The Center for Media Innovation & Social Impact at Boston University invites applications to its 2026-27 Trust and Storytelling Fellowship. The fellowship is a nine-month experience (September 2026 – May 2027) that brings together academics, artists, journalists, and organizers to explore the power of storytelling for social impact. Supported by BU’s Center for Humanities, BU’s College of Communication, and the Mellon Foundation, the program aims to support fellows in transforming humanistic research, organizational practices, and data into meaningful and effective stories.

Who Should Consider this Fellowship?

Prospective fellows will be working in a range of topic areas, but we are particularly interested in projects that focus on climate and environmental issues, community violence, and migration.

The fellowship brings together community activists and creators from the New England region with faculty at Boston University. We are seeking:

  • Community Practitioners: civic leaders, organizational leaders, activists, or advocates working to improve your community.
  • Creative Producers: visual artists, journalists, writers, photographers, or filmmakers, exploring our focus areas.
  • Boston University faculty doing humanistic research: faculty members in the humanities interested in public scholarship, or the creative expression of research connected to our focus areas.

For faculty and practitioners, prior professional experience in media, storytelling, technology, or communications is not necessary.

Past fellows include:

  • An environmental justice worker who is analyzing the intersection of faith and social justice organizing to develop community strategies that counter contemporary religious-political movements.
  • A photographer documenting migration in Cape Cod through portraiture to facilitate dialogue and connection within larger public community spaces.
  • An ethnographer translating field research on naming, marriage, and death in Guinea-Bissau into a series of essays designed for a non-academic audience.
  • A community activist and designer adapting the communal experience of neighborhood kitchens into immersive exhibits to foster understanding among audiences outside those specific communities.

Who is Eligible?

Candidates must:

  • Be at least 18 years of age.
  • Must live in or around the Boston area as many meetings are in-person at Boston University.
  • Be able to make the time commitment. 
  • Have a project (whether in-process or simply proposed) that you plan to work on during the fellowship and that is connected to one or more of our focus areas.

What Does the Fellowship Entail?

For details, click here.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should complete the following short questionnaire by Friday, March 27, 2026 5 p.m. ET.

Semi-finalists will be interviewed on Zoom in mid-April.
Finalists will be informed on or before May 8, 2026.

ApplY NOW

If you have any questions, contact misi@bu.edu with the subject line: TAS Open Call.