Scholarship For Research About The Leather/Kink Community

Do you want to do research or journalism about the kink/leather/BDSM community? The Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago is an amazing resource and it has extensive collections.

Of course, it’s often difficult to get there, especially when you’re a grad student or freelance writer. So I was really happy to see that there’s a privately funded scholarship being offered. See below for info and pass it along!

On behalf of Leatherpage.com, Leland Carina is offering a privately-funded scholarship for research and journalism in the amount of $1,000. This money is intended to cover the flight and hotel for a weekend-long stay in Chicago, providing an opportunity for the recipient to research at the Leather Archives & Museum (LA&M). Any funds remaining after travel costs may be used to further the recipient’s work.

Rick Storer, Executive Director of LA&M, will meet with the recipient to suggest resources that may be useful and provide training on using the museum’s in-house catalogs.

The winner will document their process on Leatherpage.com in blog format and also publish a series of articles based on their findings. Specific subjects may include a wide range of interests; particular proposals are to be made at the time of application.

This scholarship is open to all members of the Leather Community. Applicants will be required to submit a Leather community resume, samples of previous writing/projects, and references. In addition, applicants are asked to respond to a provocative question with a sample article. The most innovative answers will be published on Leatherpage.com.

The scholarship recipient will be determined based on merit. Experience will be considered in relation to time in the community; a promising newer member has equal chance to receive it as does a seasoned veteran. Leland may enlist the help of advisors during the review process.

The mission of this Scholarship is to support community research and journalism, to invite critical thinking about the structure of our community, and to spark engaged public discourse. It is Leland’s hope that this will start a new trend– inspiring organizations and individuals to sponsor similar investigations that will solidly and directly benefit our community.

Prospective applicants are encouraged to request the formal application, to do so please write to Leland (at) Leatherpage (dot) com.

Application deadline is June 30th, 2012. Scholarship will be awarded on or by September 1st. Applicants must be able to successfully complete the work before the end of 2012.

Please help spread the word to people to those you feel should apply!