The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies (or simply Salt) is a non-profit graduate institution located in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

, dedicated to the study of nonfiction storytelling, particularly

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

and

podcasting A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

. Originally an independent school, since 2016 it has been part of the

Maine College of Art Maine College of Art & Design (MECA&D) is a private art school in Portland, Maine. Founded in 1882, Maine College of Art & Design is the oldest arts educational institution in Maine. Roughly 32% of MECA&D students are from Maine. The college is a ...

. Salt focuses on educating and promoting responsible storytelling in documentary practices. Salt offers accredited semester programs in

radio documentary A radio documentary is a spoken word radio format devoted to non-fiction narrative. It is broadcast on radio as well as distributed through media such as tape, CD, and podcast. A radio documentary, or feature, covers a topic in depth from one or ...

documentary photography Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life. It is typically undertaken as professional pho ...

, or

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

writing. Salt alumni have worked on many well-known productions including ''

99% Invisible ''99% Invisible'' is a radio show and podcast produced and created by Roman Mars that focuses on design. It began as a collaborative project between San Francisco public radio station KALW and the American Institute of Architects in San Francisco ...

'', ''

Radiolab ''Radiolab'' is a radio program produced by WNYC, a public radio station in New York City, and broadcast on public radio stations in the United States. The show is nationally syndicated and is available as a podcast. Live shows were first off ...

'', and ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...

''. '' Criminal'' co-creator

Phoebe Judge Phoebe Valentine Judge is an American journalist, best known as the host and co-creator of the podcasts ''Criminal'' and '' This Is Love.'' Early life and education Judge was born to parents Valentine and Tony Judge, and named after her aunt, P ...

, novelist Diane Cook, and radio and podcast producer

Tina Antolini Christina Antolini, better known as Tina Antolini, is an American journalist and radio producer. She has worked with National Public Radio, where she produced on their ''State of the Re:Union'' program; Southern Foodways Alliance, where she produ ...

all attended Salt. The Salt Story Archive, which catalogs the work of Salt students, contains more than 1,300 projects from the school's history.

History

High school English teacher Pamela Wood founded the school in

Kennebunk, Maine Kennebunk is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 11,536 at the 2020 census (The population does not include Kennebunkport, a separate town). Kennebunk is home to several beaches, the Rachel Carson National Wildlife R ...

in 1973. Students studied photojournalism and nonfiction writing and their work was presented in its eponymous magazine, ''Salt''. In the late 1990s, the school introduced its radio program and moved to a new building in downtown Portland. After less than a decade, with publication of ''Salt'' erratic and the school struggling to pay its bills, it sold the building. The sale was enough to generate a small endowment, and the school moved to a more compact space on Congress Street. Salt was never accredited during its time as an independent school and, without accreditation, it could not access federal student aid programs. As a result, Salt had to keep costs lower than competing accredited schools and had to dedicate time to fundraising for scholarships and aid it could provide students. By 2015, the financial burden on the school had reached a critical point and it announced it would close permanently. A public outcry prompted the nearby Maine College of Art to propose a merger. With financial boost from a local philanthropic foundation, Salt merged into MECA in 2016. Salt became an accredited institution for the first time as a result of the merger and now offers federal student aid.

Campus

Salt has moved several times in its history. Since 2016, it has been housed at the Maine College of Art campus in the historic Porteous, Mitchell and Braun Company Building in downtown Portland. The campus also includes five residence halls, and Salt students are able to live on campus during their program.

References

{{authority control Education in Portland, Maine Educational institutions established in 1973 1973 establishments in Maine