Music Writers Residency RFQ

Request for Qualifications

for the 2024 Music Writers Residency at Asian Arts Initiative

Request for Qualifications can be found here.

Applications due no later than Monday November 13, 2023 at 11:59 pm

In 2024, Asian Arts Initiative will kick off a Music Festival. As part of the festival, Asian Arts will convene a group of Philadelphia-based music writers to convene, discuss, and generate new music criticism.

Participants must commit to the full program: all 6 concerts, and be willing to attend at least 4 of the 6 weekend convenings in Philadelphia, PA. Participants must write, and share writing with the writers residency group, and actively engage in discussions. We strongly encourage submissions from those who identify as Black, indigenous, person of color and/or LGBTQ.

Up to ten (10) writers will be selected for this residency, and receive a compensation of up to $3000 at a rate of $500 per month for the 6 months of the programming, or $250 per event (Concert and Workshop), contingent on attendance.

Please send any questions to asianartsinitiative [at] gmail [dot] com.

Advisors & jurors for this Music Writers Residency include:

Joshua Minsoo Kim is a culture writer who writes about music and film for various publications including Pitchfork, NPR, The Wire, Rolling Stone, Bandcamp Daily, Resident Advisor, Cinema Scope, and MUBI Notebook. He started out writing public music reviews on Tumblr in 2011. He founded Tone Glow in 2015 before it became a newsletter in 2019.

John Morrison is a writer, DJ, and sample-flipper from Philadelphia. As a writer, his work has appeared in NPR Music, Bandcamp Daily, Jazz Tokyo, Grammy.com, and more. He is also the host of Culture Cypher Radio, a hip-hop radio show on NPR member station WXPN.

Anne Ishii is the Executive Director of Asian Arts Initiative. Anne is a writer and editor by trade, with a background in Japanese letters. Her work hinges on issues relating to gender and sexuality. In 2013 she co-founded MASSIVE GOODS: a lifestyle brand and arts agency representing queer and feminist artists from Japan. MASSIVE has produced multiple volumes of graphic novels and a line of clothing and accessories. She has been published in BUST, Nylon, Slate, Publishers Weekly, the Village Voice, the Philadelphia Inquirer and many other publications. She has translated and rewritten over twenty books.