CatchLight Global Fellowship
The CatchLight Global Fellowship addresses a pressing need in the visual storytelling industry by supporting innovative leaders. Acting as an incubator, it provides financial support in the form of $30,000 grants, fosters personal growth, and develops networking and partnerships. Fellows will be announced at the annual Visual Storytelling Summit on April 27, 2024. The Fellowship cultivates a vibrant community of creative thought leaders, and empowers them to shape the future of the field through long-form storytelling projects that engage and captivate audiences.
Benefits
- $30,000 award
- Potential access to additional future funding through the CatchLight Impact Fund
- Paid travel and accommodations for the 2024 CatchLight Visual Storytelling Summit, April 26-28 in San Francisco.
- Personal development opportunities, including executive coaching
- Impact strategy and networking support from CatchLight staff and our extended network.
- A community of like-minded Fellows and industry professionals with opportunities for mentorship, education and speaking engagements.
Eligibility
You maybe the ideal candidate for the Fellowship if you are a(n):
- Long-form storyteller with a specific impact project
- Leader with a plan to advance/or grow the field
- Educator with innovative approaches to supporting upcoming storytellers
Proposals will be assessed on how they employ and strengthen new methods and potential solutions with an eye towards one or more of the following target outcomes:
- Innovative Distribution: Testing a new distribution method of an existing project to effectively engage a specific audience through visuals.
- Community Activations: Testing how visual storytelling can be leveraged to engage specific audiences and/or address specific community information needs
- Field sustainability: building systems and models that push the field of visual storytelling or media ecosystem forward.
To apply, you will be asked to provide the following:
- A fellowship statement on how visuals in general and your work specifically ignite social change, who your work aims to inform and what human connections your work creates. 100 words
- A thesis statement summarizing what you would like to do and why. 100 words
- A description of the proposed work. 250 words.
- A description of your distribution, engagement and/or impact plan that identifies your target audience for this work. 250 words.
- A plan to gather impact feedback. 100 words
- A timeline for the work which can extend beyond the grant period.
- A budget estimate for the proposed work. This budget can exceed the award amount but please note where CatchLight funds would be used
- Three topic ideas for sharing learning with the CatchLight community
- 10-20 images which, if awarded, CatchLight has the rights to use in promotional materials.
- Three professional references. Contact information must include email and phone number.
- A short bio
- A copy of your curriculum vitae.
Deliverables & requirements for this Fellowship include:
- CatchLight mentioned as a funder in all relevant project-related materials in perpetuity
- CatchLight credited in conjunction with the impact/engagement work in perpetuity
- Shared assets (photographs/video) proving impact/engagement work promote Fellows/CL work
- Metrics (at least 2 sets with possible delivery beyond the first year)
- Creating a lightning talk on learnings from the project/working with CL in a produced 15-minute presentation format
- Three learning blogs for CatchLight based on your project
For more information: https://www.catchlight.io/global
