Three students named Arts Journalism Fellows
Three Media School students have been selected for a fellowship with the Indianapolis Star and the Arts Council of Indianapolis.
The five 2015 Arts Journalism Fellows include juniors Alison Graham and Gabby McLemore, and senior Marah Harbison. All will write stories and create multimedia about the arts for the Indianapolis Star.
“We were thrilled with the applicant pool for our Arts Journalism Fellowship program and were extremely impressed with the three women from Indiana University’s Media School,” said Danielle Dove, council director of marketing and community engagement. “Each are equally talented and skilled, and offered a unique journalism perspective to the fellowship program.”
Students will be paid on a per-article basis and will work closely with seasoned journalists at the newspaper and with local arts leaders as a part of The Indianapolis Arts Journalism and Arts Development Project.
The three IU students all have backgrounds in the arts. McLemore was involved in her high school’s drama department and recently completed an internship with Senate Communications at the Indiana State House. Graham, an Indianapolis native, was the arts beat reporter, sections editor and managing editor for the Indiana Daily Student. Harbison is studying arts management and journalism, and has been an Irish dance competitor since she was 6 years old.
Harbison said although she was unfamiliar with the Indianapolis arts scene and knew the weekly commute would be challenging, “What I did know is that writing for the arts is something that I’ve always wanted to do and is something that is increasingly harder and harder to get paid for. If an internship or a job is something you’ve dreamed of doing, go for it.”
While the career development experts through the College of Arts and Sciences are valuable resources for students during their job searches, McLemore discovered the fellowship through Twitter.
“I heard about the fellowship originally in a tweet from the IndyStar, then saw the IU Media School also tweeted it out,” she said.
She said that the use of social media in the search for internships should not be underrated.
“Especially with Twitter and Facebook, if you follow or ‘like’ certain organizations, when they need people to work for them or are offering opportunities they will post on their social media accounts,” McLemore said.
Graham, too, found the fellowship through the IndyStar’s Twitter account. She jumped at the opportunity to apply.
“I’m so grateful that I was given this opportunity to work in Indianapolis. I’m an Indy native, and I can’t wait to learn more about the arts scene in a city where I’ve spent most of my life,” she said.
Their work is already starting to appear through IndyStar’s publications. Harbison wrote a piece about the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s upcoming conference, while McLemore wrote about costumes at the Indiana Repertory Theater and Graham’s article looked at a storyteller who overcame disabilities.
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