Ocean Storytelling Fellowship
Create meaningful work. Build your portfolio. Learn by doing.
Spend four weeks in the Colombian Caribbean working alongside local dive professionals, fishermen, entrepreneurs, artists, and community leaders while creating stories that help protect coastal communities.
This is not a traditional internship.
It is an immersive fellowship for creative people who want real-world experience in documentary filmmaking, photography, journalism, environmental communication, and community storytelling.
Whether you hope to become a filmmaker, photographer, writer, content creator, marketer, or creative entrepreneur, you’ll leave with a professional portfolio, meaningful relationships, and practical experience you can carry into your career.
What You’ll Do
During the fellowship, you may:
- Learn to scuba dive or expand your diving experience.
- Create documentary films, photography, or written stories.
- Interview local fishermen, dive instructors, artists, and entrepreneurs.
- Participate in beach cleanups and conservation activities.
- Research tourism, marine conservation, and community development.
- Develop a final creative project that shares an important story about the Caribbean.
Every fellow creates a different project based on their interests and strengths.
Skills You’ll Build
Throughout the fellowship you’ll gain experience in:
- Documentary filmmaking
- Photography
- Video editing
- Content creation
- Social media storytelling
- Journalism
- Environmental communication
- Community interviewing
- Public speaking
- Fundraising
- Entrepreneurship
- Cross-cultural collaboration
- Project management
- Creative leadership
How the Fellowship Works
Phase One – Build Your Community
Before arriving, you’ll launch a personal fundraising campaign with coaching from Planting Good Seeds.
This isn’t simply about raising money.
It’s about learning how to communicate your vision, build relationships, and invite people to support meaningful work.
Phase Two – Field Experience
Travel to the Colombian Caribbean and spend four weeks learning directly from the people who live and work alongside the ocean.
Observe.
Document.
Ask questions.
Create.
Learn through experience instead of a classroom.
Phase Three – Create Your Portfolio
Turn your experience into a professional project such as:
- Short documentary
- Photo essay
- Written feature story
- Social media campaign
- Conservation communication project
- Community storytelling series
Leave with work you can share with employers, graduate schools, collaborators, and future clients.
Who Should Apply?
We’re looking for curious, creative, and community-minded people.
Students and recent graduates interested in:
- Communications
- Journalism
- Marketing
- Film & Media
- Photography
- Environmental Studies
- Marine Science
- Business
- Entrepreneurship
- Public Relations
- Creative Writing
- Content Creation
We care much more about curiosity, initiative, creativity, and a willingness to learn.
Fellowship Details
Location: Colombian Caribbean
Length: Four weeks
Format: In-person
Language: English required. Spanish helpful but not required.
Cohort Size: Limited
Program Costs
Accepted fellows are responsible for program costs, travel, housing, food, and personal expenses.
Planting Good Seeds provides fundraising coaching to help fellows build community support for their experience.
About Planting Good Seeds
Planting Good Seeds creates international fellowships that transform travel into collaboration.
We partner with local businesses, artists, conservation leaders, and entrepreneurs to create experiences where fellows build professional skills while contributing to meaningful community projects.
We believe great careers begin by creating value for others.
If you’re ready to learn, create, and make a lasting impact, we’d love to meet you.
How to Apply? Call us old-fashioned. No Resumes. No Cover Letters. Let’s Chat
We’d rather spend 20 minutes talking with you than 20 seconds scanning your resume.
We’re not interested in whether you’ve mastered the art of writing bullet points. We’re interested in who you are, what you care about, and what you want to build.
If that sounds refreshing, book a coffee chat. Let’s see if we’re a good fit—for both of us.
