Seven fellows were selected to participate in the 2007 USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Fellowship program. This impressive and select group will spend three weeks together in Los Angeles exploring ways to strengthen the role of arts journalism.
The Fellows and Senior Fellow for 2007 are:
- KURT ANDERSEN, novelist, radio host, columnist. Andersen is author of the new novel “Heyday,” host and co-creator of “Studio 360,” America’s only national arts-and-culture magazine program, and writes a column for New York magazine, of which he was previously editor-in-chief. Andersen also has been a columnist and critic for Time and the New Yorker, and was co-founder of the legendary Spy magazine.
- BRETT CAMPBELL, Wall Street Journal, West Coast performing arts
correspondent. From Portland, Oregon, Campbell has written about music, theatre and architecture for West, Salon and The Oregonian. He’s been an editor of Oregon Quarterly and The Texas Observer magazines, and music columnist for Eugene Weekly. His biography on composer Lou Harrison is forthcoming.
- CELESTE HEADLEE, National Public Radio, freelance reporter and producer, and Detroit News, freelance reporter. Headlee produces features for NPR and regularly writes for the Detroit News. Her show “Front Row Center” is an award-winning weekly radio program dedicated to cultural events and issues.
- VICTORIA INFANTE, La Vibra, the weekly arts magazine for Los Angeles’ Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion, editor. Three years ago, Infante helped re-launch La Vibra, the No. 1 entertainment guide for young Latinos in the U.S. Infante also writes for Espectaculos, the daily entertainment section of La Opinion. Before coming to the U.S., Infante worked as a journalist in Mexico.
- ESTHER IVEREM, SeeingBlack.com, founder, editor and film critic, and BET.com, film and arts critic. Iverem worked as a staff writer for the Washington Post, New York Newsday, and New York Times before taking a leap of faith and joining the world of Internet journalism. Her book “We Gotta Have It: Twenty Years of Seeing Black at the Movies, 1986-2006” will be published in April 2007.
- CAROL KINO, New York Times, regular freelance contributor. Kino, a journalist and cultural critic living in Manhattan, is also a contributing editor at Art & Auction and has written about visual art for Slate and The Atlantic Monthly. Her investigation into Costco’s selling of apparently forged Picasso drawings prompted the New York Times to move the story to the front page.
- EDWARD LIFSON, Chicago Public Radio, senior editor of arts, architecture and culture. Lifson hosts a one-hour, weekly radio program dedicated to the arts, “Hello Beautiful!”. Every week, he also hosts “Three to See,” wherein he illuminates three not-to-be-missed cultural events. In 1996, Lifson established the NPR Berlin bureau and reported on the city’s rebuilding and the war in Kosovo.
- KAELEN WILSON-GOLDIE is an American journalist working as an editor and writer for The Daily Star, an English-language newspaper based Lebanon and distributed to 12 countries in the Middle East. Since 2006, Wilson-Goldie has been a correspondent for Artforum. Before moving to Beirut, she worked for the pop culture magazine Black Book.
A committee of six journalists selected the seven Fellows from an international pool of nearly 100 applicants. The committee received applications from 14 countries.
Directed by Sasha Anawalt, the 2007 USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism plans for the Fellows’ three weeks in Los Angeles include possible meetings with curators Stephanie Barron and Julie Lazar; museum directors Michael Brand and Michael Govan; journalists Cory Doctorow, John Horn, Douglas McLennan, Barbara Isenberg , Marty Kaplan and Sharon Waxman; artists Chris Burden, Mister Jalopy, Thomas Leabhart, John Outterbridge, Nancy Rubins and Esa-Pekka Salonen; and critics Christopher Knight, Peter Plagens and Mark Swed, among many others.
Anawalt wrote me the nicest letter to inform me that I had not been selected as a Fellow for this year’s program. This is the second year that I’ve applied and seeing the names and credentials of the selected journalists, makes me feel all the more honored to have received such a kind letter from Anawalt.
In her letter she writes:
“This letter is so hard for me to write, because I admire your work and have nothing but good feelings for the possibility of you being a Fellow.”
She explains how they seek a balance of editors, reporters, writers, and produceers in various media and from diverse geographic areas. Then she adds:
“Turning away great applicants is the hardest act for me as director, especially truning away those in whom I have invested an abiding professional curiosity. You are one such person. I follow you as best I can. It is journalists such as you who convince me that we need to expand and find ways to include more people.”
She encourages me to apply again next year, which of course, I will. And who knows, perhaps the third time will truly be the charm for me.
She closes her letter by saying: “Continue to produce good stories and to think about the arts with the passion, integrity, depth and imagination you already possess. We greatly appreciate your interest and hope very much to keep it. Stay in touch!”
Finally, she signs her name and writes that perhaps they will expand the size of the Fellowship. “Your work deserves attention,” she adds.
