School Of Journalism»Specialized Journalism Arts Ma

USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program

About the program

Under the direction of Sasha Anawalt, director of arts journalism programs at USC Annenberg, and with support from the Getty Foundation, the program sought to establish a new standard of excellence in arts and culture coverage. The Fellowship’s philosophy was guided by a core belief in the importance of first-hand encounters with both artists and journalism colleagues.

About the Getty Foundation

The Getty Foundation fulfills the philanthropic mission of the Getty Trust by supporting individuals and institutions committed to advancing the understanding and preservation of the visual arts locally and throughout the world. Through strategic grants and programs, the Foundation strengthens art history as a global discipline, promotes the interdisciplinary practice of conservation, increases access to museum and archival collections, and develops current and future leaders in the visual arts. The Foundation carries out its work in collaboration with the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, and the Getty Conservation Institute to ensure that the Getty programs achieve maximum impact. Additional information is available at www.getty.edu/foundation.

Comments from past fellows and the editors

“I particularly admire the innovative ways in which USC has reinvented the program in keeping with the changing context for arts journalism in an increasingly online environment. The Getty is pleased to provide support for the arts journalism fellowship program.” – Deborah Marrow, director of The Getty Foundation

“These journalists want to drive the global conversation about arts and culture. They have the skills, energy and ideas to spark further change in how people participate in the arts and make them meaningful to their lives. This is our most international fellowship so far.” – Sasha Anawalt, founder and director 

Past fellows

2012 Fellows

Fifteen distinguished arts journalists, web designers and web developers have been selected as fellows for the 2012 USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program. They were chosen from the largest applicant pool in the fellowship’s 11-year history — 257 applicants from across the United States and 56 countries. With support from The Getty Foundation, these fellows participated in an arts journalism project called Engine30 (November 8-18, 2012).

The 2012 fellows were:

  • Barbara Bogaev, host and producer, Soundprint Media, La Crescenta, Calif.
  • Meredith Broussard, contributing editor, Hidden City Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa.
  • Brendan Bruce, senior interactive designer, Peppercom, New York, N.Y.
  • Marissa Gluck, freelance journalist, Radar Research, Los Angeles, Calif.
  • Sean Kelly, freelance designer and illustrator, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Fairfield, Conn.
  • Miles Lightwood, staff software engineer, The Walt Disney Company, Glendale, Calif.
  • Enrique Limón, arts and culture editor, Santa Fe Reporter, Santa Fe, N.M.
  • Joanne McNeil, senior editor, Rhizome at the New Museum, New York, N.Y.
  • Anne Maria Nicholson, national arts reporter, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Sydney 
  • Paul Pierson, partner and design director, Carbone Smolan Agency, New York, N.Y.
  • Chris Spurgeon, senior software engineer, The Walt Disney Company, North Hollywood, Calif.
  • Suzi Steffen, social media consultant, Ojai Music Festival; journalism instructor, University of Oregon, Eugene, Ore.
  • Mark Taylor, senior interactive producer for arts & culture, KQED, San Francisco, Calif.
  • Su Wu, freelance journalist and blogger, "I'm Revolting," Etsy.com, Los Angeles, Calif.
  • Logan K. Young, lead editorial producer, RealNetworks, Inc., Reston, Va.

2011 Fellows

The USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program celebrated its tenth anniversary with the creation of Engine29, a “pop-up” arts journalism lab, and the return of 28 of the Fellowship program’s alumni and three Senior Fellows. With support from The Getty Foundation, this special Alumni Fellowship will be held in Los Angeles from November 4 to 13.

The 2011 fellows were: 

  • Joshua Samuel Brown, Author and photographer, Lonely Planet/BBC
  • Laura Emerick, Arts Editor, Chicago Sun-Times
  • Sara Fishko, Producer and host of culture series, “Fishko Files,” WNYC radio
  • Celeste Headlee, Co-host of “The Takeaway” for WNYC and PRI
  • Rick Holter, Supervising Senior Editor, NPR's weekend “All Things Considered”
  • Jennifer Hsu, Video journalist and producer, WNYC’s online arts portal
  • Carol Kino, Regular freelance contributor, The New York Times and Art Economist
  • Kim Levin, Independent art critic and curator; author, Beyond Modernism
  • Edward Lifson, Former bureau chief, reporter for NPR; USC architecture professor
  • Alison MacAdam, Senior Editor, NPR's “All Things Considered”
  • Doug MacCash, Art Critic, The Times-Picayune, New Orleans
  • Peggy McGlone, Arts industry reporter, The Star-Ledger and NJ.com
  • Carolina A. Miranda, Regular contributor, NY Public Radio; freelance for Time, ARTnews
  • Laszlo Molnar, Music and Drama Editor TV, Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation
  • Nekesa Mumbi Moody, Music Editor, The Associated Press
  • olufunke moses, Music and arts regular freelance writer, Creative Loafing
  • Kevin Nance, Arts freelance writer and contributing editor, Poets & Writers
  • Michael Norman, Online Arts and Entertainment Editor, Cleveland Plain Dealer
  • Andrew Patner, Critic-at-Large, WFMT; classical music critic, Chicago Sun-Times
  • Ryan Pearson, TV producer and entertainment reporter, The Associated Press
  • Gillian Rennie, Editor of Cue, South Africa’s daily for National Arts Festival
  • Randall Roberts, Pop music critic, Los Angeles Times
  • Michele Siegel, Producer, public radio's “Studio 360,” WNYC and PRI
  • Ariel Swartley, Freelance culture writer, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times
  • Neda Ulaby, Art, entertainment and cultural trend reporter, NPR Arts Desk
  • Alissa Walker, Freelance design and architecture writer, GOOD, Fast Company
  • Matthew Westwood, Arts correspondent, The Australian
  • Douglas Wolk, Pop music and comic books freelance writer, TIME, The New York Times 

2010 Fellows

Seven distinguished mid-career arts journalists were selected as fellows for the USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program. The Fellowship emphasized the visual arts and architecture of Los Angeles, with attention paid to how conversation about the arts creates an increasingly valued buzz in global media. Fellows visited private studios, rehearsal rooms, architectural firms and art schools and had behind-the-scenes opportunities to meet renowned artists, arts administrators and accomplished journalists. 

The 2010 fellows were:

  • Joerg Haentzschel, writer and editor. NewYork-based Haentzschel writes about American arts and culture for the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung. He has covered all cultural fields and interviewed such luminaries as P.T. Anderson, William Eggleston and Werner Herzog. He spent two years as deputy chief of the Sueddeutsche arts department in Munich and was also its sole writer in New York covering the events on and after 9/11.
  • Jennifer Hsu, video journalist and producer. Hsu developed and reports for WNYC’s interactive online arts portal, culture.wnyc.org, and created the ongoing “Know Your Neighbor” video series of intimate personal portraits. She has produced for WNYC and Public Radio International’s The Takeaway as well as Rolling Stone, and focuses on music, politics, architecture and urban planning and stories about extraordinary everyday people.
  • Ryan Pearson, reporter. As a Los Angeles-based entertainment producer for Associated Press Television, Pearson covers film, music, video games and pop culture. On this beat, he has interviewed Jack Nicholson, Mel Gibson, Christina Aguilera and Kanye West. Previously, Pearson spent eight years as an editor, writer and video journalist at The Associated Press, covering topics from pro skateboarding to wildfires.
  • Gillian Rennie, writer and editor. Rennie is a Journalism and Media Studies lecturer at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. For the past 10 years, she has edited and written for Cue, a daily newspaper produced by the Journalism School to cover the annual National Festival of the Arts. She received the Mondi Award for Profile Writing in 2006 for her MaMbeki profile published in Fairlady and has written for publications such as Grocott’s Mail, The Natal Witness and The Sunday Independent.
  • Alissa Walker, writer and editor. Focusing on design and architecture, Walker has written for Fast Company, GOOD, and Dwell, and edited the design blog UnBeige for three years. She co-created and serves as curator for GOOD Design, an event series where designers present solutions to urban problems across the country, and she is the associate producer of KCRW’s DnA: Design and Architecture. She is author of CityWalks Architecture: New York, a walking guide organized into 25 itineraries.
  • Wei-Wei Wang, columnist and reporter. Originally from Taipei, Taiwan, Wang covers the Beijing contemporary art scene for Taiwan-based ARTCO magazine. In addition to her column in Art and Investment, she is currently working on a year-long series of monthly interviews with Chinese contemporary art collectors for publication in the same magazine. She has also worked for the Beijing bureau of Christian Science Monitor and served as gallery manager for Boers-Li Gallery in Beijing, China.
  • Douglas Wolk, writer and critic. Based in Portland, Oregon, Wolk writes about comics and graphic novels for the New York Times Book Review, Techland.com, The Believer and Publishers Weekly, and about pop music for Rolling Stone, Time, Pitchfork.com and elsewhere. In 2002-2003, he was a Mid-Career Fellow with the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University. He authored the Eisner Award-winning Reading Comics (Da Capo) and Live at the Apollo (Continuum).

2009 Fellows

This year’s Fellowship focused on the visual arts and architecture of Los Angeles, with attention paid to the challenges confronting journalists working in the digital media era. How does today’s arts journalist, especially during a worldwide economic downturn, become the focus for conversation and persuasion? The 2009 Fellowship was about enabling arts journalists to take a bold lead and tell stories that meaningfully connect audiences and artists.

The 2009 fellows were: 

  • Joshua Samuel Brown, writer and photo-journalist. Based primarily in Asia for the past 15 years, Brown has contributed visual and performing arts stories to the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong Standard, Sculptural Pursuit and many other publications. He has co-authored four recent Lonely Planet titles including Taiwan, Singapore and Belize, and is the author of “Vignettes of Taiwan,” published by San Francisco-based Things Asian Press.
  • Barbara Celis, reporter, blogger and filmmaker. For the last five years New York-based Celis has regularly covered American arts, culture and politics for Spain’s El Pais. She is a frequent contributor to ARS, Ioncinema, La Repubblica, the Spanish editions of Vogue, Rolling Stone and Cinemania. She has a bilingual blog, www.cronicasbarbaras.com and is finishing her first documentary, “Surviving Amina.”
  • Kelly Klaasmeyer, editor and critic. Editor of Glasstire, an online magazine devoted to the visual arts of Texas, Klaasmeyer also writes about art for Houston Press. In 2004, she was awarded the Lone Star Award for first place in Arts and Entertainment Criticism. A working artist, she holds an MFA in Painting and a BFA in Painting and Drawing.
  • Neda Ulaby, writer and editor, radio and print. National Public Radio arts reporter Ulaby specializes in film, books, intellectual property issues, and cultural trends. She also hosts NPR’s weekly arts podcast. As former managing editor of Chicago’s Windy City Times, a gay and lesbian weekly newspaper, she oversaw staff and freelancers as well as contributed news, features and film reviews.
  • Randall Roberts, editor and critic. At the LA Weekly, music editor Roberts oversees the multimedia music content of laweekly.com and the music blog West Coast Sound. Roberts has also written for the Village Voice, Salon, Stylus.com, Seattle Weekly and other publications. His work has been honored by the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, the National Association of Black Journalists and Association of Food Journalists.
  • Matthew Westwood, writer and editor. As arts editor of the national daily newspaper The Australian, Westwood is responsible for coverage of the nation’s fine, popular, and indigenous arts. He writes mainly about classical music and opera, and the performing arts generally. He is a former editor of 24 Hours, a classical music magazine, and features editor on the startup team of London’s Metro in 1999.

Previous fellowship data is not available at this time.