Above: Tim Regan-Porter, director of Mercer’s Center for Collaborative Journalism, discusses Art Matters, a new project of Macon Arts Alliance. 

A new partnership in Macon is seeking to bring more high-quality arts journalism to the community.

This week the Macon Arts Alliance received $40,000  from the National Endowment of the Arts as part of its Art Works grant program. The alliance will embed paid journalism interns in various arts organizations to create more content for local news outlets. Knight Foundation will provide matching funds for the project.

Knight’s funding builds on its efforts to explore new arts journalism models. Last year it partnered with the National Endowment of the Arts to strengthen local arts coverage via three projects in Detroit, Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C.

The alliance’s Art Matters will be carried out in collaboration with the Knight-funded Mercer University’s Center for Collaborative Journalism. The project will enable students will create articles, blogs and video reports and also help organizations increase their presence on social media.

The project will provide funding for an Art Critic in Residence at the center. Public symposia will pair different artists and critics to discuss the state of various art forms like popular and classical music, film, the visual arts and more. 

“Art is the catalyst of a vibrant and vital community,” the Macon Art Alliance’s Director of Communication Jonathon Dye wrote. “People want to live in a place where they can be engaged by the world around them. The arts have this ability, and Central Georgia needs effective and compelling arts journalism to show the world that the arts are thriving in this community.”

More details about the partnership are available from the Macon Arts Alliance and the Center for Collaborative Journalism.

The alliance was one of 817 nonprofits nationwide to receive Art Works funding from the National Endowment of the Arts. The full list is available online.

By Elizabeth R. Miller, communications associate at Knight Foundation