Jen Kinney

Jen Kinney

Documentary audio in Philadelphia

About

I'm a freelance producer, reporter, and editor making audio documentaries.

Work Experience

2024 — 2024
Rowhome / WHYY

Lead produced: A podcast about the Atwater Kent Collection, an archive of objects from Philadelphia's history. In collaboration with First Person Arts.

2023 — 2024
Kaleidoscope Media

Co-produced: An 8-part series about journalist Jo Piazza’s family and their hundred year long game of telephone about the supposed murder of Jo's great great grandmother Lorenza Marsala.

2023 — 2023
101 Studios

Contributed editing and writing to: A 6-part series about former Green Bay Packer Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila and his spiral into a new religious movement.

2023 — 2023
Rowhome Productions

Edited: A 10-part series following 10 Philadelphian's economic goals for a year, produced by Nichole Currie in collaboration with Technical.ly Philly.

2022 — 2023
Kaleidoscope & iHeart

Produced: A seven-part investigative series about the murders of three Haitian radio broadcasters in Miami and the geopolitical context of the crimes.

2019 — 2022
VICE

Reported and produced weekly news documentary show, Vice News Reports, hosted by Arielle Duhaime-Ross, in collaboration with reporters across VICE.

2018 — 2020
WHYY

Freelanced and worked part-time, contributing stories and production to the newsroom, PlanPhilly, Keystone Crossroads, The Why, and The Pulse. I also helped develop a new Things to Do segment for radio and web.

2018 — 2018
The Clay Studio

Recorded audio of a community engagement event series held by The Clay Studio ahead of its move to North Philadelphia.

2015 — 2018
Next City

Wrote weekly articles and long-form features about infrastructure, with a focus on water, public art, housing policy, and counter-cultural mapping.

2015 — 2016
Seattle Recreative

Taught a weekend art class over 8 weeks for middle- and high-school students about how destruction can be a creative force in art, and how artists engage with social issues to be agents of repair. Also taught introductory book-binding for adults.

2013 — 2014
Regular contributor at The Turnagain Times
Whittier

Covered council meetings and the municipal ongoings of Whittier, Alaska

2011 — 2013
Gillian McCain Projects

Helped develop and maintain an organization system for a collection of 5000 found photographs and began the digitization of the collection. Assisted with research for writing projects.

2012 — 2012
Norma Stevens & Steven M. L. Aronson

For a biography of photographer Richard Avedon, culled public and private archives for articles, documents, and personal ephemera

Projects

2020

Three-part podcast series about teachers who carry guns in schools, the policies that allow it, and the trainings where current and former police teach gun skills to the teachers.

2013

A documentary project in photographs, writing and archival materials about the town of Whittier, Alaska.

Features

2021

A QAnon promoting mayor. Armed vigilantes looking to scare off antifa. And a heated fight over... an opioid treatment center?

2020

2020 has been a YEAR, and it’s not done yet. This episode, we hand over the mic to Monaea Upton in North Minneapolis. She’s 17 years old, and she’s been keeping an audio diary of her senior year of high school. Also aired on Snap Judgment.

2018

Tear gas links rural Pennsylvania with Egyptian protests

2018

Strawberry Mansion went from being one of Philadelphia's wealthiest neighborhoods to one of its poorest, from being predominantly white to majority black. Now it seems poised to change again.

Awards

2024

For Silenced: The Radio Murders, from Kaleidoscope and iHeart Media

2021

For Monaea: A 2020 Diary, with VICE Audio

2020

For "Shooting people is deescalation: Three days with teachers training to use guns in schools"

2015
Youth Arts Grant from Seattle Office of Arts & Culture

For "The Art of Destruction and Repair" class for teens

2013
General Grant Recipient from Alaska Humanities Forum

For "City Under One Roof"

Education

2017 — 2017
Graduate Certificate in Documentary Radio at Salt
2008 — 2012
BFA in Photography & Imaging at NYU

Speaking

2020

VICE audio producer Jen Kinney joins us to talk about her 3-part audio series for VICE News Reports, Armed.

2019
On the State of Independent Media with Kim Kelly at The Wooden Shoe
Philadelphia, PA

Moderated discussion with labor journalist Kim Kelly about the state of independent media

2019
Tear Gas with Anna Feigenbaum at The Wooden Shoe

Moderated discussion with Anna Feigenbaum about her book, Tear Gas: From the Battlefields of World War I to the Streets of Today

2019
Mitchell Abidor on May Made Me at The Wooden Shoe

Moderated discussion with Mitchell Abidor about his book May Made Me

2017

With Next City, Gehl, Philadelphia Parks Alliance and WURD Radio -- a public conversation about the vital role that public parks and recreation centers play in changing neighborhoods.

2014
Lange-Taylor Prize Talk at Center for Documentary Studies

Reading and discussion of "City Under One Roof"

2014
In Conversation with Pictures & Archives at Center for Documentary Studies
Durham, NC

Panel discussion about role of archives in photographic projects, with Pete Pin and Alex Harris

Side Projects

Ongoing

a weekly philly events newsletter

Exhibitions

2016
City Under One Roof at Impact Hub
Seattle, WA

Solo

2014
City Under One Roof at Alaska Humanities Forum
Anchorage, AK

Solo

2014
City Under One Roof at Center for Documentary Studies
Durham, NC

Solo

2012
Aporetics at Post Crypt Gallery
New York, NY

Group

2012
BFA Thesis Exhibition at Gulf & Western Gallery
New York, NY

Group