Join an upcoming cohort to help gather and share stories for the project in 2023!

Community Roots is a community oral history project featuring Washington’s South Sound who are artists, innovators, and change-makers. The project shares wisdom from elders, and community members, while creating opportunities for intergenerational conversations to tackle the challenges, and imagine possibilities for today. As a community-based effort, we invite involvement in all aspects of the project - from conducting interviews and editing them into short audio stories, to community mapping, curating a photo voice exhibit, planning community events, and more.

The Details

Cohorts meet weekly for 2 hours over the course of 9 weeks to complete a stage of the project: oral history interviewing, audio editing, and public programming. Weekly meetings are held at the Window Seat Media office in downtown Olympia. We may occasionally meet by zoom. No previous experience is needed to participate. However, it is a time commitment and we ask that you commit to completing the full 9 weeks. College students may use this as an internship or independent learning experience.

APPLY*

Winter Cohort: Oral History Interviewing

Meets weekly on Fridays from 2-4pm from January 13 - March 17

The winter cohort will learn the art and practice of oral history interviewing, sound recording, and transcription. Cohort members will interview 2-3 people for the project and edit the interview transcription in collaboration with their narrators.

Spring Cohort: Audio Editing

Meets weekly on Fridays from 2-4pm from April 7 - June 9

The spring cohort will learn audio editing and create short audio pieces from the oral history interviews to share as part of the photo voice exhibit. Each cohort member will edit 2-3 stories in collaboration with the narrators.

Summer Cohort: Public Programming

Meets weekly on Fridays from 2-4pm from June 30 - Sept 1

The summer cohort will help produce public programming to share the stories from the series. Programming is produced in collaboration with project narrators. Cohort members will focus on exhibit curation, community mapping, and/or event planning. Our public programming will take place during September and October 2023.

*Note: We can accept up to 5 people per quarter. Completing the application does not guarantee your enrollment. You may also apply for future cohorts. Deadlines for the Spring cohort will be announced by the end of February.