Liz Goldner, Editor

ART JOURNALISM

In last week’s newsletter, I wrote about my submission to the National Arts Journalism Program's (NAJP) 'National Summit on Arts Journalism' – a competition looking for new models for arts journalism.

The five contest finalists were announced on NAJP’s website yesterday, September 8. My website is not a finalist. Neither is CultureGrrl, an excellent blog and the art world's award winning "best blog, according to the Newswomen’s Club of New York . I read this on the CultureGrrl blog.

While I’m disappointed that I’m not a finalist, I have no regrets that I spent many hours creating my submission with my web developer, Mike Jones. I learned so much about the current state of arts journalism – that I didn’t know before. (I will address this later in this newsletter.) I also re-wrote my About Us page.

DIMINISHED ART WRITING OUTLETS

As most readers of this newsletter are artists or people interested in the arts, I’m sure you’re aware that the number of traditional outlets for art writing have dramatically diminished over the last half dozen years. Meanwhile, arts blogs – apparently 300,000 in existence today –are proliferating. Some of these are excellent, while many are not so good.

When the contest was announced on line, potential applicants were informed that the five finalists would be announced on the NAJP’s website on August 28. On that date, the website said, "Sorry to say, but choosing among all of the submitted projects has been tougher than we anticipated. We're not done yet. We'll make an announcement next week."

WHY THE DELAY

Here’s part of yesterday’s announcement, explaining the delay.

"We had expected 30-40 submissions but then got 108, and it took much longer to thoroughly consider all the submissions... We had intended to announce the names of the five projects we have chosen here on the website. Instead, we have decided, based on the protracted process of selection, that we'll wait to announce those selected until the Summit itself. We'd rather change the previously announced plan than announce the names without the proper context for why they were chosen...

"The purpose of the National Summit on Arts Journalism is not to declare a 'winner' but to shine light on compelling ideas and issues being addressed by the myriad projects that have been made possible, in part, by the digital revolution. In other words, our goal is not to end the conversation with these choices, but to start conversations by showcasing projects that might give us a peek into the future."

LONG TERM VIABILITY

The latter part of the announcement gives a glimmer of how the five finalists were chosen.

"What we're looking for, therefore, is not so much a commercial business plan but some indications of long-term operational viability. The submissions are clarification that we still have some way to go to establish viable sustainable business models. Yet there are glimmers, and a number of projects have now sustained themselves for several years."

If I read this last statement clearly, each of the five finalists has been in existence for a significant period of time, and this relative longevity helps to confirm its viability.

Contemporary Art Dialogue, on the other hand, was officially launched a little more than a month ago – on August 3, 2009.

A WAY TOWARDS A FUTURE IN ARTS JOURNALISM

Here’s what Regina Hackett, art blogger, a former art critic for the Seattle Post Intelligencer, wrote about the summit:

"Taken together, I found the proposals heartening, even though few are financially robust. At best, they point the way towards a future that might achieve real jobs but are far from doing so now. The Brooklyn Rail does not pay its contributors. Living on air gets thin. Other favorites from the visual art category include: Art Fag City, Triple Canopy, Departures,Big, RED & Shiny, Bad At Sports, Dinosaurs & Robots, Idaho Arts Quarterly, Glasstire, Of Note, Kung Fu Art Critic and a site under construction, East of Borneo, which will be edited by Thomas Lawson."

So perhaps some of these are finalists or in the running for finalists. They are exemplary websites, well conceived, designed, written and inspirational for the future of Contemporary Art Dialogue.

CHICAGO READER

An article in the alternative weekly, Chicago Reader, wrote comprehensively about the NAJP Summit on September 3, quoting from Douglas McLennan who runs the excellent website, http://www.artsjournal.com/, and is one of the leading people running the Summit.

McLennan said, "In the last two years, 50 percent of arts journalism jobs have been lost." The Reader article continues, "When the NAJP started in 1994, nearly 90 percent of the journalists who applied for its fellowships were staffers from big news institutions; only a small percentage were freelancers, McLennan says. By 2006 the percentages had flipped: applicants were 90 percent freelancers and only 10 percent staff."

McLennan is quoted again: "It's a major kill-off with major implications for how culture gets covered. Right now, there's no financial model that supports doing cultural journalism. You have to remember that, historically, anytime you've been able to gather a crowd for something, you've been able to find an economic model to support it. I believe that's going to happen here. And if you look at radio, television, any technological change, it's always taken 10 or 15 years before we hit on a model that can support it."

Later in the article, he is again quoted: "A lot of people are talking about the crisis in journalism. But I think it's a tremendously interesting time...What we have now is the opportunity for new approaches..."

MY SITUATION

McClennan describes my situation precisely. In the last four years, seven publications I have written for have stopped publishing, an eighth might be on its way out. Two others have either changed format or stopped hiring freelance writers.

The Chinese word for crisis is composed of two characters, representing "danger" and "opportunity." While I and other arts journalists might be in a crisis, the digital revolution presents one the greatest opportunities of my career.

Take a look at my constantly growing, evolving website. Check out the new definition of contemporary art page. Look at the Forum/Blog page where a slightly different version of this newsletter will be posted.

Tell what you think!

You can also respond to my latest forum/blog on Arts Journalism, to be uploaded by September 10 – and help the dialogue continue and evolve.