic Relief" and the Congressional Committee for Families of the Homeless, Washington D.C.

XI. OTHER EXHIBITIONS INCLUDE:

XII. PHOTOGRAPHY LECTURES and PRESENTATIONS:

California State University Monterey Bay – Presentations in Earth System Sciences,
Service Learning, Human Communication, Photojournalism, and Visual Public Art Institutes, 1996 - 2003

Lecture, “Visual Voices Project,” J. F. Kennedy University, Women and Ecology Conference, 2002

Visual Arts Consultant & Lecturer, Human Communications, Earth Sciences and Service
Learning Institutes, California State University Monterey Bay, 1996-2003

Peer panel participant, San Jose State University, Oct 1996

Panelist, Society for Photographic Education, California College of Arts and Crafts, Dec 1996

Lecture, “Art for Social Change,” Monterey Museum of Art, Oct. 1995

Taught Workshop, “Art and Social Action,” University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, Nov. 1995

Lecture, “Art & Politics,” University of California Santa Cruz - May l992

"Art For Social Change" Seminar, Monterey Arts Commission, Artist Equity, Aug. l991

“Home Street Home,” collaborative presentation with poet Frances Payne Adler, Arizona State University, March l988

“Social Action Art,” Women's Studies Lecture Series, collaborative presentation with poet
Frances Payne Adler, San Diego State University, Oct. l987

“Photography for Social Concern,” University of California, San Diego, Sept. l986

XIII. DOCUMENTARY VIDEO PRODUCTIONS:

“Art and Healing: Journeys Through Breast Cancer .” 18 min video. Sponsored by Monterey
Museum of Art, Breast Cancer Action Group and American Cancer Society 1999 and 2002

“World Walls art Mural.” Collaboration with Visual and Public Arts Institute, CSUMB 1999
CSUMB Capstone Senior Presentations - Institute for Human Communication
45 -60 minute videos 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003

“California Sustainable Cotton Project: The Basic Program,” Organic Cotton Video 1999

“Weaving a Vision: Two Artists for Social Change.” Co-Director & videographer, Stanford
University Media Lab. Producer, Sandra Hietala, Thomala Foundation 1998, 2002.

“What is Service Learning?” Video, Institute for Service Learning, 1998

“Guiding with Courage: Personal Heroes,” for Monterey County Free Library System and The
Monterey Cultural Council. Book, traveling exhibit and teaching guide for schools. 1999