About

Contemporary Arts Memphis (CAM) is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to the growth and development of young visual artists from Memphis-Shelby County area high schools.

We are committed to fostering an open, accepting, diverse community of self-motivated learners with a primary focus on the visual arts. We provide studio space, art supplies, instruction, travel opportunities, college support, and mentorship at no cost to our participants.

Our studio is located in the arts corridor of Madison Avenue in the Memphis Medical District. Our new studio building, home to our year-round programming, opened in fall of 2024. The building is home to a student exhibition gallery, painting studio, sculpture studio, a comprehensive art reference library, and computer lab space for college applications. The upstairs studio features state-of-the-art lighting optimized for painting and drawing. The downstairs sculpture studio is equipped with a kiln, ceramic wheels, and woodworking equipment. Our space is safe, hospitable, and thoughtfully curated to promote learning and foster community.

What began in 2020 as a four-week summer experience for 25 high school students has now grown into an ongoing, year-round program with several programmatic components, including our Summer Fellowship Program, Teen Art Lab, and Artist Mentoring Programs. In addition, CAM Fellows travel to New York City each summer for one week. Each spring, eligible seniors embark on a spring break trip.

Our program nurtures the talent of young visual artists through equitable access and exposure to the professional world of the visual arts. Our unique professional and educational programs help students develop their perception of career pathways in the arts. We work closely with local visual artists, museums, and galleries with the aim of contributing meaningfully to the burgeoning arts scene in Memphis.

CAM's Values:

Our pedagogical focus seeks to support artists grounded in art making practice by providing theoretical frameworks for critical and conceptual thinking. Our approach to curriculum is based on typical freshman level university art course offerings. We take a foundational approach that prioritizes drawing, painting and sculpture as basic skill building blocks on which to later build more expansive practice. All three disciplines center an observational approach from live models or still life.
We experience instruction in mainly three distinct ways: teacher led classes, peer-to- peer learning and self guided creative pursuits. Artists lead classes and workshops as instructional mentors. Casual social engagements and explorations of friendship are encouraged as they facilitate informal learning moments. Open Studio hours are routinely available for self directed students looking to sharpen their skills. Through individual and group critique as well as art historical offerings, we encourage discourse and reflection.
CAM offers inspiration through a variety of ways. First, our curated building is designed to inspire. From our student exhibition gallery to our expansive art reference library, each image on our walls is carefully selected to inspire. Secondly, travel is also infinitely inspiring. We take local and out-of-state field trips several times a year visiting major museums and art spaces. Lastly, we encourage our community to inspire one another through kindness and generosity.
We intentionally provide high-quality programming at no cost, allowing all interested young people to participate regardless of their financial situation or zip code. In addition to removing all financial barriers, we are committed to building a diverse cohort of young artists each year. Our students come from all schools, public, private and charter. We believe that expanding social networks creates dynamic relationships and access to different cultures.

What We Offer

CAM offers programming – all at no cost:

The Summer Fellowship

Our Summer Fellowship, the flagship program, is a no-cost immersive 4-week program in June for 25 rising 11th/12th graders who envision a career in the arts. Students are selected through an application process and jury. The first three weeks are hosted on-site in a sleep-away camp format in unincorporated Memphis. The relaxing and natural environment promotes an atmosphere of learning, introspection and connection. Fellows have access to a studio space where they are able to further develop their arts skills with instruction from advisors, local artists, and even Founder, Derek Fordjour. Students attend foundational arts courses at the University of Memphis daily, with the option of 6 hours of dual enrollment (Art 101 and Art History). The Summer Fellowship also comprises special lectures and workshops on-site that further enhance educational content on pathways in the arts. The final week of the program is spent in New York City, where our goals are threefold: visiting artist studios with artist talks (including Derek Fordjour’s studio), visiting iconic cultural institutions like The Met and The Whitney, and also visiting post-secondary educational institutions.

Year-Round Programming

Post Summer Fellowship, alumni Fellows then participate in academic year programming which furthers their artistic skills. Specifically, our goals are to: strengthen artistic development, expose Fellows to careers in the visual arts, support portfolio development, increase chances for scholarship dollars and, offer college counseling and application-writing for post-secondary pathways. Given that we work with rising 11th and 12th graders, there are typically two classes of alumni per year in this blended programming.

In-school Programming

CAM Team members visit our county’s numerous high schools to meet with arts faculty and young people to talk about arts opportunities, focusing on arts as a career and the CAM Summer Fellowship. Schools may have unique needs, such as offering programming when there is no arts instructor in the school or grade level, holding a crit session, or assisting prospective Summer Fellowship applicants with their inquiries.

Teen Art Lab

Teen Art Lab offers Memphis area teens (ages 13-18) the chance to engage in hands-on art instruction and mentorship at no cost. Programming is open to any regional high schooler at no cost. Participants will explore multiple disciplines across sessions including drawing, painting and art history. A certificate of completion will be awarded to those who attend all of the semester’s programming. The goals of this initiative are threefold: to broaden access to high-quality art education beyond the CAM Summer Fellowship and In-schools Programming, to help aspiring artists build strong portfolios for college and exhibition opportunities, and to cultivate a pipeline of creative talent within the community.

CAM Team

Derek FordjourFounder

Derek PattersonExecutive Directorpatterson@camsummer.org

Amy KeithChief Financial Officeramy@camsummer.org

Christy GilmourChief Strategy Officerchristy@camsummer.org

Arely HerreraOperations Coordinatorarely@camsummer.org

Tasha BurnettCollege Coachtasha@camsummer.org

Jasmine RandolphWriting Coachjasmine@camsummer.org

Board of DirectorsBrian CohenDerek FordjourIsaac FordjourLia Fordjour (Treasurer)Lauren KennedyYashua KlosLisa Opoku (President)Elliot PerryManon SlomeEd Stanton, III (Secretary)

Advisory BoardMiska Clay BibbsLisa JacksonCorinne JonesZoe KahrArtemis Peppa WilliamsStephanie PierceBryant TerryAshley Thayer

About Our Founder

Derek Fordjour

Derek Fordjour was born and raised in Memphis, where he attended Central High School. He credits his art teacher, Bill Hicks, with igniting his passion to pursue an art career. Along with a number of other students, he won several local and national art awards, cultivated lifelong friendships and grew creatively under the tutelage of Hicks. In 2018 at the invitation of another former high school teacher, Dr. Emily Ruch, he served as the keynote speaker for the Tennessee Art Educators Association. Many invitations to mentor young artists in Memphis followed. One year later, he began to imagine how he might work with local artists to create a safe and nurturing environment for art-making, similar to what he experienced at Central decades earlier and CAM was born in 2020.

Prior to starting CAM, Fordjour earned a BA from Morehouse College in Atlanta, an Ed.M. degree in Arts in Education at Harvard University, and an MFA degree in painting from Hunter College. Fordjour has been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions. His work is in the permanent collections of various institutions, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Dallas Museum of Art; the Royal Collection, United Kingdom; Pérez Art Museum Miami; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; and the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. Fordjour served as the 2020 Alex Katz Chair of Painting at The Cooper Union. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, The Board of Directors for the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and the Board of Directors at Memphis Brooks Art Museum. Fordjour lives and works in New York.