The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced that applications are now being accepted for the 5th annual Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater. The institute, which will take place April 14-24, 2009, is an 11-day intensive workshop in theater and musical theater for writers, editors, broadcast and online producers from the 50 states and Puerto Rico.
Institute applications are due Jan. 23, 2009.
“In good times and bad, theater is an art form that has always been important to Americans,” said Geneva Overholser, director of USC Annenberg’s School of Journalism. “For journalists, theater provides a view of people’s social, political, economic and psychological concerns that can sometimes be more truthful and illuminating than real stories and hard news. Arts journalism is vital to the whole picture.”
“Arts journalists are facing challenging times as are newspapers nationwide,” said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. “Our institute, administered by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, offers these writers a chance to step away from their newsrooms and busy freelancing lives to focus on the reasons they originally became arts journalists. That is, a love for writing and a passionate commitment to the arts.”
Based in Los Angeles, the Fellowship provides a total immersion experience that includes attending as many as ten performances or rehearsals. Participants will meet theater professionals ranging from directors and administrators of L.A.’s primary theater companies to critics of national stature, who will engage them individually for writing instruction and exercises. Professional sessions addressing changes in the media industry will be offered and special attention will be paid to building digital media skills. No specialized knowledge of theater is required. Staff journalists and freelancers who work in print, radio, TV or online media are welcome to apply.
Sasha Anawalt , director of USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism’s M.A. degree program in Specialized Journalism (The Arts), will direct the NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater.
“One hundred journalists from 45 states have participated in this program over the past four years,” said Anawalt. “Through them the Institute has affected many different arts communities, because they return awakened to new ideas and ways of seeing. The 2009 Institute will ask some big questions about theater criticism and reporting, such as: Are they still relevant practices? Why? Can one make a living at them? How? Do traditional arts journalism values still hold? When? And, what are they? Our emphasis will be on entrepreneurial skill building and digital media fluency.”
The Theater and Musical Theater Institute at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism is one of three NEA Arts Journalism Institutes, along with the Institute for Music and Opera at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York and the Institute for Dance Criticism at the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina. The groundbreaking program is part of a $1 million NEA initiative to offer intensive training for theater reporters and their editors, especially those who live and work outside the major theater centers of Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago. The program covers most of the participants' expenses.
For more information, visit http://annenberg.usc.edu/nea
About the National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts -- both new and established -- bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the largest national funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. For more information, please visit www.arts.gov.
