Thanks for pointing out this column by John. While I agree that taking note of this lost past is an important part of the conversation, the road ahead is where I prefer to focus. OnStage Colorado, the site I’ve been building over the past five years, is aimed specifically at filling the gaps in arts coverage left by newspapers. We’re focused on theatre for the moment but looking to scale this model to include all kinds of live performance and arts coverage. We’ve already started gaining some ad revenue from theatres and I truly believe that as we grow we can create opportunities for paying arts journalist while creating that one-stop place for all the coverage as suggested. Once the cornerstone content is in place, we can then continue expanding how we share it in places beyond the site itself because we know not all audiences are in the same place anymore!
I wrote a long comment on John's post of his piece on FB but will repeat a bit of it here. Bonfils-Stanton Foundation has been trying to tackle this issue for many years, within the obvious limitations that this is part of a sea change in journalism in general, and cultural journalism is just one piece. We made a large funding commitment over a decade ago to Colorado Public Radio to create a three-reporter arts news bureau, a dedicated website, social media, reviews, blogs, etc. Under previous leadership they never really implemented this vision, and the funding was pulled. We were early supporters of the creation of the Colorado Media Project, with a specific focus on studying the cultural journalism landscape statewide (the report is on their website). We helped support the CPR/Denverite merger with the expectation that there would be maintained a full-time arts reporter (Isaac Vargas is now in that role). We funded arts coverage at Confluence, the now defunct online news site. We funded Arts District, the RMPBS arts news-magazine show they produced. It remains a challenging time - even the many remaining media that provide arts coverage are splintered. The days of a "newspaper of record" being the one place everyone went to are llong gone. So is an arts interested consumer going to have to regularly read/listen/watch The Guardian, the Sun, CPR, Denverite, CityCast Denver, RMPBS, Westword, Denver Post, etc. to glean the occasional arts story? And as younger and BIPOC cultural consumers will tell you, they were never getting most of their arts news from these sites. They have been going to Black Spectrum, Asian Avenue, Al Dia, but mostly to social media and word of mouth. So, reaching these audiences with cultural stories, news, information may be about activating these networks with more short form and multi-media stories, in ways that are authentic and speak to them. I still remember a session a few years ago organized by the Colorado Media Project where there were a panel of speakers from the Knight Foundation's journalism program, and it was reported that coming out of Colorado's research was the conclusion that public radio and TV seemed to be the vehicles best equipped to deliver local news in this new landscape. They already had newsrooms that could be built up and strengthened, already had listeners/viewers, and already had a donor base that could be tapped. Someone from Knight raised the very important caveat that these media outlets, in general, were reaching wealthier, White, older audiences - not young people, not BIPOC folks. I do not have a magic solution - I think we all - journalists, community leaders, funders, artists and arts groups, and audiences - are in this together. We have to find a new way, because I DO believe that a robust independent cultural journalism sector is critical to a vibrant and dynamic cultural sector. Sorry for rambling!
The hollowing-out of arts coverage in general started with the Great Recession. Here in the Metroplex area, the Morning News dropped Scott Cantrell, the well-versed classical music critic, then rehired him as a freelancer — on condition he also cover architecture.
Oh yeah, I know that arts coverage needs to be subsidized. Unfortunately, depending on the strata you pick, a part of that does become inherently promotional and it can get weird at times.
Thanks for pointing out this column by John. While I agree that taking note of this lost past is an important part of the conversation, the road ahead is where I prefer to focus. OnStage Colorado, the site I’ve been building over the past five years, is aimed specifically at filling the gaps in arts coverage left by newspapers. We’re focused on theatre for the moment but looking to scale this model to include all kinds of live performance and arts coverage. We’ve already started gaining some ad revenue from theatres and I truly believe that as we grow we can create opportunities for paying arts journalist while creating that one-stop place for all the coverage as suggested. Once the cornerstone content is in place, we can then continue expanding how we share it in places beyond the site itself because we know not all audiences are in the same place anymore!
I wrote a long comment on John's post of his piece on FB but will repeat a bit of it here. Bonfils-Stanton Foundation has been trying to tackle this issue for many years, within the obvious limitations that this is part of a sea change in journalism in general, and cultural journalism is just one piece. We made a large funding commitment over a decade ago to Colorado Public Radio to create a three-reporter arts news bureau, a dedicated website, social media, reviews, blogs, etc. Under previous leadership they never really implemented this vision, and the funding was pulled. We were early supporters of the creation of the Colorado Media Project, with a specific focus on studying the cultural journalism landscape statewide (the report is on their website). We helped support the CPR/Denverite merger with the expectation that there would be maintained a full-time arts reporter (Isaac Vargas is now in that role). We funded arts coverage at Confluence, the now defunct online news site. We funded Arts District, the RMPBS arts news-magazine show they produced. It remains a challenging time - even the many remaining media that provide arts coverage are splintered. The days of a "newspaper of record" being the one place everyone went to are llong gone. So is an arts interested consumer going to have to regularly read/listen/watch The Guardian, the Sun, CPR, Denverite, CityCast Denver, RMPBS, Westword, Denver Post, etc. to glean the occasional arts story? And as younger and BIPOC cultural consumers will tell you, they were never getting most of their arts news from these sites. They have been going to Black Spectrum, Asian Avenue, Al Dia, but mostly to social media and word of mouth. So, reaching these audiences with cultural stories, news, information may be about activating these networks with more short form and multi-media stories, in ways that are authentic and speak to them. I still remember a session a few years ago organized by the Colorado Media Project where there were a panel of speakers from the Knight Foundation's journalism program, and it was reported that coming out of Colorado's research was the conclusion that public radio and TV seemed to be the vehicles best equipped to deliver local news in this new landscape. They already had newsrooms that could be built up and strengthened, already had listeners/viewers, and already had a donor base that could be tapped. Someone from Knight raised the very important caveat that these media outlets, in general, were reaching wealthier, White, older audiences - not young people, not BIPOC folks. I do not have a magic solution - I think we all - journalists, community leaders, funders, artists and arts groups, and audiences - are in this together. We have to find a new way, because I DO believe that a robust independent cultural journalism sector is critical to a vibrant and dynamic cultural sector. Sorry for rambling!
The hollowing-out of arts coverage in general started with the Great Recession. Here in the Metroplex area, the Morning News dropped Scott Cantrell, the well-versed classical music critic, then rehired him as a freelancer — on condition he also cover architecture.
Oh yeah, I know that arts coverage needs to be subsidized. Unfortunately, depending on the strata you pick, a part of that does become inherently promotional and it can get weird at times.
Do tell!
I’ll hit you up