1st National Summit On Arts Journalism Launches Today, 10/2, Viewable Online

Today an ambitious, first-of-its-kind National Summit on Arts Journalism will take place this morning from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. (PST) at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. The summit will be streamed live at www.najp.org/summit and simulcast at 17 satellite locations around the world, listed below.

Conceived as a primarily online event, the summit is designed to promote discussion and draw attention to issues facing journalists and arts administrators, who are reinventing the coverage of arts and culture. As traditional media declines in the wake of the digital media explosion and as business models are reassessed, the summit presents and examines some of the most innovative thinking about arts journalism and its future.

Five project finalists have been chosen from among 109 submissions across North America in response to an open call earlier this summer for the best examples of entrepreneurial cultural journalism. In addition to demonstrations of these experimental projects, the day's agenda includes moderated discussions and video seminars on the future directions of arts administration and arts journalism.

The summit's online audience will be able to interact with speakers at the summit through Twitter, live online chatting and blogging. Viewers are being asked to post video responses on the summit's YouTube channel, and elements of the online discussion will be part of the conversation on stage at USC Annenberg.

"This is a real experiment for us," says Douglas McLennan, who co-directs the event with USC Annenberg journalism professor Sasha Anawalt. "We figured if we were going to be talking about new ways of covering the arts, we ought to be trying new ways of conducting this conversation. There's a lot of energy going in to reinventing arts journalism right now and we wanted to find ways of showcasing some of that creativity."

"This summit is a new dynamic way to bring together remarkable and important creators, journalists and ideas," Anawalt says. "This includes everybody - those who submitted a journalism project for consideration, the presenters and speakers on stage, and anyone else who enters the summit's virtual space curious to survey national arts journalism territory."

The summit is produced by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and the National Arts Journalism Program (NAJP) with significant support from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Competition heralds innovative arts journalism projects

Of the 109 submissions to the open call for projects demonstrating entrepreneurial cultural journalism, ten examples will be highlighted with video presentations on the day of the summit. Five of these ten are finalists in a competition to find the best use of new technology in the exploration of arts journalism. Each of the finalists have already earned $2,000, and the first-, second- and third-prize winners will split $15,000 in prize money courtesy of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Online voting for the winning project will take place October 2-23 by members of the NAJP and alumni of the four NEA Arts Journalism Institutes fellowship programs -American University (visual arts), Columbia University (classical music and opera), the American Dance Festival at Duke University (dance) and USC Annenberg School for Communication (theater and musical theater). The winners will be announced October 30.

The five finalists are:

1) Departures
Presented at the summit by Juan Devis, artist and producer
KCET, Los Angeles
Link: www.kcet.org/local/departures/la_river

Departures is an experiment in nonlinear community storytelling in the form of a multimedia Web site. The video is shot by KCET producers and students from partner schools in the neighborhoods, and users experience projects through multiple entry points and navigation pathways on the site. Departures suggests a different way of telling the stories of cultures that haven't found a voice in traditional journalism. Artist Juan Devis has developed an interactive form of journalism that captures the diversity of life in neighborhoods.

2) Flavorpill
Presented at the summit by Mark Mangan, CEO
New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Chicago
Link: www.flavorpill.com

Flavorpill is a 21st-century version of the city guide, sorting through hundreds of events each week to make a case for the 25 events in each city its writers believe are worthy of attention. Flavorpill started as an e-mail publisher and has grown to thousands of subscribers and millions of dollars in annual revenues. Revenue comes from advertising, but Flavorpill has also developed an unusual business model allowing venues to set up their own pages on the Web site and write about their own events alongside the site's own editorial staff.

3) FLYPMedia
Presented at the summit by Jim Gaines, editor-in-chief
New York
Link: www.flypmedia.com

FLYP is an independent media startup trying to reinvent the magazine online, not just by posting print/image/sound/video content to a Web site, but by rethinking what digital storytelling and the next-generation magazine might become. FLYP's origins are anchored in the physicality of the traditional magazine. Text is important, but image, sound, and video also take turns in the lead. FLYP demonstrates that a general-culture publication can be a compelling window on culture. Its editor, Jim Gaines, was formerly chief editor of People, Life and Time magazines.

4) Glasstire
Presented at the summit by Rainey Knudson, founder
Houston
Link: www.glasstire.com

Glasstire is a Web site about visual art in Texas. The site is not a comprehensive report on the visual arts, but as critics have always done, Glasstire argues for a way of seeing art in a region that is different from art made elsewhere. Glasstire is almost nine years old, operates as a nonprofit, and has developed a core of 35-40 writers around the state, all of whom are paid for their work. Knudson says the site is stable and self-sustaining, with traffic continuing to increase. This is a model for arts journalism that should be replicated in other states.

5) San Francisco Classical Voice
Presented at the summit by Patty Gessner, executive producer
San Francisco
Link: www.sfcv.org

San Francisco Classical Voice was created in 1998 when prominent classical music journalist Robert Commanday feared that cutbacks in newspaper coverage would hurt the local classical music scene. His Web site offering comprehensive local coverage has become the go-to resource for finding out about artists, organizations and events. The site's professional writers include a mix of expert academics, journalists and artists. The site is a nonprofit, self-sustained by local donations from foundations, corporations and individuals, and by selling ads and memberships.

The National Summit on Arts Journalism, an affiliated event of USC Visions and Voices, is made possible with major support from the NEA and the generous support of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the University of Southern California's College of Letters, Arts & Sciences, School of Cinematic Arts, Roski School of Fine Arts, Thornton School of Music, School of Theatre, School of Architecture, Fisher Museum of Art, the Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy, Online Journalism Review and the USC Annenberg School for Communication.

The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California was founded in 1971 with generous support from Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg. Its strategic location in Los Angeles enables it to foster dynamic synergies and multidisciplinary approaches to the study of communication and journalism through unparalleled access to the nation's and the world's entertainment, media and technology industries. Today, with more than 80 full-time faculty members, more than 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and dozens of research and public interest projects and programs, USC Annenberg has become a center for discussion among scholars and professionals in journalism, communication, public policy, media, and education. annenberg.usc.edu

Since 1994, the National Arts Journalism Program (NAJP) has sought to advance arts and cultural news coverage. The NAJP is a membership organization that works to: advocate for arts reporting and criticism, improve the quality and increase the quantity of arts journalism, inform the public and the media industry of standards of excellence in arts journalism, support and mentor arts journalists, provide a network for arts journalists in all disciplines, and help develop standards and viable economic models for arts journalism in emerging digital media. www.najp.org

About the NEA Arts Journalism Institutes
The NEA Arts Journalism Institutes are a series of intensive, introductory professional training programs for journalists who cover dance, theater and musical theater, classical music and opera, and visual art. To date, more than 250 journalists from all 50 states - representing print and broadcast organizations, as well as independent writers -have participated in the program, which has received universal acclaim from participants, faculty and arts organizations. arts.endow.gov/national/aji

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has been making grants since 1967 to help solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. The Foundation concentrates its resources on activities in education, the environment, global development, performing arts, philanthropy and population, and makes grants to support disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. www.hewlett.org

Satellite locations where the summit is being shown:

American University Museum, Katzen Arts Center, Washington D.C.
California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, Calif.
Columbia University, School of Journalism, New York
CUNY Graduate Center, Martin E. Segal Theatre Ctr., New York
The ELEMENT, Rockford, Ill.
Emerson College, Boston
Fluent Collaborative, New York
Institute for the Management of Creative Enterprises, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh
Louisville Public Media, Ky.
National Public Radio, New York Bureau
Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Philadelphia
Teleradio, Moldova
Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.
United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, Raleigh, N.C.
University of Missouri School of Journalism, Columbia, Mo.
The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minn.

For more details, visit www.najp.org/summit

 

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