Date Posted: Apr 17, 2015
Application Deadline: May 04, 2015
Start Date: May 13, 2015

Salary: Volunteer position
Region: Work from home
Term: Volunteer
Hours: Minimum 5 hours per week

About Stratford Festival Reviews

Stratford Festival Reviews is the top website covering the Stratford Festival, The Shaw Festival and Drayton Entertainment.

In operation for 7 years, the site receives almost 1,500 pageviews per day during the summer season.

The bounce rate is 2.97%, with an average session duration of 3 minutes and a repeat visitor ratio of 82%.

As well as aggregating theatre reviews from top media critics, the site also publishes stories about arts and culture in Southwestern Ontario.

The site is on track to hit 1 million page views this summer.

Stratford Festival Reviews is published by Keith Tomasek – Linkedin

Job Description

Seeking someone to help manage the content on three websites, one of which is a podcast:
Stratford Festival Reviews
Shaw Festival Reviews
The Inadequate Life

I’m looking for someone who enjoys writing and researching.

You’ll write weekly blog stories about theatre and activities in Stratford and Niagara on the Lake. You’ll also research and write background notes and questions for interviews with some of Canada’s most celebrated actors, writers and directors.

During the festival season you’ll curate theatre reviews from major publications including The Chicago Tribune, The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, The Toronto Star, etc.

If you have experience with audio you could help produce and edit interviews for The Inadequate Life podcast which is available on iTunes.

Requirements

– Excellent research and writing skills.
For example I might ask you to find published reviews of the 1959 stage debut of “The Sound of Music’” (being performed at The Stratford Festival this season) and write a story about the show’s ability to remain relevant despite changes to societal norms.
– A basic ability to manipulate digital images with your own software.
– Creative thinker with a passion for building an audience of arts and culture lovers.
– Solid interpersonal and organizational skills: an ability to quickly and effectively work with other people.
– Self-directed. Much of the work will be done unsupervised, so you must have the ability to work to deadlines independently.

You will learn:

As a former CBC and CTV producer, and journalism lecturer at Western University, I’ve developed a skill set for building audiences.

I’ve also won the National Screen Institute Drama Prize and have been shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination.

Working closely with me you’ll learn the best methods for selecting stories, researching them, securing interviews and developing questions to create popular content.

You’ll also get hands on experience with:
– WordPress, the same CMS used by The New York Times, CNN and other major media organizations.
– Social media tools including Buffer and Hootsuite.
– Content marketing, a skill that is becoming much in demand.
– Best practices Twitter and Facebook.

Benefits:
– Curating reviews will expose you to the best writing about theatre and sharpen your critical skills.
– You will be able to see a few shows for free.
– Boost your CV with great stories and contacts.
– Working with the publisher your writing style, and engagement on social media, will improve over the course of the summer.

How to Apply:
Please submit your resume, and a short note about yourself to keith@stratfordfestivalreviews.com using “Volunteer” in the subject line.
Follow me on Twitter @FestivalReviews