USC Annenberg | 2003 Fellows

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2003 Fellows

The second USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Fellowship took place March 15 to April 3, 2003. The 2003 Fellows were:

Diane Bacha, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel—In 2003, Bacha was assistant managing editor of entertainment and features for the Journal Sentinel. She recently became Assistant Managing Editor for New Initiatives and Readership Growth, and is responsible for a new weekly entertainment and lifestyle publication aimed at 25- to 34-year-olds.
Christopher Blank, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis)—Blank is the paper’s performing arts reporter and critic, covering classical music, theater and dance. Blank is particularly concerned with questions of stereotypes, racism, and leadership in the cultural institutions of Memphis, a city with a black majority population.
Sara Fishko, WNYC Radio (New York)—Known as the "Cultural Attaché" of WNYC 93.9 FM/820 FM, Fishko produces and reports for "Studio 360," "Morning Edition," "On the Media" and her own series, "The Fishko Files."
Jody Hassett, ABC News—Based in Washington, D.C., Hassett is a producer for ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. Her religious and cultural stories have also aired on Nightline's "Up Close."
Nekesa Mumbi Moody, The Associated Press—Based in New York, Moody is the national music writer for The Associated Press. Her focus is pop music, but she also edits and assigns AP writers around the world who cover music in other genres.
Andrew Patner, WFMT Radio and Chicago Sun-Times—Patner is the critic-at-large for WFMT 98.7 FM and contributing critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. Patner covers all the arts, but with a particular concentration on classical music.
Marc Vitali, WTTW TV (Chicago)—Vitali is a producer for WTTW/Channel 11, Chicago's PBS station, and a founding producer of the station's cultural show, "Artbeat Chicago."

Two Los Angeles-based journalists were named Visiting Fellows for the 2003 program:

Jordi Ortega, KVEA Telemundo 52—Ortega is a freelance TV and print reporter, who films edits, writes and reports his own pieces, primarily on the Latino community. Ortega has also been published in the L.A. Weekly.
Loretta Williams, National Public Radio—Williams is editor of the Arts Information Unit of NPR and is based at NPR West in Culver City.

Highlights of USC Annenberg/Getty II included a tour the new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels with Jack Miles, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of God: A Biography, and sculptor Robert Graham, who created the Cathedral’s bronze doors. The Fellows also explored Los Angeles’ history and the impact of water, power and transportation on arts-making in a seminar led by Dan Rosenfeld of Urban Partners. They met with artists such as Judy Baca, Kamau Daáood, Frank Gehry, Hirokazu Kosaka, Peter Sellars, and Bill Viola; curators and other experts from the Getty, MOCA, and Norton Simon, including Paul Schimmel, Jeremy Strick, Stephanie Barron and John Walsh; and editors, critics and arts writers such as Christopher Knight, Mark Swed and Geoff Boucher of the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly’s Alan Rich, Peter Rainer, film critic for New York magazine, Gary Kornblau of Arts Issues, and Ariel Swartley, a contributing writer for Los Angeles magazine, and a 2002 Fellow.