Upcoming

Salt x Torchlight - Audio Documentary Intensive

June 27–29, 2025

@Torchlight (158 High St., Belfast, ME)

Course fee: $250 - $450 ($350 = true cost)

Fee is on a sliding scale based on what participants can afford. No one turned away for lack of funds. Please contact us at torchlightmaine@gmail.com if you would like to discuss a fee reduction.

DESCRIPTION

Spend the weekend learning how to make audio! Go from zero to two minutes: a two-minute fully produced audio story that will be shared publicly at the end of the course. You’ll learn how to use a field recording kit, gather sound, ask questions, and edit everything together into a compelling story. This class would be great for total beginners or those looking to get refreshed and re-inspired in their practices.

The immersion will be led by Isaac Kestenbaum, Director of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, and hosted by Torchlight Media, a community-based multimedia studio in the historic coastal city of Belfast, Maine. Equipment will be provided, along with topic/interviewee guidance. Participants are responsible for arranging their own accommodations. Two dinners–the Friday welcome and Sunday project share–are included in the course fee and will feature locally-sourced ingredients.

SCHEDULE *Times subject to change

Fri. 6/27 6pm-9pm - Welcome Dinner: Introductions and Story Assignments

Sat. 6/28 9am-4:30pm - Equipment & Techniques / Hands-on Field Recording

Sun. 6/29 9am-4:30pm - Scripting & Editing; 6pm-9pm - Final Project Share + Dinner

INSTRUCTOR

Isaac Kestenbaum is the Director of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, in Portland, Maine, which offers graduate certificates in Audio & Podcasting, Writing and Short Film production. He is also the co-founder with his wife, Josephine Holtzman, of the audio production company Future Projects. He is co-creator of the best-selling true crime podcast Midnight Son for Audible Originals.

Isaac has reported extensively on climate change in Alaska, and his work has been funded by the Arctic Circle Foundation and the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. Isaac has also worked with Vox, NPR, The Guardian US, The GroundTruth Project, AIR, and SIERRA Magazine. 

He is the former Production Manager at the national oral history and radio project StoryCorps.  Honors include a Peabody Award, a duPont Award, two Online News Association awards and an Alaska Broadcasters “Goldie” Award.