Pitches wanted (disability) | $250 per article

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: IMMERSE

Deadline: 25 October 2022

ATTENTION WRITERS! Immerse is seeking pitches for the upcoming issue: Dreaming Disability Justice. Check out the call for pitches below to learn more and pitch by October 25, 2022.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: DREAMING DISABILITY JUSTICE

Our publication invites submissions featuring artists with disabilities or projects that speak to disability justice with an emphasis on the documentary form. While Immerse is often focused on more high-tech media, such as video game engines or expanded reality (XR), we would love to focus on the many innovative ways folks with disabilities have been making use of and breaking apart technology to tell stories (since the dawn of that tech!)

We acknowledge the intersectionality of this issue—individual experiences with disability are strongly shaped by race, class, gender, age, culture, and relationship to colonization. We recognize the wholeness of individual experiences and are careful not to prescribe a single way of being disabled. We hope that this issue provides a launching point for visibility and (un)learning in institutional spaces, as well as a space that resonates with and centers the experiences of artists, scholars, and readers with disabilities.

For full transparency, our process typically involves two rounds of edits on a piece anywhere from 600–1500 words on a text editor (Google Docs, Word, etc.) and the posting and publication of a piece into our Medium site page. We are happy to work with you through any accessibility concerns in these platforms.

WE’RE LOOKING FOR PITCHES INCLUDING:

• Interviews with creatives working in this space — from artists to producers to curators, we are looking for lessons learned creating, adapting, and working in community
• Strides in accessible tech and its implications for different forms of non-fiction and/or immersive storytelling. — Across past, present, and future, where are the spaces where building up or stripping down of interfaces, tools, and processes have allowed for more access to these spaces?
• New frontiers of technology and their intersections with disability — expanded reality (XR), games (from indie to AAA), volumetric capture, synthetic worlds, robotics and haptics, and beyond
• Self-care and sustainability for disabled artists and activists — what are principles folks with disabilities have lived by in their creation and production, and how has this informed their practice? How do individuals with disabilities “finesse,” challenging notions of productivity in our capitalistic world?
• Online communities — how have people with disabilities accessed and maintained these spaces historically, and what’s on the horizon (good and bad) in terms of access to resources, safety, and data surveillance?
• Healing — from care webs to mutual aid, we’re looking for features and highlights of nonfiction storytelling projects that politicize and activate the role of healing across social movements.
• Curator perspectives: How is the immersive world ready to exhibit work in audiences with varying abilities? We want to push practitioners to think proactively about how to work / adapt / budget for access where access is not the end goal, it is a precondition for showcasing work.

Proposals should be 250 words or less in length and submitted by Tuesday, October 25, 2022 to editor@immerse.news. There is no fee to submit, and while writing samples are encouraged, they are not required. Accepted proposals will be notified by mid-April. We pay a standard fee of $250.

CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly):

• Submissions: editor@immerse.news
• Website: https://immerse.news/

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: Immerse is committed to exploring and showcasing emerging nonfiction projects that push the boundaries of media and tackle issues of social justice. With a curious and critical eye, Immerse covers an array of topics, including artificial intelligence, equity in tech, networked activism, nonfiction games, and more. More information here.
• Read through a selection of recent disability-related articles/stories 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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