Salt Graduate Certificate in Documentary Studies
Graduate Certificate Program:
Learn the Art of Documentary in our Graduate Certificate Program in either Radio and Podcasting or Short Film. Or complete one of our 1-week intensives through Continuing & Professional Studies. For more information about our Salt Intensives, click here: cs.meca.edu/salt-workshops
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.
The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies at Maine College of Art & Design is a 24/7 15-week experience. Motivated individuals from all walks of life come to Salt to focus on documentary storytelling, develop new skills, and build expertise. Our faculty members are working documentarians and teaching professionals who help provide a strong foundation for students to make their best work.
The Salt experience is intensive and focused. We are looking for students who arrive ready to work and who understand the importance of and possibilities inherent in the 15-week residency format. We want students to bring their passion for documentary work to Salt to gain better storytelling skills, learn more about the field of documentary work, and be open to the new possibilities that the Salt program will present.
Students bring their passions, ideas, challenges, and projects to concentrate for 15-weeks on one track of study (Radio and Podcasting, or Short Film); leave with a portfolio of beautifully crafted stories.
Radio and Podcasting
Short Film
Come expand your passion for one-semester in the fall or spring and earn 16 graduate credits. Start dates of the fall and spring semester can be found here.
Get More Information on How to Apply and Next Steps.
Access to Urban Centers & the Natural World
Located on the southern coast of Maine, Portland is just the right size, easy to navigate on foot, filled with arts and culture and minutes from islands, beaches, lakes, forests, and farmland. Just a few hours from Boston and a few more hours to Manhattan, the city of Portland is a collection of unique neighborhoods with a strong commitment to community. Between the outdoor activities, the booming local food movement, and the vibrant visual and performing art scene, Portland offers a place to live and a way of life.
View the Graduate Viewbook here
Examples of Where Salt Alumni Go on to Work and Freelance
- Al Jazeera
- American Public Media
- Audible
- BBC
- California Sunday Magazine
- Gimlet
- The Magnum Foundation
- Modern Love
- New York Magazine
- Pop Up Magazine
- Radiolab
- Snap Judgement
- The Believer
- The New Yorker
- This American Life
- Tin House
- Vice Media
- Virginia Quarterly Review
- 99 Percent Invisible
Salt Story ArchiveBrowse this archive and you’ll find yourself jumping from portraits of fishermen, to a radio story exploring the lives of Somali-American teenagers, to a print piece about a group of people fighting for affordable housing. You’ll discover work documenting everything from the back-to-the-land movement, hunting, and migrant farmers to gender diversity, alleged alien abductions, and cold-case crimes.
View Salt Alumni Work
Since 1973, the students of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies have captured the spirit of the culture, people, and landscapes of the world around us. The collective body of work—stories and publications— is now available online at saltstoryarchive.com.
Please contact Rachel Katz, Administrative Director of Graduate Programs (rkatz@meca.edu), with any Salt Story Archive inquiries.
Artist Credit and Resources
- Slide 1: Kyle Dubay ’18
- Slide 2: Nicolas Tanner, Torch, 2011
- Slide 3: Radio student Jessica Alpert, Salt ’08 gathers some ambient sound. Photo: Tommy Galloway, Salt ’08
- Slide 4: Alan Hunter, Old Orchard Beach Off Season, 2011
Contact
Submit Question, Comment
NEW! Salt Institute Presents: Podcasting for Pre-College (fully online)!
Are you a Sophomore, Junior, or Senior in High School?
This summer, The Salt Institute is teaming with the office of Continuing and Professional Studies to bring our Podcasting program to Pre-College high school students. Students enrolling in Pre-College can pick two majors and earn 3 college credits! Take just Podcasting and still earn 1.5 college credits. Plus, everyone accepted into the program who successfully completed Pre-College and later enrolls in a program at MECA&D earns a one-time scholarship to attend.
If you are interested in applying for our ONLINE Summer Pre-College Podcasting Major, please click here to learn more about the program or APPLY today.
Spotlight
The Bravado of Storytelling by Alix Towler Salt ’17
Wheels click in staccato rhythms and rubber stoppers shriek against the slick wooden floor of the track. . . .”
Wheels click in staccato rhythms and rubber stoppers shriek against the slick wooden floor of the track. Strapped head to toe in protective pads and helmets, 10 women on rollerskates […]Read More
Josephine Holtzman (Salt ’08) + Isaac Kestenbaum (Salt ’08)
Tell us a bit about Midnight Son: Midnight Son is a true story about an actor-turned-fugitive who claims he . . .”
Tell us a bit about Midnight Son: Midnight Son is a true story about an actor-turned-fugitive who claims he has a supernatural encounter on the Alaskan tundra while running from […]Read More
Halle Johns (Salt '19)
Tell us a bit about your project, Shoulder Season: Shoulder Season is a project about an adult dodgeball . . .”
Tell us a bit about your project, Shoulder Season: Shoulder Season is a project about an adult dodgeball league in Rockland, Maine. Before attending Salt Institute of Documentary Studies, I […]Read More
Nora Saks (Salt ’13)
We were very excited to catch up with Nora Saks about her new podcast, 'Richest Hill'. A Salt Writing student . . .”
A Salt Writing student back in the early teens, Nora Saks ’13 has built a career in public radio and podcasting. Read More
Tim Greenway (Salt ’03)
Last December, we got to connect with photographer Tim Greenway (Salt ’03) when he documented graduation . . .”
Last December, we got to connect with photographer Tim Greenway (Salt ’03) when he documented graduation for our Salt class of Fall 2018. This February, Tim is opening a new […]Read More
Juliet Werner (Salt ’06)
Juliet Werner (Salt ’06), a Senior Segment Producer at the Daily Show with Trevor Noah, took some time to . . .”
Juliet Werner (Salt ’06), a Senior Segment Producer at the Daily Show with Trevor Noah, took some time to discuss her new feature documentary film, The Laughter Life, and share […]Read More
Morrigan McCarthy ’07
I let my curiosity lead me.”
How did you learn about Salt? A photographer friend in Portland took me to the final show of the 2006 fall semester, when the photography was still black and white […]Read More
Tracy Mumford Salt ’13, Steven Jackson Salt ’13
Tracy Mumford Salt ’13 and Steven Jackson Salt '13 won audio awards in the 2017 Third Coast/Richard H. . . .”
Tracy Mumford Salt ’13 and Steven Jackson Salt '13 won audio awards in the 2017 Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Competition.Read More
Tavia Gilbert Salt ’01
Tavia Gilbert Salt ’01 Receives Best Female Narrator Audie Award
Tavia Gilbert, who attended the Salt . . .”
Tavia Gilbert Salt ’01 Receives Best Female Narrator Audie Award Tavia Gilbert, who attended the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies in 2001, received a 2017 Best Female Narrator Audie Award […]Read More
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Program
Salt is Story
24/7 15-week experience
Salt Core Tracks of Study: Radio and Podcasting or Short Film
Students choose one track to study (8 credits each)
And also enrolled in:
The Salt Workshop (4 credits)
Field Research (4 credits)
Total: 16 credits
