Magazine –Arts and Culture Reporter – Volunteer
Magazine – Arts and Culture Reporter –Volunteer
This position is especially geared for arts and culture omnivores-- with the same palate for cutting edge innovations as the magazine as a whole. This is THE Picture This Post job for someone who is mainly interested in honing their writing skills.
Picture This Post magazine, www.picturethispost.com, alerts time-strapped readers to cultural offerings that are the best match for their interests in art, books, dance, film, museums, music, theater, as well as travel with a focus on culture. We not only cover culture creators and venues with high name recognition, but also delight in helping to showcase bold, creative strokes by fledgling artists in all genres.
THIS IS A WRITING IMMERSION EXPERIENCE –
This student volunteer position is designed to immerse you in the processes of online publication. While not listed as an “internship” position, most of our past and current student volunteers concur that the training and educational opportunities in this and other Picture This Post volunteer positions far exceeds that of most internship jobs. The more time you put into this experience the more you will get out of it. Many volunteers take on multiple roles and more responsibilities that give them more to show at the end of their time at Picture This Post – a fat portfolio of published articles among other lists of accomplishments.
You opt to cover all areas that Picture This Post reports on - -or pick one or two
-Art
-Music
-Dance
-Theater
-Film
-Museums
-Books (and Children's Books)
You start out with a Picture This Post Writers’ Trial Balloon. After you become a vetted review writer, you may write about any topic covered by Picture This Post.
You will also be pioneering new reporting formats for the magazine that will be closer to AP style reports on cultural events.
Supervision:
Amy Munice, Editor in Chief, will be the primary supervisor of your internship. She is the co-publisher of the magazine, a 30+ year PR professional and freelance journalist, and cultural reporter who has penned many hundreds of articles. She will be the author of your future reference for job hunting purposes.
Training sessions are held by zoom—usually in small groups—throughout the week and weekend. Initially you will need to adapt your schedule in order to attend training sessions for your role in the soonest possible timeframe.
ALL VOLUNTEERS – ALL REMOTE WORKERS:
Picture This Post is an entirely volunteer organization, from top to bottom. We are a not-for-profit (as opposed to a 501c3 non-profit) with no income stream. Students are like all volunteers EXCEPT that much time/energy goes into training students and helping you develop a portfolio for future job hunting.
Requirements:
-Pursue completion of Picture This Post Writers’ Trial Balloon.
(Note: you do NOT need to pass the Trial Balloon before becoming a volunteer- it is your first step in this position.)
-Commit to 5-10 hours/week initially. Once you have been vetted, expect to spend a minimum of 20 hours/month – except during exam and other highly demanding school schedules- which we EXPECT you to prioritize over your volunteer work. Although nobody keeps track of your hours except you, please do not apply for this position unless you can commit to the 5+ hours/week initial time commitment.
What You Will Do:
-You will write reviews – of performances, films, albums and more.
Note: You may be asked to repeat the Trial Balloon (which is a film or album review) until both you and your editor are confident that you are able to pen a review first draft that requires no or a minimum of edits to be publication ready.
(Once you become a trained writer you should be able to write a review within 24 hours of an event such as a dance performance.)
-Once you have published three stories you will be added to the Picture This Post masthead. To remain on the masthead, you must write 5+ reviews per year—these can be in any area that Picture This Post covers.
In all cases, you only write reviews or reports when you are in receipt of an editor assignment letter. In all cases, you NEVER are assigned a writing project in any topic that does not interest you.
-You will do layouts for your own stories—and if you enjoy it or want practice, you may opt to help with layouts of others’ stories. You can ALWAYS ask for help or for someone else to complete your layout if/when you are time-strapped. Note: most writers enjoy and prefer making their own layouts.
-You will write social media posts for your stories. (Others handle the mechanics of posting.)
-You will be in rotations for shared tasks such as sending newsletter opt-in emails and uploading events to the Picture This Post Readers’ Calendar
Note: these miscellaneous tasks take less than 30 minutes a week.
-You are not expected to write articles on any schedule. You are only asked to initially give the review guidelines enough continuous mindspace until they “click” for you. Once fully vetted, you only sign on to review events, etc. that you are interested in. Some writers pen reviews five+ times a week; some writers might only do five reviews a year.
