FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR SUMMER 2009 AUDIO INSTITUTES

Eric Estes Memorial Scholarship Fund





Eric Estes Memorial Scholarship Fund

Founded in 2006, the Eric Estes Memorial Scholarship Fund provides opportunities for individuals with limited financial means to participate in institutes and courses offered by the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) at Duke University in conjunction with Duke Continuing Studies. Currently, the scholarship fund provides tuition for Hearing Is Believing I: An Audio Documentary Summer Institute. One scholarship is awarded each year.

The Eric Estes Scholarship was established to honor the relationship between Valjeane Estes and her brother Eric. Jamie Dell'apa , founder of the fund, met Valjeane Estes as part of a fieldwork assignment in a week-long Hearing Is Believing summer audio institute at CDS. His interview with her, initially focused on Valjeane's commitment to teaching financial literacy to teenagers, shifted to the story she most wanted to tell: the inspiration she found in her brother Eric's passion for life—his sense of humor, his participation in the Morehouse College Men's Choir—as well as the impact on her life of his untimely death at the age of thirty-one.

Eligibility for the Eric Estes Scholarship requires a clearly articulated commitment to exploring a particular topic through the art of documentary audio. Preference will be given to applicants who are engaged in nonprofit or community-based work and who plan to put the documentary skills learned at CDS to use in their communities. Applicants need not have experience in the documentary arts, though they must have a clear sense of how their new skills can be put to work.

We seek applications from individuals whose work reflects the CDS mission (see below). Scholarship recipients will be asked to share the results of their documentary work with CDS, and they will be required to pay 10 percent of the cost of the institute back into the scholarship fund over time.

Scholarship applications are due on February 27, 2009. The audio program director (John Biewen), learning outreach director (April Walton), and Valjeane Estes will review the applications. Recipients will be notified by April 31.

May 6 update: The Eric Estes scholarship has been awarded for this year.

In order to apply please send an email to awalton@duke.edu (put "Eric Estes Scholarship" in the subject line) or mail the following information to April Walton, Eric Estes Scholarship, Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, 1317 W. Pettigrew, Durham, NC 27705.


ERIC ESTES SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION:
1. Name, Address, Phone, Preferred E-mail Address

2. Why are you interested in attending the CDS Audio Institute?

3. How do you intend to use the skills learned in the CDS Audio Institute when you return to your home community?

4. How does your work connect with the CDS mission (see below)?

5. What are the financial circumstances that lead you to apply for support to attend the CDS Audio Institute?

6. Please provide contact information for two individuals who are familiar with your work.

Mission: The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University teaches, engages in, and presents documentary work grounded in collaborative partnerships and extended fieldwork that uses photography, film/video, audio, and narrative writing to capture and convey contemporary memory, life, and culture. CDS values documentary work that balances community goals with individual artistic expression. CDS promotes documentary work that cultivates progressive change by amplifying voices, advancing human dignity, engendering respect among individuals, breaking down barriers to understanding, and illuminating social injustices. CDS conducts its work for local, regional, national, and international audiences.


CONTRIBUTIONS
The Eric Estes Memorial Scholarship Fund provides an opportunity for institute participants and students in courses at CDS, as well as other interested supporters of the documentary arts, to make donations to carry on the work of the scholarship. The initial grant will fund the scholarship for three years.

For more information about how to contribute:

Go to http://cds.aas.duke.edu/donate/

OR contact:

Lynn McKnight, Development
Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University
919-660-3661
llm@duke.edu





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