Discovering Ganesh

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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.

SHANA DRESSLER

Shana Dressler’s career as a multi-media producer has spanned several continents and disciplines. Highlights from work she’s done in the past few years include putting together an exhibition of photographs of the Ganesh Festival as celebrated in Bombay as part of the international arts festival in Lille, France; consulting for the Music and Cultural Programming Department at Link TV; working with the Global Peace Initiative of Women on fundraising for the Global Youth Leadership Summit; and helping to produce The Spirit of Fès US National Tour of world sacred music.

As a photographer, Shana has worked for magazines both in the United States and abroad. Her recent endeavor is mounting a multimedia exhibition of her work on the Ganesh Festival in Bombay at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York. In June 2005, she produced a multimedia slide show at the United Nations and exhibited at the National Arts Club, with the support of the Indian Tourism Board and Kodak Professional. “If Only It Were Love,” a photography project based on her unrequited love story with an Italian underwater photographer in Italy was exhibited at New York University’s Casa Italiana in January of 2003.

As a video journalist Shana covered the “Drumming In The New Millenium” festival shot in Cairo, Egypt for World Entertainment Network and has filmed station spots of world music stars such as Baaba Maal, Habib Koité and Afro Celt Sound System for Link TV. In 2000, Shana completed “Can't Wait ‘Til Sunday,” a documentary short which she directed and produced with National Geographic photographer/cameraman Bob Sacha, about a Harlem preacher’s last night of work as a mechanic for the United States Postal Service. This film was part of a long-term photography project about spiritual experience in a Pentecostal church in Harlem. A portfolio of photographs from this project is part of the permanent collection of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York.

Ms. Dressler is a 1989 graduate of Vassar College and holds a B.A. in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. She received her photography training at the International Center of Photography in New York where she took courses in photojournalism while studying Comparative Religion and Anthropology at Columbia University. She is fluent in Italian, French and Spanish. Ms. Dressler's web sites are the following: www.swimmingelephant.com/ganesh, www.ifonlyitwerelove.com and www.shanadressler.com.

SESHU BADRINATH

Seshu Badrinath began his career as an editorial photographer and his work has appeared in MSNBC.com, ESPN and slew of news and feature magazines. He has degrees in History and American Studies from California State University, Chico and a graduate degree in Journalism from Indiana University. He was trained in documentary photography at The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, in Portland, Maine. He completed internships at MSNBC.com and the News & Observer, in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has worked as a photo researcher at Corbis and currently works as a photo editor for ESPN.com.

Seshu is deeply committed to promoting the arts, and more specifically photography, from South Asia. He publishes TIFFINBOX (www.tiffinbox.org), a blog that actively seeks unpublished photo and multimedia projects produced in South Asia. Seshu is a former board member of the South Asian Journalists
Association (www.saja.org) and is still actively involved in that organization’s annual convention planning, acting as producer of the SAJA PHOTOFORUM; an annual photo exhibit showcasing the best editorial images
from South Asia. At the 2007 convention, Seshu will be conducting his first photography workshop for the convention.

Seshu is the principal photojournalist for Pipal Productions, a wedding and event photography business he founded in 1996. He will be launching SESHU PHOTOGRAPHY(www.seshu.net) in Fall 2007.