The Salt Diversity Fellowship
As part of Salt at MECA&D’s commitment to training the next generation of storytellers, we are pleased to offer the Salt Diversity Fellowship. The Fellowship focuses on supporting the work of students from underrepresented communities who have been accepted into the fifteen-week Salt Institute for Documentary Studies Graduate Certificate Program at MECA&D.
The Salt Institute is committed to training storytellers to tell stories in ways that are equitable and inclusive. We also recognize that documentary has often reinforced the inequality present in our societies, rather than challenging it. As part of our mission as storytellers and citizens, we are committed to transforming this field so that it reflects and amplifies a diversity of experiences, identities, and voices. Ideal applicants produce work that embodies and reinforces these core values.
The Salt Fellowship for Fall 2021 is due by May 1, 2021.
This merit-based award aims to promote racial and ethnic diversity within the Salt Institute and Maine College of Art & Design.
The Fellowship Review Committee will award one or more partial scholarships each term; funds are allocated at the discretion of the committee. The College reserves the right to publicize the names of and information about the award recipients. We will work with the awardees to develop these announcements.
Recent awardees include: Twiggy Rodriguez (Spring 2019, Visual Track) and Lauro Minaya (Spring 2019, Visual Track)
Application Process
Interested applicants are required to complete both the standard Salt application and the Salt Fellowship application (which consists of a separate 500-word essay; submit in the form below).
The Salt Fellowship will be offered each term. The Salt Fellowship for Fall 2021 is now open and due by May 1, 2021.
Please complete your Fellowship application after you have completed the standard application. Your Fellowship application cannot be reviewed until your Salt application has been processed.
Essay Prompt*
In 500 words or less, please describe your motivations for attending Salt and why your personal experiences make you a good candidate for the Salt Diversity Fellowship, which focuses on supporting students of underrepresented communities. The essay should highlight ways in which your past and/or future planned work reflects and amplifies a diversity of experiences, identities, and voices in line with Salt’s Values statement.
Salt Values Statement
The Salt Institute at MECA&D is committed to training storytellers to tell stories in a way that is equitable and inclusive. We also recognize that documentary has all too often reinforced the inequality present in our societies, rather than challenging it. Apart of our mission as storytellers and citizens, we are committed to transforming this field so that it reflects and amplifies a diversity of experiences, identities, and voices.
In order to better live these values, we consciously work to make Salt a community that directly rejects all forms of oppression, including racism, classism, and gender-based violence. We ask students and faculty alike to engage with issues of power and privilege, and we support documentarians and storytellers who challenge the status quo. We also acknowledge that this work is constant and ongoing, and vital to our shared future.
To quote from Yaa Gyasi’s novel, Homegoing: "We believe the one who has the power…. So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there, you begin to get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture."
Fields indicated with a * are required in the form below.
Salt Diversity Fellowship Application
Header photography: Annie Avilés, Salt at MECA&D