1. YASS! Mentorship Program & Production Grant 2023 • 2024
YASS! You are so sound! is a one-to-one mentorship program for emerging or experienced authors and audio artists of any age.
Do you have an idea for an audio piece or a work-in-progress you need support for? We are looking for you! If you are willing to learn and share your creative process with an experienced mentor, you are in the right place!
Two audio makers will be selected to work with the YASS! 24 mentors Cristal Duhaime and Yasmina Hamlawi between February and September 2024. The works will premiered at LUCIA festival.
Each mentee will be paired with one mentor whom we think will enhance their work. Our aim is to create a space for mutual creative exchange that supports the individual process of the author. Mentors will respect who you are and what you do but they will also positively challenge you to go beyond your production comfort zone and this means to be fully aware of what the audio materials allow you to do and to which extent you can push their boundaries.
Who can apply?
YASS! is open to authors, producers and artists based in Europe and the MENA (Middle-East and North Africa) area.
There are no linguistic or age limits.**
2. What do the mentees get from YASS!?
• 40 hours of the Mentorship Program
To be scheduled according to the needs of both mentees and mentors,
• Production grant: €1.500/each
• International circulation of the final productions
• Presentation of the productions at Lucia Festival 2024
The Authors/Producers will keep the rights to their works, but will grant Radio Papesse and LUCIA Festival the permission/right to make them accessible online – on radiopapesse.org and luciafestival.org – in the frame of related events (such as educational programs, listening sessions…), to submit them to international festivals and events and to use them for non-commercial uses in general.
3. How to apply?
Applicants will be required to fill the ONLINE FORM and include a link to a shared folder (Dropbox, GDrive, OneDrive…) with:
• information about their background and skills
Previous experience in radio storytelling, audio and podcast production is not required, but is preferred,
• a short description of the story/idea they would love to work on
• audio clips (max 5 minutes) and a short presentation (max 1 page), if the production has already been launched,
• payment receipt (via Paypal or wire transfer)
For applications to be considered, shared folders must be accessible and contain all required materials.
All these info will help us not only select the mentees but also pair you with the mentors. The more we know about you, the better to foresee significant collaborations and enriching turning points in your productions.
We are all from diverse latitudes and we welcome every language, but we do ask you to keep our communication in English.
APPLICATION FEE: €15,00
The fee will help support organizational costs only.
Students’ participation is free.
DEADLINE: January 31st 2024 – 11pm CET
Review of applicants will begin as soon as the deadline is closed, and all applicants will be notified by mid-February regarding the selection.
3. The Mentors: Cristal Duhaime e Yasmina Hamlawi
Cristal Duhaime
Cristal Duhaime is a Canadian audio-maker producing podcasts and documentary work with a focus on personal storytelling.
Most recently she was a senior producer at New York Times Audio where she helped develop First Person and the upcoming Animal. Before that, Cristal was the co-creator of CBC’s Love Me. Her credits also include scripted comedy series, long-form chat shows and art installations with work being featured internationally at various festivals and on Short Cuts, This American Life, and Snap Judgment, among other places.
Cristal is based in Montréal, Canada where she got her start in broadcasting on Jonathan Goldstein’s WireTap, for which the team won a Prix Italia. .
Yasmina Hamlawi
For several years, she wrote as a freelance journalist for various French-language newspapers. From the Arab world to India, from Bangladesh to Iran, Yasmina focuses on women’s access to fundamental rights in a globalized world: social equality, migration, access to water and education, climate impact…
She swapped the pen for the microphone and made her first creative documentary Le prix de l’exil, selected for the 2012 Prix Europa and the 2013 Longueur d’Ondes Festival. Her second radio documentary, Perle, won the Grand Prix de la radio URTI 21-UNESCO and the Prix Europa 22.
She particularly appreciates the poetry offered by sound creation, the silences that say it all, the rhythms and musicality that can be explored. Through her radio creations, Yasmina likes to give a voice to the voiceless and deal with non-visible, almost unspeakable subjects.
YASS! Mentorship Program 2023•24 is possible thanks to the support of Regione Toscana – Toscanaincontemporanea 2023.