By Susan Patterson, program director/Arts at Knight Foundation

The Charlotte Arts Journalism Alliance, a winner in the Knight Foundation/National Endowment of the Arts Arts Journalism Challenge, was in the spotlight this week on the popular Charlotte Talks show on NPR affiliate WFAE.

The alliance is a collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and five major media players: The Charlotte Observer; commercial station WCNC-TV; public radio station WFAE; African-American interest website QcityMetro; and online civic and cultural magazine Charlotte Viewpoint. It will provide specialized training for aspiring citizen journalists under the guidance of the university, and develop an app that will highlight the alliance’s work and solicit reader interaction. By commissioning trained arts journalists to produce compelling stories to be shared among the partners, the project will improve the quality and quantity of local arts journalism and highlight the city’s cultural diversity.

As Observer editor Rick Thames said on the show: “It’s like a mini wire service on the arts for Charlotte.”

A full recording of the program is available online. Other guests included Greg Collard, Community Arts Journalism Alliance board member and WFAE‘s news director, and Meg Whalen, director of communications in the College of Arts and Architecture at UNC Charlotte. To learn more about the alliance, follow The Charlotte Arts Journalism Alliance on Facebook. Additionally, an open conference on Jan. 12, 2013 will be open to anyone intersted in writing and producing stories for the arts in Charlotte.