A few things to note:

-We’re looking for professional-level creators of quality narrative—memoirists, journalists, novelists, poets, screenwriters, playwrights, comedians, storytellers and more. Our members are narrative artists of a variety of disciplines. Though we may pay the bills with commercial side projects, our primary work is not generally advertising, marketing, press relations or related corporate content. Publication history counts, but quality of work trumps quantity. We prefer to see a book or an equivalent body of work, but those with excellent writing samples and only a small number of credits, combined with demonstrated commitment to professionalism and full-time devotion to their craft, may also become members.

-Diversity is a strong factor when considering applicants; the Grotto strives to be a community that is diverse along many dimensions—not just gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or age, but creative medium, physical ability, experience and many other things.

-We are also a community of people who take part—who regularly spend time at the Grotto, get excited about being around other narrative artists, participate in and attend each other’s readings and events, and even start new initiatives—and who want to contribute to helping sustain a diverse, creative and supportive community of writers and storytellers of many different kinds. We attend to new applications as quickly as we can, but we’re a tiny organization and so the process sometimes moves more slowly than we’d like. If you don’t hear from us within a month after you apply, it just means we are swamped and haven’t gotten to you yet—we will soon. Feel free to reach out with an inquiry. Applicants who are not selected for membership are free to resubmit with updated credentials, but we ask that you do so no more than once a year.

We are now accepting new member applications.