Summer 2008 Audio Institutes

Financial Support for Summer 2008 Audio Institutes
[Eric Estes Memorial Scholarship Fund; Discounts for AIR Members]

Summer 2008 Video Institute

Summer 2008 Literacy Through Photography Institute

Gallery: Slide Show of Summer Institutes

Student Testimonials about CDS Workshops / Institutes / Continuing Studies

Past Workshops/Institutes




To register for these institutes, contact Duke Continuing Studies by calling (919) 684-6259 Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. or visit their Web site at: http://www.learnmore.duke.edu/weekend/courses







Summer 2008 Audio Institutes

Hearing Is Believing I: An Audio Documentary Summer Institute
John Biewen

The Center for Documentary Studies presents a weeklong, morning-till-night immersion in audio documentary work. You’ll learn hands-on skills in recording and digital audio mixing; discuss issues such as the ethics of documentary work; explore varied uses for audio documentaries (it’s not just radio anymore); and hear accomplished producers play and talk about their work in evening presentations. During the week you’ll work with a fellow student to produce and edit a short audio documentary, from the first interview and sound-gathering to the final mix.

Computers and editing software will be provided for your use in completing your institute project. Students should bring field-recording equipment, including recorder, microphone, headphones, and tapes, minidisks, or flash cards. No experience in audio production is required. A basic comfort level with computers is desirable. The institute counts as 40 hours toward the Certificate in Documentary Studies.

The institute will be led by John Biewen along with other staff members of the Center for Documentary Studies. Visiting artists will also join the institute faculty; past instructors have included Chris Brookes, Neenah Ellis, Deb George, Karen Michel, Dmae Roberts, and Judith Sloan.

This institute (July 13–19) is full. To be added to the waiting list, please contact Duke Continuing Studies at (919) 684-6259 Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Financial support for summer 2008 audio institutes: Eric Estes Memorial Scholarship | Discount for AIR (Association of Independents in Radio) Members

Information packets and schedules will be mailed to registered students at a later date. The enrollment fee includes lunches and one dinner.

Date: Sunday to Saturday, July 13–19
This 7-day intensive starts Sunday, 3 p.m.; Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. (plus evening presentations); concludes Saturday, 3 p.m. (40 hours)
Course fee: $775
Class ID: 11486

Financial support for summer 2008 audio institutes: Eric Estes Memorial Scholarship | Discount for AIR (Association of Independents in Radio) Members


The Durham News reports on the summer 2007 audio institute

Association of Independents in Radio profiles the CDS audio institute in the summer 2007 issue of AIRspace

Summer 2007 audio institute documentaries on iTunes

John Biewen is the audio programs director at the Center for Documentary Studies; he was formerly a correspondent-producer for American RadioWorks, the national documentary unit of American Public Media. He has produced a large body of work on economic and social issues, as well as investigative reports and historical documentaries. His reporting has won numerous honors, including the Robert F. Kennedy (2000, 2001), Society of Professional Journalists (Sigma Delta Chi), Edward R. Murrow (RTNDA), and (American Bar Association) Silver Gavel Awards. A graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, with a degree in philosophy, he lived and taught in Osaka, Japan, from 1985 to 1987.



Hearing Is Believing II: Making It Sing
John Biewen

An intensive six-day workshop for students who’ve recorded interviews and gathered sound and are ready to construct a four- to ten-minute audio documentary. This course is designed for those who are ready to begin editing their project and have a basic grasp of audio editing software, or for individuals who have completed Make That Audio Doc and/or the one-week Hearing Is Believing summer institute and are ready to try a more ambitious project. This time you’ll bring your own recordings to the institute. You’ll get lessons and personal guidance from seasoned radio documentary producers as you structure and script your piece, record your narration tracks (if any), and mix your documentary on ProTools.

The institute will be led by John Biewen along with other staff members of the Center for Documentary Studies. Visiting artists will also join the institute faculty; past instructors have included Chris Brookes, Neenah Ellis, Deb George, Karen Michel, Dmae Roberts, and Judith Sloan.

Register early; spaces are limited.

Financial support for summer 2008 audio institutes: Discount for AIR (Association of Independents in Radio) Members

Information packets and schedules will be mailed to registered students at a later date. The enrollment fee includes lunches and one dinner.

Monday to Saturday, August 11–16
This 6-day intensive starts Monday, 6 p.m.; Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (plus evening presentations); concludes Saturday, 2 p.m. (35 hours)
Course fee: $775
Course ID: 11488

Financial support for summer 2008 audio institutes: Discount for AIR (Association of Independents in Radio) Members


Summer 2007 audio institute documentaries on iTunes

John Biewen is the audio programs director at the Center for Documentary Studies; he was formerly a correspondent-producer for American RadioWorks, the national documentary unit of American Public Media. He has produced a large body of work on economic and social issues, as well as investigative reports and historical documentaries. His reporting has won numerous honors, including the Robert F. Kennedy (2000, 2001), Society of Professional Journalists (Sigma Delta Chi), Edward R. Murrow (RTNDA), and (American Bar Association) Silver Gavel Awards. A graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, with a degree in philosophy, he lived and taught in Osaka, Japan, from 1985 to 1987.






Summer 2008 Video Institute

Documentary Video Institute
Randolph Benson, Jim Haverkamp, Simone Keith, Erika Simon, Carol Thomson

In this eight-day intensive, you will be fully immersed in the process of documentary filmmaking. Working in small production teams (one instructor for every four students) led by experienced documentary filmmakers, you will be introduced to an array of tools and techniques as you collaborate with a partner to direct, shoot, edit, and screen a documentary short. By the time you arrive at the institute, we will have arranged for you to do fieldwork in the Durham community on a documentary subject; you will then work with your partner to decide the technical and creative approach you want to take with your project. We will also explore different documentary genres and discuss collaboration, ethics, and community outreach. Small group learning environments and personalized training will keep you involved and on track regardless of your previous experience level. In addition, nationally known guest instructors will teach classes and screen their work in evening sessions. Past visiting filmmakers have included Linda Goode Bryant (Flag Wars), Marco Williams (award-winning Two Towns of Jasper), Ross McElwee (Sherman’s March, Brightleaves), and Alice Elliott (Academy Award-nominated The Collector of Bedford Street).

The Center for Documentary Studies will provide computers, editing software (Final Cut Express), and sound equipment. Basic computer skills are required. Participants should bring their own digital video cameras and lavaliere microphones, headphones, and two DV tapes. If you have a tripod, please bring it to the institute with you.

Register early; spaces are limited.

Information packets and schedules will be mailed to registered students at a later date. The enrollment fee includes lunches and one dinner.

Date: Saturday to Saturday, June 14–21
This 8-day intensive starts Saturday, 3 PM; Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. (plus evening presentations); concludes Saturday, 3 p.m. (48 hours)
Course fee: $1390
Course ID: 11483

Randolph Benson is a graduate of Wake Forest University and of the North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking. His film Man and Dog has appeared in eighteen film festivals in seven countries and has garnered numerous awards, most notably a Gold Medal in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Student Academy Awards. His work has been featured on the Bravo Network, the Independent Film Channel (Split Screen), WTTW-Chicago, UNC-TV (NC Visions), and Telewizja Polska S.A.–Poland. He received an Eastman Kodak Excellence in Filmmaking Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Jim Haverkamp is an award-winning filmmaker and editor based in Durham whose short documentary and fiction films have screened in festivals across the country. He has been the recipient of a Filmmaking Fellowship from the North Carolina Arts Council and recently was chosen to tour with Southern Circuit. He is a former organizer of the Flicker Film Festival in Chapel Hill.

Simone Keith’s short documentary Heavier Than Air has screened at numerous festivals and aired on UNC-TV. A native of Brazil, she has been making documentaries and video essays since arriving in North Carolina ten years ago. Keith has earned two Telly Awards and has collaborated on The Wonder of It All, a UNC-TV documentary about the life of George Beverly Shea, which was nominated for a regional Emmy. She currently works at North Carolina State University, where she is the videographer and editor for In the Garden with Bryce Lane.

Erika Simon has been teaching Final Cut to beginners at CDS since 2003. She was an editor for Gatewood: Facing the White Canvas and directed and edited SAF’s Levante: Theater for Social Change and a PSA that aired on Univisión. Her short doc, Gemini World, recently won the Carrboro Film Festival Audience Award. She is a recipient of the Martha Nell Hardy Award for Outstanding Teaching, UNC–Chapel Hill.

Carol Thomson has been creating web sites and multimedia works since 2000 when she began her documentary studies in Australia. She completed her Certificate in Documentary Studies at the Center for Documentary Studies in 2005. She is working on a multimedia documentary, Bridging Rails to Trails: Stories of the American Tobacco Trail, which will be published on the Web and as a CD-ROM. A work-in-progress version can be seen at http://bridgingrailstotrails.com. Thomson’s web and multimedia company, FireStream Media, LLC, is located in downtown Durham.

Summer 2008 LTP Institute

Literacy Through Photography
Wendy Ewald, Katie Hyde, Elena Rue

The Literacy Through Photography (LTP) Basic Workshop is open to anyone with a desire to learn how to bring together photography and writing. The workshop is appropriate for anyone seeking a collaborative approach to documentary work, or wanting to explore new approaches to documentary photography. Educators, artists, community workers, and researchers have adapted LTP methodologies in communities and schools around the world. This workshop is a wonderful opportunity to engage photography as an art form and educational medium, a mode of self-exploration, a way to connect visual literacy to verbal and written communication, and as a tool to facilitate community dialogue.

Throughout the week, participants receive hands-on instruction as they carry out assignments based on LTP’s core themes: self-portrait, community, and dreams. Participants will learn to process film and to print photographs in the darkroom. Both inexperienced and advanced photographers will have an exciting opportunity to creatively explore and produce their own work.

Workshop participants will learn the methods that LTP uses to teach creative writing and photography. Sessions focus on learning technical skills, viewing photographs, completing writing and photography exercises, and developing curricula. Participants will have an opportunity to discuss their own ideas for future projects. Individuals who have designed and successfully implemented their own LTP-inspired projects will also present their work to the group.

NOTE: Participants will be provided with cameras for each of their projects. Digital formats will NOT be supported for this workshop. (Limit 20)

If you are a professional interested in taking this class for CEUs, please contact Garry Crites at gjc3@duke.edu or (919) 684-3178.

Date: Monday to Friday, August 4–8
8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (30 hours)
Course fee: $720
Course ID: 11487

Wendy Ewald, who has worked with children in many countries and in various communities within the United States, is the founder and creative director of the Literacy Through Photography program at the Center for Documentary Studies. She has received numerous awards for her work with children and photography, among them fellowships from the Fulbright Commission and the MacArthur Foundation. Ewald has published nine books, most recently American Alphabets.

Katie Hyde has been involved with the Literacy Through Photography program since she studied with Wendy Ewald in 1998, and is currently the program’s director. She has traveled nationally to teach LTP workshops at major museums (e.g., The High Museum of Art in Atlanta and The Queens Museum of Art in New York), at schools, and with community organizations. She has also taught at Penland School of Crafts in Western North Carolina. Hyde earned her doctorate in sociology at North Carolina State University; her fieldwork has focused on recent Latino/a immigration in North Carolina, women’s activism in Russia, and girl’s education in rural Nepal. At Duke, she teaches an undergraduate course called Sociology Through Photography, and she collaborates with Wendy Ewald to teach a course focusing on children’s self-expression and race and gender issues within education.

Elena Rue is Literacy Through Photography’s Program Coordinator. She oversees the LTP program in the Durham Public Schools and helps lead LTP workshops. Before joining LTP, Rue worked as a documentary photographer for five years and has worked for several projects and programs at the Center for Documentary Studies. In 2006 she was a CDS Lewis Hine Documentary Fellow in Ethiopia.






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Documentary Video Institute, summer 2004. Photograph by Christopher Sims.