The Storyteller Initiative is a new fellowship program from Voice of Witness (VOW) that supports artists, storytellers and story gatherers, documentarians, oral historians, and multidisciplinary changemakers from historically marginalized communities. VOW will provide training, financial support, and assistance for participants to plan, develop, and activate their own storytelling project.
If your question is not answered below, email: editorial@voiceofwitness.org.
Info Session
A virtual info session took place on November 7th, 2024. The recording can be viewed here.
Frequently Asked Questions
We are seeking works rooted in oral history practice, which must include some form of interviewing and story gathering. However, these projects don’t need to follow traditional oral history formats. Instead, we’re interested in innovative approaches that use story gathering techniques while exploring multiple formats or media to share stories with the public. We’re particularly excited about projects that incorporate place-based storytelling, cultural strategies, or socially engaged art to create meaning and foster dialogue in and with historically marginalized communities.
The project can be in any genre (audio, film, multimedia installation/exhibition, creative nonfiction, memoir, graphic narrative, website, or hybrid work) that is rooted in oral history methods and elevates stories and issues important to your community.
Examples of such work include:
- Rae Garringer’s Country Queers, a podcast based on interviews with queer folks living in rural areas of the U.S.
- Juania Sueños’ Unamerican Dreams: Immigrant Stories Interrupted by the State, a zine of photos and excerpts from family interviews about state-led violence
- Marcos Echeveria Ortiz’s Where We Were Safe, an online interactive oral history archive about salsa clubs in New York City
- Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric, a book that depicts conversations and explorations about racism through poetry, prose, and visual art
These projects demonstrate how oral history methods can be creatively adapted to document and amplify community stories.
We are particularly interested in applications that fulfill the following criteria:
- Led by emerging and mid-career practitioners
- Creates knowledge by, with, and for the communities engaged in the work
- Creates space for stories that are silenced, misrepresented, and/or otherwise might not be documented and shared
- Drives connection, well-being, and/or social equity in narrator communities
- Demonstrates how oral history methods can be creatively adapted to document community stories, engage audiences, and promote change
Oral history is often defined in two ways, one as a methodology and another as a set of ethics through which listening or witnessing-based research is conducted. The project should engage with oral history in both of these ways: as a methodology that involves some kind of interview/witnessing/encounter, and as an ethical practice that centers collaboration, trust, and respect between the fellow and their narrators. You can learn more about VOW’s ethical storytelling principles here.
Yes, your application should specify how you plan to present/activate the material from the oral histories. We’re interested in how oral history-based work can be accessible, engaging, and used as a tool for community building, education, advocacy, and/or narrative change.
Fellows will be required to:
- Attend a mandatory cohort orientation on Monday, March 3, 2025 at 1pm-5pm ET.
- Attend monthly 60-minute workshops on the 2nd Thursday of each month at 12pm PT / 3pm ET for the first 6 months. These tailored webinars and networking sessions will be curated to enhance skills.
- Develop a personal work plan for their project and meet with coordinators monthly for one-on-one support.
- Dedicate an average of 5 hours per week to their project, totaling approximately 200 hours over the fellowship year.
- Work on and make significant progress toward the completion of their project during the fellowship.
- Share project updates and feedback at the 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year periods. VOW will amplify fellows’ work publicly at the 6-month mark and one-year mark.
- At the end of the first year, present their project at a public virtual and/or in-person event hosted by Voice of Witness.
The requirements for fellows who continue to the second year of funding will be determined at the conclusion of the first year.
If you are unable to make the workshop timing work with your schedule, let us know and we may be able to accommodate. Please apply regardless and flag the issue within your application.
Yes, Voice of Witness will provide an MOU for each fellow with information about expectations, guidelines, and terms of agreement.
The application for the Storyteller Initiative is a Google Form and includes short-form answers, names and contact information for 2 references, and a sample from your work in progress. We estimate it will take up to 2 hours to complete.
Applicants will be notified in January 2025. Three to four finalists will be invited to a 30 minute interview with VOW, then two to three fellows will be selected.
No, there is no fee to apply nor will any be requested at any time for those accepted into the cohort.
The fellowship begins on March 3, 2025.
The application you submit is for one year of funding. Whether you continue with a second year of funding will depend on project progress at the end of the first year and funding availability.
Fellows will receive a $10k stipend for each year of participation in the fellowship.
Two to three (2–3) cohort members will be accepted into the 2025–2026 program.
Either is acceptable.
Yes, but only one person can apply and be selected as the Storyteller Initiative fellow. Only one person should submit the application on behalf of the project. The stipend can be split amongst the collaborators at your own discretion.
Yes, as long as the independent practitioner is not an employee of the organization and if the organization will not be the one facilitating/managing the project.
The independent practitioner must be the project lead, but we welcome and encourage partnerships with organizations. These types of collaborations can, for example, be a valuable way to connect with potential narrators or deepen the reach and impact of the project.
No. Your project does not need to be tied to your identity. However, the project’s themes must either address societal, cultural, ecological, or social injustice issues that are of immediate concern to your community or people you are in community with. We hope the fellowship provides an opportunity to include stories of joy and self-determination as well.
This program is open primarily to those who reside in various regions in the so-called US. However, applicants doing work internationally or transnationally can also apply. We will do our best to work with your schedule; however, we do have a fixed calendar of required events. We try to consider Pacific and Eastern time zones when planning events. While we want to make the program as accessible as possible for all applicants, the VOW team resides in the US, and our event hours reflect this.
No, at the moment, we do not have the capacity to accept a work sample in languages other than English. Fellowship activities and community events will be primarily in English.
For text submissions: 10 pages max (about 2,500 – 3000 words), 12-point font, double spaced
For audio, video or multimedia submissions: 1–2 page description and/or script, and a sample of the work in whatever format you will work in during the fellowship. (Please note we highly recommend sending images and text or only text if available for graphic narratives. Imagery alone does not provide us the full scope of your project.)
If you do not have previous work to submit as a work sample, please submit an extended outline of the project you wish to complete during the fellowship year.
Both. Budgeting the funds distributed by Storyteller Initiative will be up to the fellow and should serve the needs of the project.
In the future, we hope to be able to provide fellowship funding plus compensation for narrators and/or project supplies. However, for our inaugural cohort, fellows will need to budget the financial support received from the Storyteller Initiative fellowship according to their needs and goals.
Yes, fellows absolutely can have full-time jobs. However, you must be able to work at least 5 hours a month on your project to ensure progress during the fellowship. If you can’t make it to every training session, please communicate this proactively with the fellowship coordinators so they can try to accommodate your schedule. Please apply regardless and flag the timing issue within your application.
Yes, applicants are allowed to apply to multiple forms of funding before and during the fellowship.
Applicants may only propose one project.
Yes, the interviews can be in any language and with any community, but we encourage English translation as well in order to reach multiple audiences in the U.S.
Fellows will retain their copyright and intellectual property. Voice of Witness will request that fellows add the following to any dissemination of the work they complete during the fellowship: “This work was created through funding and support provided by Voice of Witness.”
Voice of Witness will provide mentorship and guidance while respecting and supporting the vision and autonomy of the fellows.
We currently have funding for up to two years for each fellow accepted for our inaugural fellowship. Given the demand we’ve seen since the fellowship’s launch, we are hoping and aiming to receive more funding to continue the Storyteller Initiative annually after that.
Based on the number of applications received, we are not able to provide individual feedback. We do invite those who are not selected this year to stay in community with VOW and apply again.
