Salt is Story. Since 1973, the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies has taught students from all over the United States and around the world to become skilled documentarians and storytellers. We’ve helped students to navigate stories about people and place, often exploring the past to figure out how to engage and reshape those stories to tell us something about who we are today.
The Office of Continuing Studies at Maine College of Art offers open enrollment programs to adults and youth with a mission to provide access to professional-quality study in the arts and professional development opportunities for diverse members of the general public.
The Salt Institute and MECA’s Office of Continuing Studies have partnered to offer two intensive documentary workshops online. This is the first time these intensive workshops are being offered in this format, and MECA is thrilled to provide students access to these Salt experiences from the comfort of their home.
Learn the art of storytelling from your home this summer. For more information and to register visit cs.meca.edu/salt-workshops.
Registration is open through June 29, 2020, as space permits.
Salt Archival Storytelling Online (July 13-21)
In the past century, humans have created (and forgotten about) so many visual objects—from 16mm films of vacations to snapshots of graduations and birthdays, to instructional filmstrips, and recorded music performances. Luckily digital repositories like The Library of Congress, the Internet Archive and a few other institutional repositories have preserved some of this material for us. In this course, students will take these ephemeral objects and bring them into a conversation with the present. Students will learn how to develop an idea using these materials, turn that idea into a story, and edit that story into a compelling short film. Learn more and register here.
Instructor Erin Murphy is a documentary filmmaker and educator based in Portland, Maine. Her work has screened at the Maine International Film Festival, the Rochester International Film Festival, the Big Muddy Film Festival, and on MPBN. Erin has shot and produced over 20 short documentaries for clients in Maine and Massachusetts and is a visiting instructor at Colby College teaching courses on documentary filmmaking and digital storytelling.
Salt Personal Podcasting Online (July 20-22)
Everyone has a story to tell, especially now. Join audio producer and editor Nora Boydell in this unique, 3-day intensive workshop, “Personal Podcasting.” Students will learn the very basics of writing for audio and crafting a story in sound. Students will work on a short piece of personal writing, adapt it for audio, record it in their own voice, and end with a finished memoir-style audio story. Students are encouraged to craft narratives about their pandemic experiences, but all topics are welcome and fit for exploration in this course. Start the course as a novice and end with a finished, personal memoir, audio story.
This class is ideal for those interested in podcasts, radio, creative writing, performance, storytelling, or public speaking. It’s also great for those who want a new way to explore their voice, express themselves, or reflect on this strange time in the world. Learn more and register here.
Instructor Nora Connidis Boydell is an audio storyteller with a passion for hands-on field reporting. Her stories have led her up the Scottish highlands on a mountain bike, to the carpet of a library to talk with kids about literacy, and to the deck of a whale watch boat in the Atlantic. She has produced stories for Slate Studios, CBC Radio, Atlantic Public Media, WCAI, and other NPR member stations and podcasts. Last year, Nora developed a workshop and guest-lectured for journalism students at Northeastern University about developing their voice and writing for radio. She is currently launching an original podcast for the Institute for Health and Human Potential.
For additional Salt and Continuing Studies workshops, classes and intensives visit cs.meca.edu.
