The Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism and the Nieman Seminar for Narrative Editors will be suspended for the 2009-2010 academic year, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard announced last week.

The suspension of these programs constitutes a major reduction in spending for the Foundation, which attributed its decision to a university-wide need to make budget cuts in response to the recent economic downturn.

“Like most parts of Harvard, we’re facing the necessity of making cuts, and the narrative conference has become a very expensive undertaking,” said Nieman Foundation Curator Robert H. Giles.

Giles noted that while many of the extra programs the Foundation administers are funded by special grants or gifts the narrative program is not supported by such funding.

The narrative conference, which has convened annually since 2001, is a three day gathering that strives to help journalists to understand the components of effective storytelling and how to apply them to news reporting.

Participants have the opportunity to join small break-out groups that focus on specific elements of narrative writing and to network with hundreds of colleagues with similar interests. Past speakers have included prominent journalists like New York Times multimedia specialist Amy O’Leary and Washington Week’s Gwen Ifill, who shared expertise and advice on writing long-form stories.

According to Giles, the conferences have always been well-attended, but a recent drop in turnout to the Conference on Narrative Journalism contributed to the Foundation’s decision to suspend the program. Participation dropped from more than 800 people a few years ago to around 500 last year.

Despite the financial challenges the Foundation currently faces, Giles voiced optimism about the future of the Nieman Foundation’s narrative program.

“We’re suspending it, not eliminating it, so we hope to get the program going again in a couple of years,” he said.

In the meantime, the Foundation will maintain its commitment to narrative journalism through the continued operation of the Nieman Narrative Digest, the Foundation’s Web site on narrative journalism. The digest’s online presence includes bimonthly updates featuring examples of outstanding narrative stories and resources on long-form writing.

The foundation will also continue to offer the Nieman fellowship program, which is the world’s longest running mid-career training program for journalists.

—Staff writer Monica S. Liu can be reached at msliu@fas.harvard.edu.