The Kalish: Too Committed To Call It Quits

Kalish celebrates 20th anniversary, reduces tuition

 

By Scott Sines

MEMPHIS, TN (December 16, 2008) – Are you thinking, “I’ve spent so long honing my skills in print that I feel helplessly behind on the web, and my company can’t afford training”? Or, “I’ve got the technical part; I want to be a better, more confident, editor and storyteller”? Are you looking for a workshop you can afford? Would you like to work elbow-to-elbow with one of the best workshop faculties in the industry? Can you work hard and have fun at the same time? Can you bowl? Have you heard of The Kalish?

Here’s the deal: this year only, for $500 you get five days of intense instruction in visual storytelling. This is a significant one-time reduction in tuition, thanks to the help of the National Press Photographers Foundation. The faculty includes Emmy winners in multimedia and picture editors/designers who’ve worked on Pulitzer Prize-winning stories: Geri Migliecz, Brian Storm, Sue Morrow, Randy Cox, Kenny Irby, John Rumbach, and others, are regular faculty members. The core faculty is with you the whole workshop so there is ample time to work with them and get your questions answered. Most of the faculty has been together on The Kalish for a long time, so they work easily as a team throughout the week, keeping the student to faculty ratio very low and the morale very high.

The curriculum for this year’s workshop (June 12-16, 2009) is sharply focused on multimedia storytelling and managing resources/visuals across platforms. The traditional Kalish values of ethical decision making in journalism and management remain. The workshop begins with a hands-on training session in Final Cut Pro, progresses through picture selection, multiple picture editing and news judgment, to multimedia and management.

The format for presentations is designed for maximum flexibility. Several topics will be covered in generous blocks of time, allowing the presenters to shape the discussion, on the fly, to the issues of greater interest to the group. Generally, the format for each presentation is a short lecture followed by hands-on exercises. Working through the thorny issues of visual editing and managing your way through difficult decisions is one of the biggest values of The Kalish.

Since the level of expertise among visual editors today is uneven, The Kalish uses a team approach to exercises. No one is left behind. The faculty will work with the group to get an accurate assessment of the technical skills of each participant. Then the faculty will form teams ensuring an adequate degree of technical competency on each team. Diversifying the skills on each team helps keep the focus on making good decisions, not fumbling with the computer.

The Mac labs at Ball State University in Muncie, IN, are state of the art and we’ll have solid technical support. Photojournalism and design professors regularly participate in the discussions giving voice to the academy. The journalism building includes a Starbucks, an art gallery, a bookstore and an atrium-style food court. The whole campus at Ball State is beautiful.

Muncie is a mere 90 miles northeast of the Indianapolis International Airport. With the support of the university, The Kalish provides a shuttle from the airport to Ball State. For those who choose to rent cars, we can arrange parking with the university. There will be a limited number of hotel rooms available at the Pittenger Student Center after we confirm all the registrations. There are also dorm rooms available for really cheap. There are many chain hotels nearby but you’ll need a car.

One more thing: this is the 20th anniversary of The Kalish and the faculty is convinced that there has never been a greater need for a high-end visual editing workshop than there is today. And we know it needs to be affordable, so that individuals can pay their own way and invest in their futures. We have the support of the National Press Photographers Foundation and we’ve consulted past Kalish board members, faculty and participants. We’re going for it. We’re more determined than ever to make our 20th Kalish the best yet. So register now.

 

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