The tiny Press Club at 850 Dundas West has been hosting a quarterly social for the city’s journalists since July 2009. The nights have always been packed and the bar has always run out of some type of alcohol.
Nadja Sayej, the extroverted host of ArtstarsTV.com and freelance reporter for the Globe and Mail co-founded the event with artist and writer Sarah Lazarovic.
Sayej explains why media types need a social outlet and hints at plans for evolving into a new journalism club (with member cards and everything!) for Toronto’s young writers, photographers, and editors.
Why did you start Press Pass?
There was no young cool journalism community in Toronto until we came along. There were Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) dinosaurs and the serious, uptight, tuck your white collared shirt in, bespectacled, Canadian Association of Journalists crowd – who never returned my emails.
I’m really interested in cultivating a community for younger journalists who want to make out with their editors against the wall of the bathroom in the Press Club. It doesn’t have to be this nerdy thing.
The long-term goal for Press Pass is to found an actual club where we do greater things [more on this below]. We might need each other and we’ve got a loyal following.
What’s the response been like?
I had a freelance photographer say it was incredible to see editors or people who you work with face-to-face. What people don’t understand about the way journalism works as an industry is that you’re communicating with the people you work with exclusively through email.
And it’s great to see the people you work with face-to-face once in a while, give them a hug, and have them buy you a drink because they’re on salary and you’re not.
This is not a mediabistro thing at all. It doesn’t have that vibe. You don’t have to RSVP and it’s not like you have to be a member of some club to hang out with your colleagues or to make new friends. I think that it’s fundamentally about making friends rather than networking or bringing business cards. Networking should be about farming – not hunting.
It can be scary in journalism anyway, people are like: hi!how!are!you!…what!do!you!do!…how!did!you!get!writing!for!the!globe!?
It’s definitely well attended.
So anyone’s welcome?
Everyone’s welcome.
Even PR people?
No PR people have come. None have been smart enough to catch on yet.
What do your plans for a young journalist club entail (beyond drinking and makeouts with editors)?
25 bones per year will get you one makeout session with any editor you like – and a free drink ticket. This is for the under 35 crowd, but if you can drink us under the table and you’re 36, we’ll turn back the clocks. Our events will be free – and our workshops will be minimal [in cost]. For the price of two drinks you can get into a workshop on, say, why banners are dead or how to get a mentor instead of an internship.
You’ll be the first to know when and where the Dead Magazine Ball is going to drop, get on media lists otherwise not advertised and get a gaping discount on our first annual holiday jam in December.
Membership will also get you a laminated press pass with your lovely name on it (should you find yourself in a kafuffle with authorities), score you inside lane internship tips, and most importantly, link you up with like-minded colleagues instead of just adding everyone on Facebook only to have them ignore you.
You could also get personal references – and introductions. Those always lead to work (and hot make out sessions).
Media types excited by the idea should probably swing by the next Press Pass, which is tentatively planned for May 5. Check their Facebook page for more info. [rssbreak]
