OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters. VOLUNTEER VOICE ARTISTS (READERS) WANTED.

OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters (O:JA&L), an established multi-platform journal publishing since 2017 on behalf of OJAL Art Incorporated (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation), has immediate need for volunteer Editorial Assistants: Readers-in -Performance/Voice Artists with near-native fluency in English.

Are you an emerging actor or theater arts student? Are you a spoken-word artist or slam poet? Are you a vocalist or on-air personality? Are you a teacher, journalist, or literary academic with a focus on stage arts or film studies? Are you a student or graduate student pursuing a degree in theater arts, film studies, or broadcast journalism? Would you like to join an arts/media team that publishes some of the world’s most exciting studio artists, poets, and writers who are working today?

If you can answer yes to any of the questions above, you may find this resume-building position as A VOLUNTEER  Editorial Assistant: Reader-in-Performance (Voice Artist) with OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters (O:JA&L), to be a very interesting opportunity.

Qualifications:
The qualified candidate will be able to commit to up to 10 hours of assigned work per month (4-5 well-rehearsed readings); will be able to demonstrate the ability to read, write, and speak English with at least near-native fluency and/or will be able to document current enrollment at an accredited institution of higher learning in a degree-granting program in fine arts, language and literature, journalism and communication, theater arts, or education; and will be able to furnish compelling references.

The ideal candidate will have command of two or more languages, a minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent professional skill set, and an IMDb profile.

Essential Skills: 

  • Good stage, screen or vocal presence.
  • The ability to enter into another character and engage with an audience.
  • The ability to memorize lines.
  • Good understanding of dramatic techniques.
  • Having the confidence, energy and dedication to perform.
  • Creative insight.
  • Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others. 
  • Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. 
  • Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems. 
  • Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
  • Systems Analysis - Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
  • Systems Evaluation - Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.

Duties:

  • Reports to the Associate Editor for Media and Media Production.
  • Selects material from among the eligible works published by OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters
  • Develops and rehearses an appropriate persona and/or delivery style for the selected work
  • Writes a simple introduction for each selected work including as appropriate the performer's own identity, and a preview of the work (without spoilers)
  • Writes a simple conclusion for each selected work including the writer's summarized biography. The reader's recorded biography is optional.
  • Performs the work and creates an MP3 and submits it to the Associate Editor for Media and Media Production
  • Duties of Systems Analysis - In consultation with the Managing Editor, determines how and to what extent the interview met the needs of both O:JA&L and the needs of the interview subject and to what extent the conditions, operations, and the interview environment were under the control of the interviewer, or determines how and to what extent the or dramatic reading/oral interpretation of a selected work met the needs of both O:JA&L and the needs of the audience and the writer and to what extent the conditions, operations, and the performance environment were under the control of the reader.
  • Duties of Systems Evaluation – In consultation with the Managing Editor, identifies measures/indicators/actions which would improve the interview environment and/or improve interviewer control over the conditions and operations of the interview process to meet the goals of O:JA&L, or identifies measures/indicators/actions which would improve the dramatic performance environment and/or improve reader control over the conditions and operations of the dramatic/interpretive reading act to meet the goals of O:JA&L 

Benefits:
Intrinsic benefits include the singular experience of first-hand opportunity to interpret for an international audience the work of first-rate creative talents from across the world, the professionally valuable experience of working as part of a team of dedicated artists and writers to produce a journal with value to readers and contributors, and the personally valuable opportunity to develop or strengthen specific interpersonal skills and to improve professional expertise as a Perfomer or On-Air Personality.
After 90 days of faithful performance in the position (a minimum of 20 on-air readings), extrinsic benefits include letters of recommendation from a senior editor attesting to the reader's qualifications and dependability supported by detailed performance evaluations in all skill areas.

Contact O:JA&L:
Respond with letter of interest and resume to the initial screener through Submittable.

We use Submittable to accept and review our submissions.