Cover Letter and Resume

To whom it may concern,

 

I believe I would make a valuable team member with your institution and hope you will consider my substantial training. I obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Berea College in May 2015, with a Major in Popular Culture and a Minor in Communication. In May of 2021 I will have completed a master’s degree in Popular Culture and a Graduate Certificate in Public History from Bowling Green State University. This will be the culmination of over 20 years of experience in culture archiving, preservation, and educational production. While attending BGSU I worked for two years as a Graduate Research Assistant at the Browne Popular Culture Library where my duties included digitally preserving items in the collection, researching histories, and building digital exhibits for the collections as well as assisting librarians and researchers and giving public lectures on the collections. While obtaining my bachelor’s I worked for four years as an Associate Archivist and Audio Engineer for Berea College Sound Archives and was responsible for restoring and archiving historical recordings as well as researching, writing biographies, and creating educational programs (both physical and digital) with the content.

 

Since 2000 I have collected, produced, and released nearly 50 regional music collections under the name ​Louisville is for Lovers​. These collections have been included in public and private archives including the Louisville Free Public Library, the University of Louisville Music Archive, Berea College Sound Archive, and Western Kentucky University Archive, and has been delivered around the world to 6 continents including Antarctica. Additionally, I have studied film photography for 3 years at the University of Louisville and Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois.

 

I have also produced special audio programming for both radio and podcasts including programming for NPR affiliate WFPK in Louisville, Ky, and the BBC World Service. From 2011-2015, while working as a Sound Archive Associate and audio engineer I archived audio files, created educational guides & curriculum, and producing audio Educational podcasts on regional and historical music, including a 5-hour multi-chaptered podcast on Appalachian folk music, called ​Celebrated Sounds, and a 30 documentary film about pinball culture​.

 

I continually collaborate with creative professionals toward cultural archiving including my work at the Bowling Green State University Browne Popular Culture Library where I have created several digital exhibits and learning guides including a 9-stop audio walking tour of historically significant events and locations around the BGSU campus. I have also created the Northwest Ohio Independent Culture Archive that has a collection of hundreds of regional music fliers, histories, and ephemera of the greater Northwest Ohio region. Other projects include a 38-slide digital exhibit covering over 50 years of women in the political spotlight featuring 120 items from the Browne Popular Culture Library collection, as well as an hour-long lecture on the collection for the National First Ladies Library. In the summer of 2013, I paired with Magnolia Photobooth Company on a grant from Berea College for a 3,000-mile archival tour of the southern Appalachian region, documenting subcultures through a photographic collection called ​ Portrait of Appalachia​. In the summer of 2014, I worked with Guestroom Records in Louisville, Kentucky, to capture music in 3 distinct genres (Hip Hop, Pop, and Roots music) in the city, in a project called Summer Cassingle Series.

 

In the private sector I have acquired substantial skills in audio/visual editing, analytical writing, as well as producing, managing and updating social media related projects including creating and updating various social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Youtube, and others as well as creating and maintaining websites with unique URLs; I also have substantial experience in audio/visual recording and editing as well as layout and design and I am well versed on many editing programs including Final Cut Pro, Garageband, Imovie, Photoshop, Illustrator, Sony Sound Forge, Libguides, Omeka, CONTENTdm, as well as others, and have produced 100s of audio recordings, radio programs, commercials and videos, as well as poster, logo, packaging and other design types.

 

I believe my 20 years of experience over a wide range of archival and library work has prepared me well for a position with your institution.

 

Thank you for your time, I look forward to speaking with you further,

 

John King

 

Graduate Research Assistant

BGSU Browne Popular Culture Library

Bowling Green State University

Selected Work: 

2019-2021
Graduate Research Assistant
Graduate Research Assistant at the Popular Culture Library and Archives within the Jerome Library at Bowling Green State University, to support curriculum in Music, Popular Culture, and American Culture Studies with an emphasis of collecting and archiving regional music history and culture as well as building digital exhibits and learning guides and giving lectures on the collections. 

2015-Present 
Culture Consultant 
Freelance Consultant working with governments, agencies, and nonprofits in areas of culture sensitivity, outreach, and understanding. Clients include Public Broadcasting System, Louisville Free Public Library, BBC World Service, Louisville Public Media, StudioWorks, & Louisville Metro Government. 

2015-2020

Journalist

Culture and music journalist for leading regional alt-weekly paper; conducting interviews and generating socially relevant content as well as previews, reviews, and editorials.
LEO Weekly Magazine 


2011-2015

Associate Archivist 
Audio Engineering for Berea College Sound Archives. Responsible for restoring and archiving historical recordings as well as researching and writing biographies and creating educational programs with the content.
Berea College 

Hutchins Library
Special Collections and Archives 


2007-Present 

Editor in Chief 
Responsible for generating, editing, and overseeing copy, and audio/visual content for Louisville’s oldest music and entertainment blog.
37FLOOD Louisville Music and entertainment news online Magazine 


2000-Present 

Founder/Operator 
Director of Louisville Is For Lovers Record Label since 2000. Production and management of over 40 albums of regionally based music; working with hundreds of artists and coordinating with media outlets and related partnerships. 


Awards & Accomplishments: 


2021

Area chair on Class Studies for the 2021 Midwest Popular Culture Association and Midwest American Culture Association Annual Conference


2020

Speaker and panel chair on politics at the Midwest Popular Culture Association and Midwest American Culture Association Annual Conference

 

2020
Speaker at the The Ray Browne Conference on Cultural and Critical Studies
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio

2020
Department of Popular Culture Stoddard-O’Neill Grant from Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio
*Interrupted by 2020 quarantine

2019

Full scholarship to Bowling Green State University Graduate Program & Archival Research Assistantship 
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio

2018
Speaker in Honorarium 
Berea College
Berea, Kentucky 


2018
Artist in Residence at the Louisville Free Public Library Louisville, Ky 


2015
Speaker at the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) Annual Conference


University of Louisville

Louisville, Kentucky

2010
Full Scholarship to Berea College; Berea, Kentucky 


2004
Artist in Residence, Brown Hotel; Louisville, KY  

2003
Artist in Residence, Bernheim Forest; Bardstown, KY  

2002
Guggenheim Museum

Venice Italy
First invited artist in residence at the Museum 


2002
Early Times Grant
Grant for further Artistic Education 


Professional Affiliations & Memberships:


2018 - Present

Member of The Prophetic Council
Poor People's Campaign 

2015 – Present

Kentucky Council On Archives 

2015 – Present

Society of American Archivists 

2015 - Present

Midwest Archives Council 

2013 - Present

Melungeon Heritage Association

2001 – Present

The Electric Church Of The Tambourine 

Education:

Master's of Arts in Popular Culture

Graduate Certificate in Public History

Bowling Green State University

May 2021

 

Bachelor of Arts

Berea College

Popular Culture Major

Communication Minor

May 2015



No comments:

Post a Comment