Applications are being sought for the first class of Diverse Voices in Docs, a new professional development and mentorship for emerging doc makers of color that will start in January with an expected enrollment of up to 20.
The program — a collaboration between the Community Film Workshop of Chicago and Kartemquin Films — launches Nov. 8 with a free, public kickoff event at the Chicago Community Film Workshop.
Six intensive three-hour workshops will be held monthly at the Community Film Workshop, with creative advice provided by Kartemquin Films’ world-class staff and associates.
Each session will provide practical skill-enrichment designed to help incubate the attendee’s next documentary project. It also will connect them to an expert community, new collaborators, and a wider network of funders and distributors.
Workshop sessions will focus on applied learning and honing skills in areas such as fundraising, storytelling, production techniques, distribution and marketing. The program will culminate in exposure through a final public exhibition in late 2013.
“Our goal is to empower ordinary citizens in the use of media and to provide them access to resources to produce first-voice social issue documentaries,” says Margaret Caples, executive Director of The Community Film Workshop.
“It is also imperative to distribute media made by and about people of color to an international audience to broaden the discussion on universal problems of inequities.”
Application deadline is Dec. 17; acceptance notification Jan. 6; classes begin Saturday Jan. 26 and run through June.
The Workshop has been teaching classes in video production and multimedia in under-served communities since 1971.
