#arts-journalism

#arts-journalism

Are you a culturally omnivorous arts devotee? Do you spend your evenings and weekends moseying through Berkeley's maze of theaters, music venues, museums, movie houses and underground performance spaces? Do you have a sharp eye, a sharper tongue, a passion for connecting across communities and a strong sense for the silly, the surprising and the strange? We want to make it easy to understand our process.

The title might seem a little ironic, considering Hicks has covered arts and culture in the Pacific Northwest since 1978. But the heart of the argument - that critics more often stand in between their readers and art, representing a barrier to deeper understanding and appreciation, rather than offering them "a fresh perspective, a new way of entering into the discussion that any decent work of art invites" - echoed a sentiment I've held for a long time.

What is the ArtsWatch community? Last fiscal year ... It's the 91 staff, contributors, board, contractors, and volunteers who had a hand in its operations. It's the 72 people it economically supported. It's the 94% of its budget that went to pay people. It's the 634,376 people who visited the site. It's the 76 sponsors. It's the 265 donors and funders. It's the collaborations with community partners.

ArtsWatch is trying something new for the last two months of the year, a way to celebrate the holidays and the season of giving and thanks. We've spent months dreaming up a few new features - ArtsWatch Insider included - and we're jazzed to roll them out. What's in store? Give!Guide This is launch day! We are honored that we were accepted into Willamette Week's Give!Guide this year. Our first time! Only 25% of new applicants were accepted and we received a coveted 3-year spot.