Pitches wanted (audio documentary) | $200 to $400 per article
Added 2024-11-27 19:55:27 +0000 UTCCOMPANY/PUBLICATION: SOUND FIELDS
Deadline: 15 December 2024
For our second issue, we are planning to create our first PRINT issue exploring the idea of the archive in audio documentary.
An archive can be anything from a historical record of sounds (a collection of recordings of animal sounds, a repository of found sounds from thrift store mixtapes, recordings of supreme court arguments, voicemails from a deceased family member…) to an assemblage of sound across time, even space. It can be both literal and expansive.
We’re inspired by Saidiya Hartman, who works with what she has called “the scraps” of the archive. “I work a lot with unknown persons, nameless figures, ensembles, collectives, multitudes, the chorus. That’s where my imagination of practice resides. That’s where my heart resides,” says Hartman.
Do you work with archival sounds? Do you consider your work itself an archive (or part of an archive)?
Sound and audio can be ephemeral, both as we experience them in real time and in their digital incarnation. How does sound become archive, when does it become archive, and what does it mean to view audio documentarians as archivists?
We are interested in pitches for short essays (1500-2000 words) that bring us provocative ideas and surprising insights into the intersection of audio documentary practice and the idea of the archive.
In your pitches for this issue, we invite you to address one or more of the following questions and themes:
Audio documentary as archive
In what ways is audio documentary – your work, the work you love, the work we need – an evolving archive?
What are we archiving as documentarians?
What can audio documentarians learn from our colleagues in the adjacent fields of oral history, memoir and beyond?
Working with archives in audio documentary
We’d love essays on the craft, ethics and politics of using public, historical and personal archival materials in your audio documentary work.
What are the challenges of accessing and working with archival material?
What do we do when we can't find what we are looking for in the archive? How do we locate or imagine what’s missing and convey that through sound?
What sounds signal that a recording is archival vs. “new”? What does “the archive” sound like?
Is there a tension between the archive and the push for clear narrative or story? Do narratives work against or collapse the archive?
The politics of the canon and who makes it into the archive
What does it mean to un-archive, to reclaim?
How do the economics of feed-ownership and digital media companies impact the archival record?
How do best-of lists and awards function as both celebration and gate-keeping?
What can we learn from looking at the archival record (or lack thereof) of the field of audio documentary?
Archiving audio documentary as a field of practice
Sound is an inherently ephemeral, slippery medium–how do we archive audio documentaries?
What practices have you developed to hold onto your own archives, to archive your podcast, to make audio last, to make the intangible tangible? (we are open to very practical, how-to content for this!)
How does audio documentary relate to and differ from other documentary art forms in its relationship to archival practices?
WE ARE INVITING PITCHES FOR Q AND AS (2-WAY OR 3-WAY CONVERSATIONS) ON THE FOLLOWING TOPICS:
Intergenerational learning/conversations: we’d like to hear conversations on audio documentary craft across generations. Pitch us a conversation with your favorite audio maker of a different generation.
Conversations with documentarians or researchers for whom the archive (in all the forms it takes) is central to their practice.
Conversations between those who archive and the people’s stories they have archived. What is the lived reality for those having a story or moment captured, how does the act of archiving impact the relationship?
HOW TO SUBMIT
Submit your pitch HERE by December 15, 2024 at 11:59 pm GMT-5
Original essay - considering questions and themes outlined above.
Pitches should be a maximum of 400 words. Final essays will be 1500-2000 words or less. If your pitch is approved, you’ll be matched with an editorial board member who will provide two rounds of editorial feedback on your piece. $400 honorarium.
Q and As/Conversations (written/transcribed)
Pitches should be a maximum of 400 words. Proposed Interviewees/conversation partners must already have agreed to participate. $200 honorarium.
Have questions? Visit our FAQ page.
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CONTACT INFORMATION:
Submissions: Via the webform
Website: https://www.soundfields.org/
TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:
Learn more about the publication: Sound Fields is an online publication dedicated to the art and craft of audio storytelling. It features essays, interviews, and analyses that explore the theory and practice of audio documentaries. The platform provides a space for examining the methodologies and forms of contemporary audio narratives. More information here.
Read through a selection of recent stories/articles on its website.
Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook and at SuccessfulPitches.com.
Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a few lines highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.
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