Seventeen Arts Writers Selected in Broward Cultural Division’s Arts Journalism Alliance Program

Broward Cultural Division congratulates 17 South Florida writers on being selected for the innovative Broward Arts Journalism Alliance (BAJA)Program. With funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the program was designed to explore and expand methods in local arts coverage for all writers – including blogs, website copy, profiles, feature articles, reviews, critiques and photo essays for media professionals. These 17 writers are the next step in developing and nurturing a pool of local arts writers in order to keep news coverage in a dynamic and changing journalism field, alive and vibrant with fresh perspectives from writers who will now make Broward County’s arts and culture, their ‘Beat.’ The initiative includes writing for the Broward Cultural Division’s arts and culture magazine Cultural Quarterly and the development of new content for the ArtsCalendar.com website; as well as event coverage for Broward 100, Duende  and “WE” through social media and website opportunities.

The Division designed and then implemented a series of workshops over the course of a year at ArtServe, that culminated with a Call to Writers. South Florida’s writers were invited to gather along with a faculty from the Goldring Arts Journalism Program, the Janklow Arts Leadership Program and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with Syracuse University, as well as a compelling collection of local and regional media professionals. Aiming to achieve a greater volume of new content, with richer more informed dialogue about the arts community. BAJA was set to design and deliver a repertoire of arts journalism training programs for the areas’ content providers, professional broadcasters, media journalists, and other citizen writers who post arts-related story content. Learn more in the article by Robert Enslin in The College of Arts and Sciences, Syracuse University:  ‘Strike up the Brand!‘.

The 17 selected writers are: Erica Ando; Ali Berger; Michelle de Carion; Mary Damiano; Robyn Friedman; Rachel Galvin; Lucy Lazarony; Nancy Maxwell; Monique Mcintosh; Allegra Nagler; Judy Pokras; Andrea Richard; David Schwartz; Chris Shepard; April Simpson; Carla St. Louis; Dina Weinstein. Broward Cultural Division Broward Cultural Division is a local arts agency, one of thousands across the U.S. providing financial, technical and marketing assistance to artists and arts organizations. Broward County has more than 1.8 million residents, 13.4 million visitors, 10,000 artists, 6,291 arts-related businesses employing 23,498 people, 823 not-for-profit cultural organizations and 31 cities, some of which operate their own arts councils and public art programs.

About ArtWorks The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded Broward Cultural Division an Art Works grant in the arts journalism category, in the amount of $25,000 to support the Broward Arts Journalism Alliance Program. The guiding principle of Art Works is at the center of everything the NEA does. Art Works refers to three things: the works of art themselves, the ways art works on audiences, and the fact that art is work for the artists and arts professionals who make up the field. To make “art work”, the NEA has included the advancement of innovation as a core component of its mission as a way to ensure the vitality of the arts.