United Photo Industries is a Brooklyn-based nonprofit founded in March 2011 by Sam Barzilay, Laura Roumanos, and Dave Shelley to promote wider understanding of and access to the art of photography. The organization opened a gallery in Dumbo in December 2011 and the following year launched Photoville, its signature project: a free, public photography festival that began in 2012 with 27 shipping-container exhibition spaces in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Photoville has since grown into an annual event drawing more than a million visitors, showcasing over 200 photographers, with satellite exhibitions across all five boroughs and partners including the New York Times, National Geographic, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. United Photo Industries also runs education programs such as student field trips and educator exhibit grants.