About Freelancing

Are you a culturally omnivorous arts devotee? Do you spend your evenings and weekends moseying through Berkeley’s maze of theaters, music venues, museums, movie houses and underground performance spaces? Do you have a sharp eye, a sharper tongue, a passion for connecting across communities and a strong sense for the silly, the surprising and the strange?

Berkeleyside is looking for a freelance culture critic.

The job is to identify trends, review standout shows, interview creators and write revealing features that tell a story with a compelling angle. You should have a journalistic background or mindset and an ability to clearly and persuasively situate your opinions and reporting in a broader cultural and political context.

A principle duty will be keeping up with programming at Berkeley’s major arts institutions — places like the Berkeley Rep, BAMPFA and Freight & Salvage (tickets are often comped). But just as important is finding stories at under-the-radar Berkeley venues, such as the Starry Plough, home to the longest-running poetry slam on the West Coast, or the community garden on Hopkins Street and Peralta Avenue, where a Malian musician grows gourds into string instruments.

In one column, you might give a run down of Berkeley’s burgeoning rap scene. In another, you could interview a local playwright. Or share how a pro wrestling gym became an inclusive, family‑friendly institution. Or explain why the new show at Berkeley Art Center is worth seeing.

You won’t necessarily write about everything you see. You can aim to file roughly monthly. We’ll pay $350 per full-length story. Photo essays, brief items and experimental storytelling approaches are welcome.

Around Berkeley, our arts and events roundup, will be a helpful tool, but your best ideas will likely come from scouring venue websites, social media, events calendars and email listservs and from building relationships with the people embedded in Berkeley’s broader arts scene.

If you’re interested, send an email to editors with a note about who you are, why you’re interested in and qualified for the role and how you would pursue it. And include links to a few published clips and a list of 2-3 potential story ideas based on events scheduled in the near future in Berkeley. Please apply by March 1.