Be Loud Studios - Pass The Mic Teacher Fellowship (Deadline 9/4)

Be Loud Studios is a New Orleans non-profit that amplifies kid confidence through radio production. This year, Be Loud is returning for its sixth season of Pass The Mic, a fellowship experience for NOLA-based educators interested in creating and broadcasting audio content with youth. Check out the fellowship homepage of a collection of amazing teacher projects, fellowship data, photos, teachers and student stories, and more!

This upcoming year of the Pass The Mic Fellowship will continue its baseline focus of equipping teachers to create and broadcast audio content with youth, as well collectively examining essential questions centered on Digital Well-being.  

As educators, we know that New Orleans youth face a growing crisis of connection and mental health—a national trend that is especially acute locally– and this year we will continue to unpack how teachers can better facilitate a larger dialogue with youth about their relationship with technology. This is not easy work, but it is something that feels both necessary and urgent. 

The program will run from October to April. Each participant will receive $500 worth of recording equipment for their classroom and a personal stipend ($1000) upon completing their project.

Ready to Apply? Please fill out this form here by September 4th

Who are we looking for? K-12 educators who want to create audio content with kids. You do not need any prior experience with audio production. Instead, we require that you are committed to listening to and amplifying the voices of your students

What do I get besides the 💸💸💸? The program is intended to help support youth-led audio production in New Orleans and provide the resources, community, and opportunities for educators facilitating that work. In doing so, we will provide:

• Cohort Connection. We will meet as a small cohort every month to learn how to press record, share our work, receive feedback on how to push our programming, and engage in focused work and discussion centered on the topic of Digital Well-being.  The meetings are interactive and collaborative and designed to directly assist the work you are doing on your project and in your classroom. 

• Individual Coaching. Between each cohort meeting we will provide individual opportunities for you to check in with us and receive support/feedback from an alumni coach invested in this work.

• Soundtrap Premium Subscriptions. Thanks to our friends at Soundtrap, we offer a classroom set of premium subscriptions for you to distribute. Soundtrap is an awesome tool for you to introduce and produce high quality audio projects with your students this year. 

What do you have to do? We understand that you are busy and want to make this as supportive as possible. With that said, we require you to commit to the following:

• Produce! 1) Complete a collaborative audio project with the Pass The Mic Fellows in the Fall centered around Digital Well-being (check out last year’s project here!) 2) Work with your students to create a class audio project of your choice in the Spring (examples here). Projects will be shared + promoted virtually and broadcasted on the radio. 

• Publish! Design a website with the help of the Be Loud team where your audio content can live and be easily accessed by listeners in the community. 

• Show Up! Attend all cohort meetings. Schedule and location will be shared with selected fellows upon acceptance.  Attend the Youth Voice Festival -- a community celebration of Pass The Mic, and other awesome organizations supporting the creative work of students in New Orleans. Attend the Pass The Mic Wrap Party, a teacher-focused celebration of your work in the fellowship. 

• Give us feedback! This will include three surveys through the program and a final interview to debrief your experience in May.

Do you have any example projects? YES! Check out these incredible projects created by fellows: 

• Energy Boost! - Fifth grade students of ISL Uptown examine systems of power! 

• Get Schooled on School - Elementary school students at Bricolage Academy learn about the organization and operation of their school through stories and interviews.

• Classroom Public Radio - A variety show produced by the students of Audubon Charter!

• Me In This Moment - Stories of meaningful moments, produced by the students of New Harmony High. 

• String Stories - Students from the Homer Plessy violin program talk all things strings!

• Unscripted: Beyond the Page - A podcast where 5th and 6th graders take the mic​ and amplify​ their voices beyond the classroom, textbooks​, expectations. ​

What do I do next to apply? Please fill out this form here by September 4th. It should take no longer than 30 minutes. After September 4th, we will invite teachers to submit a short audio recording to better understand their goals and interests.  

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to jeff@beloudstudios.org 

Looking forward to hearing from you!