- Third Coast Festival
- Navy Pier
- 848 East Grand
- Chicago, Illinois
- 60611-3509
- 312-948-4682
- info@thirdcoastfestival.org
ShortDocs
Though we spend most of our time curating work from all over the place, once a year we change it up and encourage the production of new work via our ShortDocs Challenge. In cahoots with a different artistic partner each year, we design a set of rules and invite everyone - producers and radio fans alike - to submit short audio works that follow these rules.
Submissions range from literal to metaphorical, narrative to sound-rich, cultural to political. Each year four stories are crowned as official ShortDocs, and their producers are invited to Chicago to present them at our annual conference.
Whether you've been producing for decades, or have always wanted to give it a try, whether you're mixing on ProTools or Garage Band, whether you live down the road in Chicago or across the sea in Tokyo, the ShortDocs Challenge is open to YOU! We hope you're game.
Announcing our 2012 ShortDocs Challenge partner: EveryBlock. Check out this excellent online portal for neighborly solidarity, and start thinking about the stories down your street.
We'll share more details and invite submissions starting February 15th. Sign up for our email list to make sure you're among the first to hear all about it.
a brief history of third coast shortdoc challenges
2010: Book Odds
2009: Chicago Sound Drops
2008: Radio Ephemera
2007: Dollar Storeys
2006: 99 Ways to Tell a Radio Story
2005: Stories about "games"
2004: Stories about "darkness"
2003: Stories about "thirst"
Have an idea for a future ShortDocs Challenge or collaboration?
Tell us all about it!
2010 SHORTDOCS
The 2010 ShortDocs Challenge: Book Odds, was a resounding success! Have a listen to the whopping 141 submissions from 14 different countries (!), including the four stories chosen as the 2010 ShortDocs.
2009 ShortDocs
In 2009 we tried something a little different, and invited a (large) handful of producers to produce short audio works inspired by the idea of Chicago. The resulting body of work - the Chicago Sound Drops - indeed conjures the city through sound, story, and imagination.
