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PRX offers new funds for STEM stories, application deadline April 22

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I'm particularly excited about this – $$ for creative science stories! Details here and below. -Mia
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PRX is excited to announce a new competition for audio production funding.

We call this the STEM Story Project, focusing on science, technology, engineering and math.
The Sloan Foundation is making this possible. We have a pool of $40,000 to distribute among multiple projects.
PRX has a lot of experience in conducting these sorts of open calls. Our goals with the STEM Story Project are to:
* unleash highly creative, scientifically-accurate original productions 
* educate and excite listeners 
* tell stories and explain STEM issues in new ways
We want these productions to be heard and shared widely. So, proposals need to appeal both to stations and directly to listeners. You'll find a lot more details about the PRX STEM Story Project here: application and guidelines [https://prx.submittable.com/submit/19932].
The deadline for applications is April 22, 2013 at 11:59PM ET.
Thank you!
John Barth
Genevieve Sponsler
Lily Bui
The PRX STEM Story Project Team
P.S. If you applied to our Global Story Project, please read the guidelines for STEM carefully — we've changed some things.
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Internships at Snap Judgment, Oakland, CA

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Hey up and comers – Snap Judgment in Oakland is looking for interns (PAID!). Spread the word. -Mia

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Snap Judgment Paid Internship

Snap Judgment is the smoking-hot storytelling show that broadcasts on NPR stations nationwide, based in Oakland, California. Interns are expected to work between 25 – 40 hours a week at our downtown Oakland studios. The Snap Judgment internship position pays $11/hr. Before applying for this internship position, please listen to at least one entire Snap Judgment episode at SnapJudgment.org.

Job responsibilities include but are not limited to:
Snap Judgment interns assist with all aspects of the show's production. They provide research assistance, perform various administrative tasks involved in the daily running of the office, assist in editing, tape logging, scoring, interviewing and eventually are expected to be able to produce a story from start to finish.

Qualifications:

Snap Judgment interns should have a passionate interest in storytelling, narrative craft and sound. We are looking for people who want to rock a story.
Knowledge of audio and video editing software programs is preferred.
Interns must already live commuting distance from our downtown Oakland studio.
This is a three month paid position.
How to Apply
Please jobs@snapjudgment.org a single Microsoft Word document which includes the following information:

A resume
A cover letter explaining why you want to work at Snap.
Answers to the following questions:

1. Describe two of your favorite Snap Judgment stories, and why you liked them. (All shows are archived on the website.)
2. Describe one or two stories that you didn’t like, and why.
3. Suggest two story ideas (one paragraph each) for Snap Judgment.

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MEGAPOLIS Festival, NYC April 19-21, big discount if you live in upstate NY

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For my friends in upstate NY, big discounts until April 5 for the Megapolis Festival in NYC, April 19-21. Details below. -Mia

Are you a resident of NY State, but outside of NYC? Do you know anyone that fits this profile? Because there is money for NY State residents outside of NYC to attend the MEGAPOLIS Festival.

The details are in the ticketing section of our website. Here is the link: http://megapolisfestival.org/blargh/nyc-2013/tickets/


The deadline to apply for this is April 5.
Do you want to come to the MEGAPOLIS festival, but you don't have a lot of money? Do you know anyone that fits this profile? We have Early Bird
tickets to the MEGAPOLIS festival right now! They are 25% off!

This info is also in the ticketing section of our website. Here is the link again: http://megapolisfestival.org/blargh/nyc-2013/tickets/


This limited time offer ends on April 5, so act now!
Do you want to know more about the MEGAPOLIS festival, but don't know how? Check out and "like" our profile on fb: https://www.facebook.com/megapolisfest or follow us on twitter @megapolis

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UnionDocs Doc Fundamentals Workshop, begins April 21, Brooklyn

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Very cool (and affordable!) UnionDocs workshop for documentary filmmakers. Details and list of workshops below. -Mia

REGISTRATION OPEN: DOCUMENTARY FUNDAMENTALS

Kicking off April 21, we have an exciting new six-week workshop series for the beginning to intermediate documentary filmmaker which addresses fundamental principles of making and releasing docs today. We welcome 2-3 top industry guest presenters each week from leading production companies and organizations including POV, Cinetic, Impact Partners, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and many others who will join our host, filmmaker Penny Lane (Our Nixon). We've designed these to work together as a package and are offering a discounted series rate of $100 while spots are still available, though there's also the option of individual workshop purchase at $20 a session.

Complete Schedule:
4/21 Planning Your Documentary

4/28   Financing Your Documentary
5/5   Directing and Shooting Your Documentary

5/12 Editing Your Documentary
5/19   Your Transmedia Campaign

6/2   Releasing Your Documentary

More info:

A nuts-and-bolts professional development series designed for the beginning or intermediate documentary filmmaker, Documentary Fundamentals @ UnionDocs is six-week course culminating in a certificate of completion. Registrants can also attend individual sessions. This curriculum developed out of our experience hearing what fundamentals documentarians need to understand to plan, produce, and release an independent documentary today.

Hosted by filmmaker and educator Penny Lane (Our Nixon), Documentary Fundamentals 

is essential learning for the documentary filmmaker, covering business basics, fundraising and financing, production and post-production strategies, transmedia campaigns, sales and distribution models. Each session features guest speakers sharing tips and secrets of the trade, with an emphasis on real-life case studies and best practices. Guests include Oscar-winning filmmakers and producers (Yael Melamede, My Architect, Inocente); Emmy-winning editors and sound designers (Andy Grieve, Standard Operating Procedure, The Carter; Tom Paul, Under African Skies,The Fog of War); and representatives from top funders, film sales companies, distributors and more.

Documentary Fundamentals is designed for beginning or intermediate filmmakers with projects in any stage of development or production (even the daydreaming stage!). Sessions combine formal presentations with extensive time for in-depth discussions with participants.

Registrants completing all six sessions will receive a Certificate of Completion, and will have special opportunities to promote their projects within the UnionDocs network. Specific guests and topics are subject to change. Doors will open at 7:15 and we will being each session promptly at 7:30pm.

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BackStory call for pitches

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The latest call for pitches from the folks at BackStory. Details and deadlines below. -Mia

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BackStory's got some new shows in the works, and we're eager for pitches. They should be addressed to me, Jess (jengebretson@virginia.edu). Please do check out our guidelines here before you write: http://backstoryradio.org/producers/

Thanks,
Jess

The Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is a sort of timeline of American history. From the earliest settlers to the modern day Army Corps of Engineers, Americans have both thrived on and been consumed by the river's size and power. There have been attempts to control it, to escape by way of it – the river can be seen as a sort of canvas on which many of America's most important internal struggles have played out; from sectarian divisions, to racial violence, to environmentalism. We want stories about how the river has both changed and been changed by Americans over time. Remember, we're a history show. As much as we love stories of people who are threatened by the river today, we need to know why this matters in the greater context of American history. We would love some placed-based material (maybe a really great story happened at this one point in the river nobody talks about). This show may also be a good candidate for some family history. There are a lot of stories to be told about the southern portions of the river, so stories from the northern regions would be most welcomed.

The End of War

One thing we've been puzzling over is how we decide that wars are officially "over." Who makes that decision? And on what basis? Under what conditions? It's the 10th anniversary of President George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, and we're looking for stories about the end of American wars. We're not so much looking for stories about how war "never really ends," because, yes, we know, war lingers. But, "officially", most wars end. We want the interesting stories that led to those moments – the official proclamations, the laying down of the guns, the speeches on the aircraft carrier. Maybe there's a story about how not a proclamation, but an image signaled a war was over. So few things in history actually have "endings," and we're interested in why we try to impose that on wartime.

Emigration

With lawmakers again taking up the subject of immigration, we’re devoting a show to its flip-side — emigration. From the Late Loyalists who fled to Canada after the Revolution in search of tax-free living, to the free blacks who sailed to Liberia in search of liberty (and a spot at the top of the racial hierarchy), to the thousands of defeated Confederates who set out for lands where slavery was still legal, we’ll consider the stories of people who left the U.S. in search of a better life elsewhere… but took some part of America with them. We're more interested in groups of people who left the US en masse, but if we'd consider a great story about a particular individual too. Give us a sense of how these people saw America, and what they thought they stood to gain by leaving. 

* please note that "Emigration" is coming up very soon, so we're looking for pitches that can be turned around in a week or two. The other two have more flexibility time-wise.

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Rough Cuts Call for Entries for our May 2013 evening

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The latest call for entires from Rough Cuts in SF. -mia

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Rough Cuts Announces a Call for Entries for our May 2013 event

Deadline is THURSDAY, APRIL 25TH
To submit to:

ROUGH CUTS – MAY 2013
Tuesday, May 21st at 7:30 p.m.

Z Space
450 Florida St, San Francisco, CA, 94110
(between 17th St et Mariposa St)

Complimentary hors d’oeuvres provided
$9 admission

To submit, please visit:
http://sfroughcuts.com/callforsubmissions.html

And for more details about Rough Cuts, visit:
http://sfroughcuts.com/

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Rough Cuts is a series of work-in-progress documentary screenings that are produced every other month at a variety of locations throughout San Francisco. For each evening, we screen one rough cut of a feature-length documentary and then moderate a conversation about the film. These post-screening discussions are designed to give the filmmaker a better, more objective sense of what is working and not working with his/her film, with particular attention paid to improving the film’s structure and narrative clarity. We hope that the series also provides a welcome space for local filmmakers, film professionals, and fans of documentary film to meet and talk.

We are seeking long-form works with a final running time of 40 minutes or longer. Principal photography should have been completed, and we encourage filmmakers to submit cuts that are in the later stages of post-production (i.e. NOT first or second cuts).

Please note the following dates:

Thursday, April 25th
Submissions must arrive by 5:00 p.m. [This is not a postmark deadline.]

Monday, May 6th
Selections will be announced and filmmakers will be notified

Tuesday, May 21st
Screening, followed by a discussion led by a guest moderator

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The Kitchen Sisters Workshop comes to New York, April 18, 10-1pm, WNYC

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My favorite ladies of radio are coming to NYC! I promise you it'll be worth every penny. Details below. -Mia

The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva), are holding an Interviewing & Recording Workshop in New York City on Thursday, April 18 from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm at WNYC Radio. The three-hour session is designed for people who want to acquire and hone their skills for an array of audio projects: radio, online, podcasts, storytelling, oral histories, audio slideshows, family histories, news, documentaries and other multimedia platforms.

We'll cover interviewing approaches, miking techniques, sound gathering, use of archival audio, field recording techniques, how to make interviewees comfortable, how to frame evocative questions that make for compelling storytelling, how to build a story, and how to listen (which is harder than it seems).

The workshop is customized to fit the projects you are working on. People who attend come from radio, film, multimedia, newspapers, blogs, journalism, photography, oral history, historical societies, music, writing, libraries, archives, web design, detective agencies, restaurants, health care organizations, farms and beyond. The groups are always lively and good contacts are made

The workshop will be on the 8th floor of WNYC, 160 Varick St., New York, NY. Of course, snacks will be served.

Register here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/364049


The session is $120.

This workshop is sponsored by AIR.

If you have questions email kitchen [at] kitchensisters [dot] org.

Please pass this announcement along to your East Coast community.

Expand your skills, meet new people, support the work of The Kitchen Sisters.

See you there,

Davia & Nikki

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Bloomquist Media looking for audio producers

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There is life beyond public radio – an opportunity from (gasp) commercial radio. See below for links and rates. -Mia

Bloomquist Media ( http://www.bloomquistmedia.com/ ) produces long-form radio content for commercial radio. These Branded Audio Content programs ( http://www.bloomquistmedia.com/case-studies/ ) are designed to promote non-profits by telling compelling stories of people who have been touched by the organization.  

The shows are 1-3 hours in length and typically air on major holidays, when commercial stations need to cover for vacationing personalities. The firm's Christmas production, which was produced for a non-profit that supports military families, air on 135 news/talk stations and Sirius/XM.  

Bloomquist is looking for audio producers capable of handling such large scale projects.  The company is also in need of writer/reporters to produce show segments, which typically run 7 to 10 minutes in length.  You can hear some typical segments here:

http://www.bloomquistmedia.com/audio-samples/
Compensation: $400 – $500 for 8-10 minute pieces; approx. $7,500 for an audio producer to oversee assembly and overall sound of the 3-hour shows.

If you are interested in learning more about possible opportunities, contact Randall Bloomquist: randall@bloomquistmedia.com

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Latino USA Expansion and Call for Pitches

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Awesome news in radioland – Latino USA is expanding and wants pitches! Details below. -Mia

NPR’s Latino USA is delighted to announce that our weekly program will be expanding to an hour later this year, with a fresh, updated format. In anticipation, we are actively inviting story pitches from news directors, station-based reporters and independent producers from all over the country.
 
Here’s the link to LUSA’s new reporter guidelines, with the show’s standards and specs.
 
http://www.futuromediagroup.org/lusa/about/contributors/

 
We’re also testing out new, creative approaches and themes for covering the Latino experience in America and beyond, and we welcome your ideas.
 
In addition to general pitches, the show is specifically interested in:
 

  • Hard news stories
  • Social justice stories that focus notions of citizenship and belonging, including immigration
  • Stories about environmental stewardship and outdoor adventure 
  • Cultural stories about Latino music, food, art, history and literature, and their transformation in the US
  • Stories that show how Latinos intersect with the rest of America
  • “Bocaditos” (“little mouthfuls”)

Please send pitches to pitches@futuromediagroup.org. If you need further guidance or would like examples of particular stories, please include that in your message.
 
All best,
The Latino USA Editorial Team
 

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Science internship at KQED this summer

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For students looking for college credit – work with the fabulous Molly Samuel (former FC leader-type-person) and the rest of the KQED crew this summer. Details below. -Mia

KQED is looking for interns for the summer. For the science internship, the person would be working with me and a colleague in TV, learning TV production, producing radio stories, writing online articles, helping with research and logging and whatever else comes up.

These are unpaid, part-time internships. If you know any students (they needn't be journalism students, but they do have to be able to get course credit) looking for internships, please pass this on.

And I'm happy to answer any questions or talk with people interested in the internship — I know the unpaid part is hard, but I can vouch for these being good internships. (At least, I hope they are. I started at KQED as an intern and felt like I learned a lot, and eventually ended up with a job here.)

Here's the link for the science internship: http://www.kqed.org/about/internships/quest-content.jsp
And here are the rest of KQED's internships: http://www.kqed.org/about/internships/


There's not a deadline for applications posted, so I'm going with ASAP.

Thanks,
Molly