The Skinny and Edinburgh International Festival launch emergent writers programme

In 2021, Edinburgh International Festival and The Skinny are teaming up to produce a new monthly series of critical writing centred around the arts in Scotland. 

The finished pieces will be published between March and August 2021. We’re opening the doors to pitches from early career writers based in Scotland for a paid commission to be published in The Skinny’s print magazine, online and across our social networks.

We want this project to celebrate and shine a light on the cultural sector during this protracted period of critical need. We have no fixed ideas of what the commissions should look like, just that they should explore an element of theatre, music, performance, and/or dance past, present and future. Interviews, opinion pieces, deep dives into the history of a creative sector are all welcome.

Although this is a joint collaboration between Edinburgh International Festival and The Skinny, there is no requirement to write on work featured previously at either organisation: we want to hear fresh, exciting ideas about Scotland’s performing arts scene at its most expansive and inclusive.

We are also keen to take a creative approach to digital content running in parallel to each article, so if you have ideas around how your ideas could also be represented in other multimedia forms (video, social, digital event, podcast, etc) we would love to hear them alongside your pitch..

How to apply:
Email pitches@theskinny.co.uk with a condensed summary of your proposed article, zeroing in on the particular angle you would like to take: who or what would you like to write about? Why is it important we cover them? What do you hope the article will do? Pitches should be 200-300 words. Please link or attach two or three writing samples (unpublished pieces are welcome as writing samples).

Who is eligible:
Anyone who can write fluently and convincingly about culture in Scotland. There is no requirement to have been published previously, however we do need to see examples of finished pieces of critical or journalistic writing, so we can get a sense of your writing style and how it might fit with The Skinny. We are particularly keen to platform writers who are underrepresented in Scottish cultural journalism, including but not limited to writers of marginalised genders and/or LGBTQ+, writers from BAME or socio-economically marginalised backgrounds, and disabled and neurodiverse writers – if you have an idea you are excited about, please do get in touch!

Deadline:
Sunday 31 January 2021

Successful pitches will then be developed with our editors into a longer form piece of writing, around 2000-2500 words. Published pieces will receive a fee of £300.