The Tyee offering its readers "master classes" taught by contributors

The Tyee, the BC online publication, has always been an innovator and continues to be by offering its readers "master classes", taught by the people whose bylines are familiar to them in The Tyee's own Vancouver newsroom.

The 7 hands-on workshops on 7 weekends from April to June are "immersion training on everything from investigative journalism to food writing to documentary photography and filmaking". Here's the course calendar. Workshops range from an afternoon to a couple of days and includes lunch, snacks and wine. Fees range from $195 to $398. 

Among the courses and presenters are:

• Alisa Smith (author of The 100-mile Diet) on how to take memoir to a whole new level
• Bill Tieleman (organizer of the anti-HST campaign) on organizing winning campaigns
• Meeru Dhalwala of VIJ's excellent Indian restaurant on writing an inspired cookbook
• Christopher Grabowski on basic photographic theory, history and technique
•  Sean Holman on investigative journalism and finding stories hidden in public records
• Kai Nagata giving a two-day do-it-yourself documentary workshop
• Phillip Smith, the digital publishing expert on how to find, understand and present public data

As I say, a really ambitious program that is a canny way of building loyal reader engagement and, perhaps, nurturing contributors and supporters of the future.