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Series Guidelines and Best Practices

Curating a series usually requires at least three to four months of work. In recognition of your work, we pay curators $300 each once the series is running. Below are some things to consider, our requirements, and some outstanding examples of past series.

What makes a good series?

  • Focus on a specific place (typically cities or regions), identity, craft, or issue
  • A well-connected curator who can get four to five experts to write from different angles and experiences, as well as promote the series to relevant networks, organizations, etc
  • A curator with excellent organization and communication skills
  • A curator willing to work with authors in order to ensure the desired arc of the series

Series Requirements:

  • Five written pieces or pieces of HowlRound TV video content (including a curator essay that runs the first day of the series)
  • Diverse writers: In addition to the varied perspectives your series contributors will provide, we ask you consider the makeup of your contributor pool in regards to age, gender, race, and ethnicity. Unless your series is focused on a specific area in the US, we ask that at least one of your writers be from another country.

Curator duties:

  • Identifying, contacting, and providing content direction to series contributors
  • Promoting the series before and during its run
  • Coming up with the series title, description, and blurb
  • Writing one essay, usually the introduction to the series

Outstanding Examples:

We love these series because of the perspective they bring to underrepresented topics and communities, and how each piece is distinct and covers a different facet of the larger theme.

The Theatre in the Age of Climate Change series is a special case because it’s our only reoccurring series, but it’s worth looking at how Chantal Bilodeau, the series curator, includes writers from around the world, and how all the pieces, while unique, reinforce the theme and through line.