Fellowship

SAADA Philadelphia Fellowship (2022)

SAADA

1900 Market Street, FL 8
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Deadline

Feb 28, 2022

Posted

Feb 06, 2022

We are excited to invite applications for the inaugural cohort of SAADA’s Philadelphia Fellowship, made possible with support from the Independence Public Media Foundation.

Three fellows will be selected in the 2022 cohort, with projects focusing on sharing stories from Bangladeshi, Bhutanese, and Malayalee communities in Philadelphia.

At a glance
Applications due: February 28, 2022, by 11:59pm ET
Fellowship workshop: April 2 & 3, 2022 (either virtually or in Philadelphia)
Fellowship period: April 1, 2022, to November 30, 2022

Fellows receive: $5,000 stipend; $1,000 equipment budget; $1,000 event budget; $750 advisory group budget; $750 artist budget.

Please note: The health and safety of SAADA fellows, staff, and advisors is our primary concern, and fellowship activities will be conducted virtually until it is possible to safely meet in person. The fellowship workshop on April 2 & 3, 2022 may be held either virtually or in-person in Philadelphia if pandemic conditions allow and in mutual agreement between SAADA staff and fellows.

About the fellowship
SAADA’s newly launched Philadelphia Fellowship will support three fellows in sharing the stories of three South Asian American communities in Philadelphia: the Bangladeshi community in West Philadelphia, the Bhutanese community in South Philadelphia, and the Malayalee community in Northeast Philadelphia.

This fellowship program is open to all U.S.-based individuals with work authorization who are themselves members of the community they will be archiving, or in which they otherwise have deep existing relationships. Applicants should have a strong demonstrable interest and commitment to community storytelling. No formal educational or archival training is necessary for this fellowship.

Fellows are expected to dedicate approximately 5 hours/week to their project over the duration of the eight-month fellowship period, from April 1, 2022, to November 30, 2022.

About SAADA
SAADA is a community-based culture change organization, working to ensure that South Asian Americans are included in the American story: past, present, and future.

For the past thirteen years, SAADA has collected, preserved, and shared stories of South Asian Americans, creating the largest publicly accessible archive of our community’s history. SAADA enables and supports artists, academics, filmmakers, journalists, students, and community members in creating content that shapes public understanding about the South Asian American community. Our work is done by, with, and for our community.

In addition to the Philadelphia Fellowship, SAADA has facilitated other fellowship initiatives, such as our Archival Creators Fellowship Program. Now in its third year, the Archival Creators Fellowship has supported community members to create archival collections reflecting the histories and perspectives of marginalized groups within the South Asian American community. These include, but are not limited to, communities that are working class, undocumented, LGBTQ+, Dalit, Muslim, Indo-Caribbean, or otherwise excluded or overlooked in mainstream South Asian American narratives.

Application Timeline
January 27, 2022: Call for fellowship applications is made available online
February 28, 2022: Fellowship application deadline
Mid-March 2022: Phone interviews with fellowship finalists
March 23, 2022: Fellows are announced to the public

Fellowship Timeline
April 2 & 3, 2022: Two-day workshop (either virtual or in-person in Philadelphia) on digital archival practices, oral history methodology, and community relationship building.
April 1, 2022, to November 30, 2022: Fellowship period; includes bi-weekly meetings with fellowship cohort and SAADA staff.

During the fellowship period, Philadelphia Fellows will be responsible for:

  • Conducting ten oral history interviews and digitizing related materials for the archive.
  • Participating in a two-day fellowship workshop (either virtually or in-person in Philadelphia).
  • Participating in bi-weekly meetings (either virtually or in-person in Philadelphia).
  • Convening a community-based advisory group.
  • Writing two essays for TIDES, SAADA’s online magazine.
  • Developing an online exhibit for the SAADA website.

Philadelphia Fellows will receive:

  • $5,000 fellowship stipend.
  • $1,000 budget for equipment costs.
  • $1,000 budget for collection launch event.
  • $750 budget for advisory group honoraria.
  • $750 budget to work with artists.
  • Support, guidance, and training from SAADA staff and advisors.

Please direct all questions and inquiries to fellowships@saada.org.

Requirements

This fellowship program is open to all U.S.-based individuals with work authorization who are themselves members of the community they will be archiving, or in which they otherwise have deep existing relationships. Applicants should have a strong demonstrable interest and commitment to community storytelling. No formal educational or archival training is necessary for this fellowship.