Michael Jackson Internship

[billowens]

ADI program announcement for the Michael Jackson Fund

and Michael Jackson Internship:

Michael Jackson was a writer, lecturer, thinker, and champion of beverage alcohol. The

English-born Jackson almost single-handedly created the modern categorization of beer

styles now used throughout the world, and his work in whiskey, including the seminal

“World Guide to Whisky” (1988), was among the first to elevate discussion of distilled

spirits to that level long associated with wine. His writing, lecturing, and public

appearances over the course of three decades educated a worldwide consumer audience,

and also proved hugely influential with a new generation of artisan producers. Among

Mr. Jackson?s many awards was the “Master of the Quaich.”

The Michael Jackson Education Fund was initially created by the New York Chapter of

the American Institute of Wine & Food during the early 1990?s. Mr. Jackson himself

participated in a number of guided tastings, all proceeds of which were donated to the

fund. The Michael Jackson Education Fund is now managed by the AIWF Foundation

and the ADI has partnered with the AIWF to build a fund to sponsor internships in all

aspects distilled spirits manufacture. As this is the first announcement of the program we

will briefly describe the competition for internships as well as our fundraising efforts to

support these internships.

The Michael Jackson Internship is intended to foster scholarship in all aspects of distilled

spirits manufacture and marketing. Potential topics we consider appropriate include, but

are not limited to, aspects of fruit and grain production, mash processes, fermentation,

distillation, spirit aging, still production. While the fund is based in the United States, we

consider the world of distillation to be international and as such, we seek both

international applicants as well as international internship hosts. Applications for the

Michael Jackson internship will be reviewed by a committee of distilled spirits

professionals drawn from the spirits production, spirits sales and spirits writing

communities. Depending on the availability of funds we anticipate funding at least one

internship per year. The internship will be awarded at a special dinner in honor of the

Michael Jackson Fund in conjunction with the annual ADI meeting.

Complete application packages will consist of the following:

I. A four, to a maximum of ten page, proposal that includes the following elements:

a) Title page

Statement of the prospective intern’s background. This might include both

professional as well as nonprofessional material as considered appropriate by the

applicant.

c) Section describing the motivation for applying for the Internship as well as the

prospective intern’s goals both within and post the Michael Jackson Internship.

d) Detailed description of the proposed project and the reasons for choosing the host

institution. The application will be judged on the soundness of the project as well

as the appropriateness the host institution for the project.

e) Detailed description of a final project. As a condition of the funding the

successful applicant will present to the ADI a final project based in the

fellowship.

While this could be as simple as a talk at the annual meeting and a

written document for the ADI newsletter it could be more detailed and we invite

the applicants to use this as an opportunity to further knowledge in the broader

distillation community. For instance we imagine additions to the ADI web site,

elements for ADI short courses and multimedia contributions all to be well within

the material we consider reasonable for a final project.

II. Conflict of interest statement. This is to be a short statement addressing any

preexisting relationship between the potential intern and the host distillery. While a

preexisting relationship in no way disqualifies the potential intern, failure to disclose

this, is grounds for disqualification.

III. A letter of support from the prospective host institution acknowledging, at a

minimum, that they have read the proposal and support both the intern as well the

project. A section addressing the feasibility and appropriateness of the project to the

workings of the host institute will also be considered a plus. The letter should also

include a description of any support that the host will provide the intern. Support

from the host will be considered as matching funds for the consideration of the

award and will add positively to the application’s prospects. Host support might

include, but is not limited to, a small stipend, funds supporting special ingredients, a

special mash or fermentation or, housing. Note however, that matching funds while

beneficial to the application, are not required.

IV. Budget and Budget justification. At present, the fund will fund individual interns to

a maximum of $2,500 however in exceptional cases this limit may be exceeded.

Budget items that are considered reasonable for reimbursement include: Travel to

and from the host site, accommodation and meals, tuition, and specialty supplies not

normally used by the host institution. However, general production materials should

be furnished by the host institution and thus, are not typically considered reasonable

budgetary items. The budget justification is limited to 1 page maximum.

Applications for the Internship can be sent to:

Daniel Farber

Chair of the Internship Committee

Osocalis Distillery

5579 Old San Jose Rd.

Soquel, CA, 95073

Furthermore, in order to support the Internship program, the ADI is looking for industry

partners in fundraising for the Michael Jackson Fund.

At present we are soliciting input from ADI members and the wider distilled spirits

community to support the following three events in 2010.

V. A award dinner at the annual meeting with all proceeds going to the MJF. In this

regard we are looking for industry partners to help support the event as well as

contributions to be used as part of the dinner.

VI. An auction of hard to find and rare items to be held in concert with the awards

dinner. Here again, as all the proceeds will go to the MJF, we hope that ADI

members will dig deep, to donate to this auction to help fund the interns.

VII. Finally, we are interested in receiving proposals from ADI members for events and

hosted events in conjunction with the ADI to support the Michael Jackson Fund.

This could be a short course, a special tasting or a special tour etc. However, we

would like to see these be something special and something that people will pay to

attend. For example, following the 2009 ADI annual meeting, Osocalis Distillery

donated a one day hands on brandy production short course which included catered

lunch and dinner, wine tasting and wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation

and a tasting following dinner of classic brandy styles with brandies from as far back

as 1929. We hope others will follow this lead and propose other events in support of

the events Michael Jackson Fund.

Please submit all proposals for support of the Michael Jackson Fund to:

Daniel Farber

Chair of the Michael Jackson Internship Committee

Osocalis Distillery

5579 Old San Jose Rd.

Soquel, CA, 95073

[Osocalis]

Questions concerning the Internship of the application process can be addressed to

Daniel Farber

Chair of the Internship Committee

Osocalis Distillery

5579 Old San Jose Rd.

Soquel, CA, 95073

dan@osocalis.com