FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2013
Media Contact: Jonathan Dye, jonathan@maconarts.org, (478) 308-1660
Art Matters announces symposium series
First symposium to be held at Museum of Arts and Sciences
MACON, Ga. — Art Matters: Engaging the Community through Embedded Arts Journalists is pleased to announce the first in a series of six public symposia on the role of arts criticism and arts journalism in fostering an engaged and informed community. The first symposium will be held at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon, Ga. on October 22. A light lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m. and the symposium will begin in the auditorium at Noon. Admission is free and open to the public.
The discussion at this first symposium will focus on the role of visual art and art criticism in society, current trends, and how the changing media landscape is affecting the fields of art criticism and arts journalism. Featured guest speakers will be Susannah Darrow, Shara Hughes, and Rachel Reese. Art Matters Critic-in-Residence Steve Murray will moderate the discussion.
Susannah Darrow is the executive director and co-founder of BURNAWAY, an
Atlanta-based nonprofit arts organization dedicated to providing critical coverage and dialogue about arts in Atlanta and the Southeast through an online publication, public programs, and annual print edition. She serves on the Board of Directors of ART PAPERS magazine. Darrow received a BA in Art History from the University of Georgia (2007) and a MA in Art History from Georgia State University (2013).
Shara Hughes is an Atlanta-based artist represented by American Contemporary in New York City, Michael Andersen Gallery in Copenhagen and Berlin, and Metroquadro in Turin. She had her first solo show in Atlanta at the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center in April of 2013 and was reviewed in the July/August edition of Modern Painters. Hughes is one of the 2011-2012 recipients of the Working Artist Project at the Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia and will have a solo show at the end of her award grant in April 2014. She holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Rachel Reese is currently the communications manager of the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center. She is an independent curator and arts writer, and former editor of BURNAWAY. She is a native Atlantan recently relocated back to her hometown after several years in Philadelphia and New York. She produces Possible Press, a free, curated publication of artists’ writings. Reese writes for Bomb Magazine online, BOMBlog, and her writing has also appeared in Temporary Art Review, ArtSlant, ART PAPERS, and TWELV Magazine. She currently teaches a critical writing course at Georgia State University.
Steve Murray is the critic-in-residence at Macon Arts Alliance as part of the Art Matters project. He is an award-winning writer, reporter, critic and playwright with years of experience as both a theater and film critic. He began his career at the weekly newspaper Southline in Atlanta as a staff writer and theater critic. He went on to be a staff writer at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Over his years at the paper, he was an arts writer, a film and television critic, and an adjunct editor for its weekly film section, Movies & More. Since 2009, Murray has worked as a columnist and film critic for ArtsATL.com, one of Atlanta’s leading arts blogs, covering all forms of art in the Atlanta metro area.
“The Art Matters Symposium Series is an important part of the Art Matters project because it allows us to engage the community in discussions about arts journalism and criticism,” said Murray. “We have three guest speakers for our first symposium focused on visual art and art criticism, and we invite everyone to attend. The conversation will be of interest to everyone, especially the large community of artists in the area.”
Art Matters: Engaging the Community through Embedded Arts Journalists is a one-year initiative designed to engage the community through high-quality arts journalism. The $80,000 project is funded by a $40,000 National Endowment for the Arts Art Works grant and a matching $40,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. This award was among only four national arts journalism grants funded by the NEA in 2013 and is the first time in seven years that Macon Arts Alliance has been awarded an NEA grant.
The Macon Arts Alliance (MAA), in collaboration with Mercer University’s Center for Collaborative Journalism, will embed paid journalism interns in various arts organizations served by Macon Arts Alliance. These journalists will create news articles, blogs, video reports and more for local news outlets, the CCJ’s newsroom, and Macon Arts Alliance’s Ovations365.com and other publications. The program provides for a critic-in-residence at the CCJ and a series of public symposia that will pair different artists and critics to discuss the state of various art forms and criticism.
About Art Matters
Art Matters is an arts journalism partnership of Macon Arts Alliance and Mercer’s Center for Collaborative Journalism that seeks to engage the community through embedded arts journalists. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works. Matching funding provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
About Macon Arts Alliance
The mission of the Macon Arts Alliance is to foster and support the advancement of arts and culture in Central Georgia. Macon Arts Alliance works to create an environment where arts and culture thrive and Central Georgia is recognized as an unparalleled cultural destination.
About the Center for Collaborative Journalism
The Center for Collaborative Journalism (CCJ) is a unique partnership between Mercer University, The Telegraph and Georgia Public Broadcasting, with generous support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Peyton Anderson Foundation. The Center’s groundbreaking collaboration has students, faculty and veteran journalists working together in a joint newsroom. Learning in a “teaching hospital” model, students engage the community.
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