NAJP ANNOUNCES 2002-03 FELLOWS

The National Arts Journalism Program (NAJP) has selected 15 arts and cultural journalists for mid-career, research and senior fellowships for the 2002-03 academic year.

This is the ninth year in which the NAJP, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, has offered fellowships to arts journalists. The 2002-03 class of fellows was selected from a record number of applications, and its members--who include two Pulitzer Prize recipients--are among the most distinguished critics, reporters and editors in their respective fields of cultural coverage.

The senior fellows, and their writing projects, are:
Robert Brustein, theater critic, The New Republic;
Project: a history of the American Repertory Theatre

Robert Campbell, architecture critic, The Boston Globe
Project: essays on architecture

Robert Christgau, senior editor, The Village Voice
Project: a world history of popular music

Margo Jefferson, critic, The New York Times, and
Elizabeth Kendall, author and adjunct professor, Bard College
Project: a photo/text panorama of American women artists

Research fellows are:
Carole Carmichael, assistant managing editor, The Seattle Times
Project: strategies for covering new arts and cultural movements

Michael Wise, contributing editor, Architecture
Project: a conference on cultural diplomacy

Mid-career fellows are:
M.J. Andersen, editorial columnist, The Providence Journal
Sasha Frere-Jones, freelance writer on popular music
Anya Grundmann, supervising editor, Performance Today, National Public Radio
Allan M. Jalon, freelance literary journalist
Donald Munro, film critic, The Fresno Bee
Joshua Seftel, freelance film producer
Kristin Tillotson, columnist and reporter, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Douglas Wolk, freelance arts writer

Mid-career fellowships offer arts critics, reporters and editors an academic year in which to immerse themselves in curricula at Columbia University, and in an independent practicum under the auspices of one of New York's arts and cultural organizations. Research fellows also engage in academic curricula, and pursue a research project leading to an NAJP-sponsored publication or event. Three-month senior fellowships are awarded to a select few arts and cultural journalists of national distinction who aim to advance independent writing and research projects.

Robert Campbell and Margo Jefferson have each received the Pulitzer Prize in the category of Distinguished Criticism. Jefferson received her award in 1995; Campbell received his in 1996.

Mid-career and research fellows receive stipends of $40,000 for the academic year plus tuition at Columbia and additional benefits. Senior fellows receive stipends of $10,000 per month during their residencies, which are typically three months in duration.

Since 1994, the National Arts Journalism Program, based at the Columbia University School of Journalism in association with the School of the Arts, has promoted more and better coverage of the arts in the nation's news media, through fellowships, research and public events. Its 102 fellows to date have included author and journalist Patricia Bosworth, former New Yorker dance critic Arlene Croce, cartoonist, playwright and author Jules Feiffer, Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis, New York Times chief art critic Michael Kimmelman, and New Yorker staff writer Lawrence Weschler. NAJP's many publications have included "Reporting the Arts" (2000), a landmark analysis of arts coverage at 15 newspapers in 10 cities.

Recent NAJP publications and events have included the conference and research report "Wonderful Town: The Future of Theater in New York" (Oct. 2001 and Feb. 2002); the symposium "Who Pays for the Arts?" (Feb. 2002); the "Talking Jazz" symposium (April 2002) at the venerable Village Vanguard, and the seventh volume of an annual journal of essays written by that year's NAJP's fellows, ARTicles.

Upcoming publications and events include a Berkeley, Calif. symposium on the future of arts journalism (May 2002); "The Art Critic," the most comprehensive survey to date on the field of visual art criticism (August 2002); and a two-day November 2002 conference on impede free expression in the arts.

"Our incoming group of 2002-03 fellows is among the strongest in the history of the program," said Michael Janeway, director of the NAJP. "This fellowship program will be a unique opportunity for them to pursue important work and training."

Janeway, former editor of the Boston Globe and executive editor at The Atlantic Monthly, spent eight years as dean of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University before consolidating the operations of the NAJP at the Columbia University School of Journalism and joining the school's faculty in 1997. NAJP's deputy director, András Szántó, is a writer on arts and cultural issues and earned a Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia with a dissertation examining transformations within the New York visual art world.

"By providing these remarkable fellows with well-earned respites from the rigors of day-to-day arts journalism, NAJP helps enrich the entire field," said Marian Godfrey, director of the Culture program at The Pew Charitable Trusts. "It is my pleasure to welcome them."

The 2002-03 fellows were selected by NAJP's advisory board, whose members are: Helen Donovan, executive editor, The Boston Globe; Arthur Gelb, director, The New York Times Scholarship Fund; John Horn, film writer, Newsweek; Ileana Oroza, professor of journalism and photography, University of Miami; Abe Peck, professor and chair of the magazine program, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University; Peter Plagens, art critic, Newsweek; Ray Rinaldi, arts and entertainment editor, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Susan Stamberg, special correspondent for the arts, National Public Radio; and Isabel Wilkerson, correspondent, The New York Times.

The deadline for 2003-04 NAJP fellowships will be early February 2003. Recipients will be announced later that spring.

The Pew Charitable Trusts support nonprofit activities in the areas of culture, education, the environment, health and human services, public policy and religion. Based in Philadelphia, the Trusts make strategic investments that encourage and support citizen participation in addressing critical issues and effecting social change.

NAJP director Michael Janeway and deputy director András Szántó are available for interviews on the program's incoming class of fellows. To arrange an interview, please contact research manager Jeremy Simon at 212-854-1917.

Please direct all correspondence to:
The National Arts Journalism Program
Columbia Graduate School of Journalism
2950 Broadway, MC 7200
New York, NY 10027
Telephone: 212-854.1912
Fax: 212-854-8129
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.najp.org