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Fellowship Opportunity: Assembling Voices Program

Public Humanities

June 1, 2022

Applications for the Assembling Voices Fellows Program from Columbia University's Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE) are now open. Activists, scholars, creatives, journalists, workers, organizers, and those with a vision for impactful, community-centered programming are welcome to apply. Deadline July 1, 2022.

More information about Assembling Voices from INCITE follows

About Assembling Voices

INCITE is committed to supporting the structures of social life that build and sustain the trust on which societies depend.

Last year we launched the Assembling Voices Fellows Program. This program is an opportunity for artists, writers, scholars, journalists, performers, activists, workers, and others with a compelling idea to conceive, develop and/or put into place public initiatives that bring people together. Preference will be given to initiatives that address pressing social justice and human rights issues of our time, especially those relevant for historically excluded groups.

The proposed initiative should be conceptualized around the theme of Democracy and Trust, a cornerstone of INCITE work. We seek initiatives that facilitate discourse and aim to improve public understanding of — and engagement with — the problems we face, the opportunities we have, and the institutions that shape our lives. Simply put, initiatives developed by our fellows should bring people together and break down walls that exclude people from institutions and knowledge production.

Specifically, Assembling Voices Fellows will design initiatives that bring people together to share their expertise and to promote engagement, dialogue, and discourse around social justice issues. We recognize that expertise exists in multiple forms, for example: among communities who shape and are shaped by major events, among researchers who study the drivers of those events, and among the artists, writers, thinkers, and activists who process and articulate such common experiences. Our scope is deliberately broad, to allow for proposals that are innovative, unexpected and that pioneer creative ways to enhance social life and dialogue among and between communities and institutions.

Public programming ought to be designed to maximize impact. Assembling Voices Fellows will have the creative freedom to conceive and execute public programming as they envision, especially addressing communities and topics that are under-explored or have historically been excluded from dialogue with academic institutions. We are particularly interested in proposals that: (1) are innovative in their design and presentation, such as those that mix interactive modes and activities; (2) reach diverse audiences; (3) address community-identified and community-specific needs, and (4) are potentially sustainable beyond the term of the fellowship. Assembling Voices—our fellows and their initiatives—will amplify and engage with the talents, abilities, aspirations, hopes, and needs of the communities that comprise our democracy.

We will select up to three Assembling Voices Fellows. Program participation program starts on November 1, 2022, and runs through October 2023

Who is Eligible?

This program is for artists, writers, scholars, journalists, activists, workers and organizers, and performers with a compelling idea for public programming that build and sustain trust. We encourage people of all generations and nationalities to apply. Collectives will be considered. Participation has no minimum educational requirement, nor do we require a minimum number of years of experience. If you have questions about eligibility based on your visa or immigration status, please contact [email protected].

Deadline for applications is July 1, 2022. Finalists will be interviewed and fellows will be selected by August 15.

Click here to apply