The Kalish Workshop for Visual Storytelling

The annual Stan Kalish Picture Editing Workshop has trained more than 1,000 journalists in visual storytelling since its inception in 1990 at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

It was launched in memory of the pioneering picture editor of the Milwaukee Journal who co-wrote the first definitive book on the subject.

Now the intensive four-day session, taught by top pros, is held at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, and is known throughout the industry simply as "The Kalish."

This year's session is June 20-24, and it's called Kalish 3.0 in deference to the fact that its onetime print focus has been completely eclipsed by digital multimedia.

New in Kalish 3.0 are sessions in User Generated Visuals with discussions about recruiting the visual talents in your community, strategies for raising the level of contributed work and integrating community members as a part of your organizations' news coverage strategies. Many visual editors are now working with freelancers and community members so we're retooling our ethics session appropriately.

All the values of The Kalish remain: leadership, managing by example, and the ethical treatment of people and images. Those themes are the framework for intense, exhausting discussions about visual storytelling. Establishing narrative, selecting the media mix, editing to the narrative, and producing the story are in our curriculum. We combine a mix of lectures, hands-on exercises, critiques and group discussions to create a more complete learning experience.

Tuition is $650. Enrollment is limited to 30. Apply before May 1 here.

More info here.

Or contact director Scott Sines at 901.529.5843. Tell him Kobre sent ya.

Learn Visual Editing at the Kalish Workshop

If you want to learn visual editing, your best bargain is the intensive Kalish Workshop, June 4-8 at Ball State University in Indiana. Registration is only $500 to work with top pros.

The Kalish has reinvented itself to bridge the training needs of two distinct yet related news gathering groups: Online news organizations with staffs that possess incredible web skills but need help in visual storytelling and journalistic skills; and newspaper organizations that have skilled visual storytellers and journalists but are lacking web skills.

Kalish director Scott Sines (whose day job is managing editor of the Memphis Commercial Appeal) writes:

The 2010 Kalish is accepting applications [through May 1] for the 21st edition of this venerable workshop. It's an opportunity to learn cross-platform multimedia skills from a faculty of Emmy and Pulitzer Prize winning visual editors. Brian Storm, Geri Migielicz, Sue Morrow, Randy Cox and Kenny Irby will be on the faculty this year, along with other industry experts. The core faculty has worked together on this program for many years and most of them stay through the duration of the workshop, providing ample time to answer your questions. Last year we closed registration at 30 people and attracted a diverse group of working professionals, students and professors from six countries. It was one of our most successful workshops and this year should be better.

After much thought, and vigorous eyebrow raising, The Kalish board, with the support of the National Press Photographers Foundation, have decided to keep the registration fee for this year's workshop at $500. It's the lowest rate you'll find for a workshop of this quality. You'll receive four full days (June 4-8) of intense hands-on instruction.

The traditional Kalish values of ethical decision-making in journalism and management remain. The workshop begins with a primer in FinalCut Pro, progresses through picture selection, multiple picture editing and news judgment, to multimedia and management.

The days are long and packed with real-life decision-making exercises in visual storytelling, which you will be expected to defend in front of the group. We work hard and then we play hard. Please ask any Kalish alum about their experience with us; they are our best references. You can hear testimonials and learn more about the workshop at kalishworkshop.org .

More info here.

Apply here.