Join The ThreeWeeks Review Team | UNLIMITED

How would you like to see the Edinburgh Festival – the world’s largest cultural event – from the inside as part of the review team at ThreeWeeks – the biggest reviewer at the Edinburgh Fringe? Develop your writing skills, make valuable contacts and enjoy a unique festival experience with the ThreeWeeks media-skills programme.

Our review team is made up of volunteers: aspiring journalists, writers and arts practitioners looking to develop and showcase their reviewing skills. We provide you with formal arts journalism training, one-to-one feedback, access to shows and a forum to present your work to a massive audience.

Applications to join the ThreeWeeks Edinburgh 2012 review team are now open.

New applicants should download an application form by clicking here, fill out the form and return it by email to recruitment@unlimitedmedia.co.uk.

Anyone who has reviewed for ThreeWeeks before and wishes to return in 2012 should download the separate returners form by clicking here and fill out that instead.

The final deadline for submitting all applications is 5pm on 5 June 2012.

1. WHAT IS THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL? The Edinburgh Festival is the biggest (and in our opinion, best) arts event in the whole wide world. It’s actually made up of a whole load of different festivals merged into one big, fabulous cultural party, and is a hotbed of both established and burgeoning talent. Any comedian worth their salt has done their Edinburgh apprenticeship, and it doesn’t end there: you can pretty much guarantee that the best and brightest from the worlds of theatre, dance, musicals, cabaret and many other art forms have passed through here at some point. Some of them still come back, every year.

2. WHAT IS THREEWEEKS? ThreeWeeks is the most prolific media covering the Edinburgh Festival, publishing news, features and reviews via a number of different formats throughout August. It was launched as a newspaper back in 1996 in response to the fact that other media outlets were reducing their coverage of the festival’s events. ThreeWeeks’ output continues to be published as a weekly newspaper, and also now through a daily review sheet, an e-bulletin, podcasts and through a constantly updating website.

3. WHY IS THREEWEEKS GOOD FOR THE FESTIVAL? There are thousands of shows at the Edinburgh Festival, and ThreeWeeks tries to cover as many as it possibly can, giving review-hungry festival-goers a great guide to what they should (and should not…) be going to see. It benefits producing companies, too, as a great review from ThreeWeeks will help to sell tickets for their show. Also, when festival participants come to Edinburgh, often one of their chief aims is to get reviews, but sadly, because of the size of the event, and the relative dearth of media coverage over the years, this had become less and less likely. ThreeWeeks’ commitment to reviewing as many shows as possible means many more shows get the critique they need.

4. HOW DOES THREEWEEKS MANAGE THIS? We run the publication on a not-for-profit basis, and use it to help train the creative writers of the future: each year, we recruit as many as 100 students and recent graduates, who take part in our media-skills education programme, get free training and support, and who then join our team of volunteer reviewers, who between them will cover more than 1500 Edinburgh Festival events.

5. HOW CAN THREEWEEKS HELP YOU? Everyone who is given a place on the ThreeWeeks team takes part in our aforementioned skills programme, helmed by professional writers and publishers with combined decades of experience of writing about the arts. But, better than that, anyone who joins us gets on-the-ground, real time journalistic experience, complete with highs, lows, and copy-deadlines. Nothing will improve your writing like being forced to write every single day, to a deadline. Plus, if you really throw yourself into it, you’ll have the best month ever: the opportunities for absorbing culture – and having all kinds of other fun too – are endless.

6. WHO GETS TO WRITE FOR THREEWEEKS? ThreeWeeks writers are, as previously established, usually students or recent graduates. Some of them are on media courses, some have graduated from an arts degree, others are in the middle of a Phd in physics. Our journalists are drawn from all different academic backgrounds, and not all of them are planning to specifically be arts critics. You don’t have to be the editor of your student newspaper, either; we take writers who have been active in every possible student media for the whole of their university career, but we also take writers who have barely written anything but essays, but who can demonstrate a passion for and knowledge of the genres they will cover. If we think you have potential, then we will try to offer you a place.

7. HOW DO YOU APPLY? Applications are now open for 2012, and the deadline is Friday 6 April 2012. To apply to join the 2012 review team, download our application form, fill it in, and send it to recruitment@unlimitedmedia.co.uk.

8. WHAT HAPPENS THEN? We will go through every application in detail from early June, with a view to making appointments towards the end of that month.

REVIEWERS
•	Reviewers review shows, obviously.
•	Reviewers will specialise, to an extent, in two or three genre areas. Genres available to review include Theatre, Physical Theatre, Comedy, Musicals, Dance, Contemporary Music, Classical Music and Folk/Trad Music.
•	As a reviewer you will tell us what hours you are available on what days, and we will then schedule you shows to see in those slots.
•	We decide what shows you see, though you will be able to give us a wish list of the shows you are most excited about and we will see what we can do.
•	You pick up your free ticket, see the show and then submit your review, to our specs, by midday the following day.
•	All your reviews will be published on our website and in our eDaily bulletin, with some also appearing in print, in either our daily or weekly edition.
•	We review from Wednesday 1 to Monday 27 August inclusive. Reviewers DO NOT need to be in Edinburgh for this whole period – though you should be available to review for at least seven days during these dates.
•	If you will only be in Edinburgh for a short time we recommend you come for the first part of the festival when there are more shows to review.
•	New reviewers must attend a one-day review training workshop in Edinburgh on one of the following dates: Saturday 28 July, Sunday 29 July, Monday 30 July. This workshop will run from 11am to 6pm and attendance is compulsory.
•	All reviewers must also attend a logistics meeting in Edinburgh on Tuesday 31 July at 5pm.
•	Reviewing for ThreeWeeks is a voluntary role, and you need to get to and find somewhere to stay in Edinburgh. But we will provide you with free formal and one-to-one training and advice, plus give you unique access to the festival.

CORRESPONDENTS
•	Book Correspondents cover the Edinburgh International Book Festival which takes place for two weeks during the latter part of the month. They deal directly with the Book Festival press team and organise review schedules with each other. The aim is to review as many talks and events at the Book Festival as possible. Many Book Correspondents review Fringe shows during the first weeks of the festival before concentrating on the Book Festival from mid-August.
•	Art Correspondents review the many exhibitions that take place as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival and also within the Fringe and International Festival. The aim is to review as many exhibitions as possible. Because most exhibitions are only open in the day time Art Correspondents need to be available during office hours. There is also the option to review Fringe shows in the evenings.
•	Special Correspondents cover extraordinary events, shows which defy categorisation, and which are generally categorised under such genre labels as Talks & Events. Shows covered by past Special Correspondents include city walks, meditation sessions, art workshops, the Silent Disco, confession, a minute’s silence and ‘Sing-A-Long-A-Joy-Of-Sex’. The Special Correspondent is scheduled shows to see by the main scheduling team, who pick out all the weird stuff. There is normally time for this reviewer to see some more conventional theatre, comedy and/or music too.

ADMIN ASSISTANTS
•	Admin Assistants help the editorial team process reviews, publish content and assist with other administrative tasks. They also man the ThreeWeeks office and assist with the review scheduling process.
•	These roles are great for anyone considering a media career, interested in gaining an insight into how a media operation works, and hands-on experience of the editorial and administrative side of the publishing process.
•	Admin Assistants are based in the ThreeWeeks HQ in Edinburgh, and are required during office hours (earliest start is 10am, latest finish is 7pm).
•	We are quite flexibile as to how many shifts people take, but you should be free for at least six full days between Monday 30 July and Saturday 25 August.
•	There is the option to be an admin assistant during office hours and to review in the evening.

OTHER ROLES
•	Production Assistants help the editorial team with the actual production of the daily, weekly and eDaily editions. These people will need some InDesign, Photoshop and/or Dreamweaver experience. This is a great opportunity to get some hands-on experience in a fast moving media environment. Shifts are during office hours, but are flexible.
•	Podcasters record audio interviews with performers, highlights of which are included in the iDaily podcast. Podcasters will be assigned interviewees, and must then arrange a time to record the interview, doing their research and preparing questions before the recording. Some previous experience of interviewing and/or podcasts or radio an advantage.
•	Photographers take photos for the weekly and daily print edition, attending photo shoots and launch parties, and photographing interviewees and five star shows throughout the month. This is a fantastic opportunity for any photographer interested in building their portfolio, making great contacts, and having press photographer access to the world’s biggest festival.