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Art Matters: Engaging the Community Through Embedded Arts Journalists has been holding public symposia to discuss arts journalism and how it embraces and reports the world of art in our community. This program was designed as a collaborative initiative between the Macon Arts Alliance (a Knight Arts grantee) and Mercer’s Center for Collaborative Journalism. The funds that drive such a program were received from the National Endowment for the Arts, Art Works, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Art Matters partnerships and sponsors.

In addition to embedding journalists into the community, Art Matters is responsible for appointing Steve Murray as the critic-in-residence for this project. He is the glue that holds this movement together, as he works closely with Tim Reagan-Porter, the director of Mercer’s Center for Collaborative Journalism; Jonathan Dye, the director of communications for Macon Arts Alliance; and the students that serve as paid interns. These young journalists are privileged to learn outside of the typical classroom setting by obtaining hands-on contact with experts and placing their boots on the ground in the real world of media.

For its fourth symposium, Art Matters has partnered with the Macon Film Festival to hold conversations on the topic of film, film criticism and the new methods of media that are used to transport this information to communities. Karina Longworth and Matthew Modine have been commissioned to consult Macon’s artists and journalists on the dialogue of the symposium’s topics. Karina Longworth – American film critic & Art Matters’ public symposium panelist.

Karina Longworth is an exceptional film critic who has channeled her voice through almost every type of medium that exists, from traditional to new. She’s also an author, professional blogger, editor and broadcaster. Overall, Los Angeles-based Longworth is a dynamic and national correspondent in the sphere of film. Matthew Modine will also add knowledge from the other side of film with his experience as an actor, film administrator and writer. After the Art Matters forum, he will host a question-and-answer segment following the screening of Alan Parker’s Birdy at the Cox Capital Theatre. He played the lead character in this film.

The symposium takes place at The 567 Center for Renewal (a Knight Arts grantee) on March 1 at 5:30 p.m., and it’s free for all.