Interns Needed to work on photo book, tour and exhibition about Hindu elephant-headed God Ganesh

Photographer and multimedia producer, Shana Dressler, is looking for committed interns to work on a coffee table photography book on Ganesh, pre-production for multimedia exhibition on Ganesh Festival which will open at the Rubin Museum on Art in Chelsea in the fall of 2009 (research/raw material collection trip scheduled for fall of 2007) and a tour organized by former NY Indian Tourism head to India for early September 2007.

Interested interns can choose to work on one of two projects:

Project 1 : Exhibition photographs and video shorts curated by Shana Dressler and Kathryn Selig Brown (Rubin Museum staff curator)

Duties include: help to organize September 2007 trip to collect raw material – outreach to Bombay-based video camera operators for reels to be considered for 2-3 shooters who will be hired locally for fall trip – development of pre-exhibition web site that explains project to funders and creative collaborators

– research into grants and sponsors; write first draft grants for an individual artist and institutions – data entry into database used to cultivate private donors; compile future mailing list from business cards, unorganized lists of Indian associations and members, Indian press and non-Indian press interested in India, etc. (large part of internship)

– develop marketing plan to expand Rubin Museum mailing list and maximize publicity and buzz for the show

– research on Ganesh birth stories, symbolism of various objects found in paintings, sculptures, folk art, areas where annual Ganesh festival is celebrated outside of Bombay and Chennai

Project 2

– 100+ page coffee table photography book of images of Ganesh around the world produced by Shana Dressler and photographer/ESPN photo editor Seshu Badrinath and promotion of tour to India organized by former NY Indian Tourism Bureau head

– outreach to professional and amateur photographers to gather images of Ganesh during the image collection period: May 2007-December 2007; craft outreach email and research photo agencies, photographer associations, blogs, schools, institutions – design and program website and blog to explain project, submission procedure, rules, create a future mailing list for book sales

– design area to sell prints off web site

– research possible corporate sponsors – research possible introduction writers

– help to put together book proposal and marketing/publicity plan

– create other merchandising opportunities including day and month calendar, note cards, magnets, etc.

– research possible online distribution possibilities besides Amazon, companies which may buy book in bulk to give away as a corporate gift

Tour: Put together list of individuals who may be interested from materials already collected

Internship start date: early mid-May through late-August

Number of positions: 3

Time commitment: 15 hours a week minimum (much will be off-site)

Requirements: proficiency of MS Word, internet research, excellent writing skills, detail-oriented and web programming knowledge is a plus

Compensation: this is a non-paid internship, however if after the summer a student wants to continue we will negotiate a fee at that point with a defined scope of work

Application instructions: Please pick one of the projects and email a short cover letter explaining why you're interested in interning on Project 1 or 2 and what skills you have to bring. Include your resume as a PDF (preferred method) or MS Word document and send to shana@swimmingelephant.com.

Background info: Click this for photos.

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