Doc+ 2026 Call for Proposals: Faculty- and Community-Led Documentary Projects

Deadline: November 3, 2025 

Duke Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) invites proposals from Duke faculty and community collaborators interested in leading documentary projects with Doc+ students during Summer 2026. 

Doc+ is a six-week summer immersion program in the documentary arts that welcomes Duke undergraduates interested in exploring creative, community-based approaches to storytelling. 

Students work in small project teams led by faculty and/or external documentary collaborators. In a highly communal environment, students gain hands-on experience in research, production, editing and media presentation, while also engaging with critical frameworks from documentary theory. Each student receives a stipend for their full-time work on the project. All teams are provided with dedicated workspace, production resources, and mentorship through CDS staff/graduate students.

Faculty and Partner Benefits and Expectations

Doc+ does not provide funding for faculty mentors or external partners — participation is understood as a collaborative investment in mentorship, teaching and partnership. Faculty and external partners gain the opportunity to advance their projects with dedicated student collaborators and visibility at the Doc+ Final Showcase, a public event where all teams present their work. The showcase is widely attended by the Duke community and external guests, offering an important platform for projects to gain recognition and spark future opportunities.

The communal atmosphere is essential. Doc+ projects only run during the six-week summer session, and all undergraduate participants must contribute full-time effort (no other classes or employment is permitted). Students are required to be present on campus for the duration of the program.

Eligibility

All Duke faculty, regardless of seniority, and community-based documentary collaborators are eligible to apply.

Call for Proposals

We welcome proposals for:

• Faculty-led projects that invite undergraduates into works-in-progress, experimental research or creative production.
• External partner projects with filmmakers, media organizations, community groups or arts practitioners interested in collaborating with Duke students on documentary ideas.

We especially encourage proposals that:

• Cross disciplines and bring faculty together from different fields
• Engage community partners outside the university
• Explore untested ideas, archival material or underdeveloped stories that students can help shape into proof-of-concept work
• Produce tangible outputs (films, podcasts, zines, installations, public events, etc.) that can be shared beyond Duke.

Deadline and Contact

Applications are due November 3, 2025, at 5 p.m. If you have questions about your proposal, please contact: 
cdsdocplus@duke.edu. 

How to Apply

To apply, submit a Word or PDF document (maximum three pages), to cdsdocplus@duke.edu that responds to the following prompts, ideally in this order:

• Name of Project:
 Provide a short, accessible name that succinctly describes the nature of the project. If your project is selected, this title will be used on the program webpages and showcase materials.
   
• Project Summary:
 Describe the project’s central idea and documentary focus. What questions or stories are you exploring? What methods (film, photography, podcasting, archival work, performance, zines, installation, etc.) will you use?
   
• Leads and Partners:
  • Faculty Leads: Doc+ prioritizes interdisciplinary connections and projects that allow faculty to branch out in new directions. Describe the faculty leads and the expected benefits of their participation.
  • External Documentary Partners: If you are a filmmaker, production company, arts collective, or community group, describe your role and what you hope to gain through student collaboration.
     
• Mentorship and Management:
 Each project will be paired with a graduate student, MFA alum, or staff mentor who works closely with the student team (15-20 hours per week). If you have someone in mind, please indicate who this is; otherwise, describe the skills you would like this mentor to have.
   
• Mentorship Plan:
 Faculty/partners are not expected to serve as technical leads but should provide creative and intellectual guidance, feedback on student work and help foster team cohesion. Briefly describe your mentorship plan and how you will interact with the project mentor and students. 
   
• Goals:
 Outline the intended goals of the project, in three tiers:
  • Reachable goals: specific outcomes you fully expect students to achieve
  • Tangible products: works students can create that will be useful for you and valuable for them to showcase in future opportunities (e.g., short film, podcast episode, exhibition piece, curated archive, zine)
  • Stretch goals: ambitious or experimental aims that might be difficult to fully achieve but could be mapped out by the team.
     
• Materials/Resources:
 If your project requires specific materials, archives, or community access, describe them. Indicate whether students will need special clearances (e.g., IRB for oral histories, permissions for archival use, release forms for interviews).
   
• Outside Partners (if applicable):
 If your project includes a community or organizational partner, describe their expected involvement and role. How often might they meet with the team? What do they hope to gain from this collaboration?
   
• Funding:
 Doc+ provides stipends to support undergraduate participants, but does not fund faculty or external partners. If your project has related funding from outside organizations (foundations, nonprofits, grants, etc.), please describe the connection between that support and your proposed Doc+ project, even if those funds cannot be directly used. If outside partners are able to contribute additional support toward student stipends, please note this as well.

Selection Criteria and Review Process

Applications are due by November 3, 2025, and will be reviewed by the director of Doc+, Lauren Henschel, with input from Doc+ staff, graduate mentors and the CDS faculty board. While broad proposals are welcome, applications that are well-thought-out, attentive to detail and clearly articulate how students could contribute to and impact the project over the six-week program will receive higher consideration. Notifications will be sent by December 1, 2025.