Applications for the 2008 SPIN Academy are now open.  Please go to the online application to fill it out!  The deadline for submitting an application has been extended until July 3rd.

The SPIN Academy is held each summer in Northern California. First held in 1999, the event began as a three-day media skills conference hosting twenty-five activists. The Academy is now a five-day residential retreat for sixty participants. Academy attendees study key concepts in strategic communications, lead by the SPIN Project and more than thirty outside experts from a wide variety of professional communications capacities.

The SPIN Academy is more than a media-skills training. It is an opportunity to learn the basics of crafting effective media messages and framing the terms of debate from experts in the field. It is also a unique chance to connect with peers across the country working as progressive communicators.

In addition to learning the secrets of framing and messaging, participants attend hands-on, practical workshops covering the tactics of successful communications: writing for PR, how to be a better spokesperson for your organization, television tips, radio rules and many others. Participants also have the chance to sit down with a communications professional one-on-one to gain an expert’s perspective on their organization’s work.

SPIN Academy participants work for social change organizations representing a wide variety of issues. Our participants are a diverse group in terms of demographics, geographic representation, experience level in communications work, and organizational size, structure and focus. The only prerequisite for acceptance to the SPIN Academy is a commitment to using the tools and techniques of strategic communications to advance your organization’s social change work.

Every year, the network of SPIN Academy Alumni grows, and past participants stay connected through the SPIN Academy List Serve, where they share successes and challenges and support each other’s work.