March 17, 2008

VOICES Launches New Summer Freelance Program

This year, Voices, Inc. is proud to introduce a new summer program called Voices Freelance Program (VFP), a six-week journalism training program for young adults from ages 14-21. During the program, youth will be encouraged to learn and harness their photography, writing, and interviewing skills, and no experience is required. The first assigned project will be to create a 5-6 minute opinion piece to be aired on Tucson’s community radio station, 91.3FM KXCI, and create a portfolio of images relevant to their project. In addition, youth who successfully complete the program will be able to continue contributing to Voices’ media in the future on a freelance basis, getting paid for each accepted project.

VFP training will begin on June 16 and continue until July 25, 2008.
It is open for youth ages 14-21.
There are 2 sessions (Session A will meet Monday-Friday 9am - 12pm, Session B will meet Monday-Friday 1pm - 4pm).
Each youth will produce a 5-6 minute radio module, which will be considered for broadcast on KXCI through VOICES’ RadioActivism segment.
After completing VFP, youth will be eligible to do freelance work for VOICES throughout the school year. VOICES will pay all freelance journalists for their work.
VFP summer sessions cost $250 per participant on a sliding scale. Scholarships are available as well.

VOICES gives young adults an opportunity to share their stories, inform their community, and empower their generation with the outlet that we provide. We have a highly-skilled staff, including two University of Arizona Ph.D. candidates and a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, as well as an experienced support staff to encourage youth to expand their knowledge of writing and photography and their awareness of local and community issues. Our ultimate goal is to provide youth the opportunity to work on the stories they’re passionate about, with enough flexibility so that anyone can participate. If you would like to apply, please download the application (Adobe Acrobat Reader or Microsoft Word is required), print it out, and send it to us via mail. The tuition is $250; however, there’s a sliding scale based on what you can afford, and scholarships are available as well.

Please mail your completely filled out application to:
Voices Inc.
PO Box 2088
Tucson, AZ 85702-2088
If you have any questions, please e-mail us at info@voicesinc.org, or call us at (520)622-7458.