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Artsvocism: a new role for future arts journalists in the changing digital landscape of Web 3.0

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Artsvocism: a new role for future arts journalists in the changing digital landscape of Web 3.0

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Content ARTSVOCISM:

A NEW ROLE FOR FUTURE ARTS JOURNALISTS IN THE CHANGING DIGITAL

LANDSCAPE OF WEB 3.0

by
Haley Greenwald-Gonella

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(SPECIALIZED JOURNALISM—THE ARTS)

August 2010

Copyright 2010 Haley Greenwald-Gonella
ii
Dedication

I would like to dedicate this thesis to my parents, for they are the ones who have given
me the tools necessary to succeed—not only academically, but in life as well. Mom and
Dad, thank you for all of your help and support, even when it was difficult for me to
accept it.

iii
Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge my truly amazing thesis committee. First, I would like to
acknowledge my committee chair, Sasha Anawalt. I have learned so much more about
journalism and about my own writing from you. I am extremely grateful for your
guidance. I would also like to acknowledge Jennifer Floto. Your passion about my
thesis has continually brought me joy while working on it. Your insights into the world
of public relations are of an immense value. Additionally, I would like to acknowledge
Adlai Wertman. Thank you for allowing me to audit your class. Your belief in for-profit
businesses that do good work for the public is inspiring. Thank you all for your
dedication to my thesis. I have very much enjoyed working with you.

I would also like to acknowledge Benjamin Ryan Nathan for his technical help and
support during this process.

Thank you also to my sisters, Cami and Summer, who make my life joyful!
iv
Table of Contents
Dedication ii
Acknowledgements iii
List of Tables v
Abstract vi
Introduction: A New Space—The Changes in Arts Journalism’s Landscape 1
Chapter 1: Web 3.0 & The New Arts Journalist: The Artsvocist 2
Chapter 2: Arts Organizations & The Role of the Arts Journalist 6
Chapter 3: New Advocacy Journalism within Web 2.0 & The Business of Arts
Journalism in Web 3.0 Based on the Human Rights Watch Model 12

Conclusion: The Future of Arts Journalism 23
Bibliography 25
v
List of Tables
Table 1: ARTSvocist Ink. functioning within Web 2.0—using legacy media
& Web 2.0 media 20

Table 2: ARTSvocist Ink. functioning within Web 3.0—legacy media,
Web 2.0, & currently unavailable Web 3.0 21

vi
Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to outline a business model of how the next iteration of the
arts journalist might conduct herself within the next two to five years, considering in
particular the changes occurring in the digital landscape. There is an inherent advocacy
component of arts journalism; therefore, the business model for a future form of arts
journalism must encompass a semblance of advertising in order to better advocate for the
arts and its existence. Additionally, this thesis suggests that the new arts journalist entity
should evolve to also include public relations and marketing attributes, in order to work
more successfully within Web 3.0. The aim of this business model is to benefit the arts
and artists in general, arts organizations, arts education, audiences, and those who write
about the arts.

1
Introduction:
A New Space—The Changes in Arts Journalism’s Landscape

Today, there is literally more “space” than ever before for arts journalism. Arts-focused
stories no longer need to be confined by inches of newsprint. Online publications are
now mostly confined by the amount of time that readers are willing to commit to reading
a story. Arts education and arts organizations need arts journalism—and the arts need
someone to tell their stories. However, because journalism itself has drastically changed,
arts journalism, with its education and advocacy undertones, especially needs to
transition into a Web 3.0 new type of media to further the arts, as well as to serve its
writers.

2
Chapter 1: Web 3.0 & The New Arts Journalist: The Artsvocist

Boundaries between writers and audiences, channels of communication, and professional
constituencies will blur in ways that are at once alarming and hopeful.
András Szántó
The Art Newspaper

Journalism’s medium has changed and will, presumably, continue to change as Web 3.0
becomes more of a reality and less theoretical. Jim Barnett, a newspaper reporter for
almost 20 years, is currently attending graduate school at George Washington University
and is studying non-profit management. He refers to the massive changes in journalism
as “bloodletting”.
1
Newspapers and magazines are no longer solely print-based and
advertisers have sought the greener pastures of online journalism. Online journalism no
longer offers only content, as Web 1.0 did. Now, online journalism—currently existing
within Web 2.0— also presents readers the opportunity to collaborate and interact with
content, which seems to be the main difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.
However, even more can be accomplished with online journalism. Barnett says of
journalism’s changing model that he doesn’t think anyone “can say with any degree of
certainty” what will happen in the next five years because, as he notes, “we’re in a period
of great experimentation, and much will be up to luck and circumstance.” Much of this
great experimentation revolves around how web-based journalism is continuing to change
how news and information are disseminated and because of this, now is the perfect time

1
Schiff, Jaclyn, “Barnett: Advocacy, Membership Groups to Push Non-Profit
News,” Mediashift, http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/06/barnett-advocacy-
membership-groups-to-push-non-profit-news158.html.
3

for arts journalists to carve out a new space for arts journalism during this time of, yet
another, online-centric shift.

Web 2.0 will eventually evolve into Web 3.0, which could present an opportunity for a
completely new type of media, one that could combine the best of arts journalism with
the best of public relations and marketing to better further the arts. Web 3.0 will offer
content along with new and different opportunities to interact with the content that it
offers. It has been suggested that Web 3.0 will begin to “learn” a person’s preferences
through what a person searches, like the in way which email service providers display ads
that include key terms which show up in a person’s email content.
2
Web 3.0 did not
merely appear in today’s vernacular, it has journalistic roots: John Markoff of The New
York Times has been credited with coining the term “Web 3.0” in 2006. Web 3.0:
refers to a supposed third generation of Internet-based services that collectively
comprise what might be called the “the intelligent Web”—such as those using
semantic web, microformats, natural language search, data-mining, machine
learning, recommendation agents, and artificial intelligence technologies—which
emphasize machine-facilitated understanding of information in order to provide a
more productive and intuitive user experience.
3

2
Strickland, Jonathan, “How Web 3.0 Will Work,” How Stuff Works,
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-30.htm.

3
“Web 3.0,” Search Engine (SEO) Glossary,
http://www.searchenginepartner.com/SEO-glossary.html.

4
Additionally, there could most likely be more advances in new video applications, which
could provide for more innovative dissemination of the arts. This idea presents issues
with copyrights, which, however, are changing as well.

The new arts journalist within the uncharted online territory of Web 3.0 could be more
successful if she were to encompass the best parts of a journalist, as well as the best parts
of a public relations and marketing person. It is necessary for this new brand of arts
journalist/ marketing entity to evolve into an ARTS-VO-cist: one who articulates and
gives a voice to the arts through investigative reporting, education, advertising, and
advocacy, while acting as an activist for the arts.
4
Public relations focuses on reputation.
The 1982 National Assembly of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
formally adopted the definition of “public relations,” which is still widely accepted
today—“public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each
other.”
5
This is where journalism and marketing converge and this is the key to the
evolution and creation of the artsvocist. Today’s arts journalist is inherently an arts
advocate and educator—these aspects paired with strong marketing, not only of the arts,

4
Artsvocist (n.) comes out of the ideas of the ART-iculist—one who articulates about the
arts and the ART-vocate—one who advocates for the arts. An artsvocist is one who
ADvocates and ARTiculates about the arts through a framework of public relations,
marketing, and ADvertising. Literally, the word artsvocist is a combination of arts,
articulate, advocate, advertise, and journalist.

5
“Public Relations Defined,” Public Relations Society of America,
http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/PublicRelationsDefined/.

5
but of the artsvocist’s individual voice will be necessary for arts journalism to be
successful in Web 3.0 online journalism.

This thesis posits that the new arts journalist working with Web 3.0 will be more
successful at publicizing the arts because Web 3.0 implies and necessarily requires a
journalist to also practice public relations and marketing. In this thesis, the new arts
journalist operating within Web 3.0 will be called an artsvocist, which is an invented term
meant to imply one who articulates and gives voice to the arts through a combination of
reporting, teaching, marketing and advocating.

6
Chapter 2: Arts Organizations & The Role of the Arts Journalist
Advances in recording technology allowed previously transitory art experiences (music,
dance, theater, visual art) to be captured and distributed on a mass scale. The widespread
distribution of these cultural products—films, records and radio programs, in particular—
unified people’s cultural experiences, and began to overshadow local and
vernacular art forms and providers.
Critical Issues Facing the Arts in California

Since journalism’s landscape has changed, it seems inevitable that the relationship
between reporter and reported will change as well. Arts journalists and arts organizations
have a symbiotic relationship and, with greater emphasis on collaboration, the boundaries
within this professional relationship will have to blur to further the aims of both parties.
This is where the new future hybrid type of arts journalism will come into play.
Additionally, this is ultimately how the new iteration of arts journalists, or artsvocists,
will be able to support the arts in general, various art forms specifically, and still be able
to be critical of works of art that have been produced.

John Nuckols, Vice President, Advancement of LA Opera, indicates a trend toward
advocacy for the arts when he speaks about the future of arts organizations, arts
journalists, and the monetary implications when the two interface. Nuckols works mostly
with donors and the public relations side of development at LA Opera, which is why it is
interesting that he thinks that arts journalists factor into an arts organization’s schematic.
Nuckols believes that “it would definitely be detrimental” to LA Opera if the
organization no longer received any press from any third party news organization. He
also points out that the LA Opera has already started to see changes in the way in which
7
the Los Angeles Times covers the arts. Additionally, the LA Opera is beginning to look at
“other forms of media, such as social media, and is trying to substitute that in the place of
arts journalism.” Nuckols believes that arts journalists are “steeped in knowledge about
the history and context” of artistic works, which make their voices more credible and
carry more weight. In contrast, he voiced concern regarding the amateur voice of the
citizen journalist, who is “blogging in a vacuum” versus the “professional, more reliable
voice” of an arts journalist. The professional arts journalist is an asset to arts
organizations because journalists are “seen as independent,” as opposed to any press or
information that comes directly from the arts organization, which will, from the audience
standpoint, “seem self-serving, which it is,” Nuckols states. It is this specific attribute of
the relationship between the arts journalist and the arts organization that Web 3.0 will
blur and, in turn, calls for the innovation of the artsvocist. Nuckols makes the case for
the arts organization by referring to its non-profit status—“We are trying to get people [to
come to the opera]—we’re a non-profit, so we’re not trying to make money. We’re
trying to sustain the work [and in order to do that, there needs to be] an outside voice;
people depend [on it].”
6

Like Nuckols, Stephanie Barron, Senior Curator and Modern Art Department Head at the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), believes that the voice of the arts
journalist is more reliable, especially in contrast with the vast number of blogs available

6
John Nuckols (Vice President, Advancement at LA Opera, Los Angeles)
interview by Haley Greenwald-Gonella, March 5, 2010.
8
to the public. Barron thinks that the issue with blogs is that everyone has an opinion, so
the problem then becomes the way in which those opinions get filtered, or rather do not
get filtered. She notes that it is necessary that some opinions are seen as “more important
than others.” This is important because of the way in which blogs and bloggers can
educate the public about the arts. Some sources are inherently more valuable than others,
but that does not mean that when citizen journalists blog about the arts that the arts world
has been done a disservice; rather, on the contrary, more reliable and more easily found
information about the arts is what arts journalism 3.0 needs to become. Barron points out
that arts education is a “net result” of arts journalism. Theoretically, the ways in which
the artsvocist will be able to use Web 3.0 to educate the public could and should have a
farther reach than today’s arts journalism. This would be not only because of
technological innovations, but also because the artsvocist should not be held to the same
standards as traditional arts journalism. Then the issue becomes how to garner traffic to
reliable web-based arts sources, which must be a focal point of the Web 3.0 brand of arts
journalism, in order to better educate the public about the arts.
7

Unlike LA Opera, LACMA has begun to take some of the responsibility for reporting its
art into its own hands. LACMA staff, as of September 29, 2008, has produced a blog
called Unframed. As Barron puts it, social media “can be an effective way to generate
audience and also generate stories in traditional media.” Barron reinforces this idea by

7
Stephanie Barron (Senior Curator and Modern Art Department Head at the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles) interview by Haley
Greenwald-Gonella, April 6, 2010.
9
pointing out that some of the stories that were first introduced on the museum’s blog
became stories that were picked up by traditional media outlets, such as the Los Angeles
Times. This collaboration points to the ways in which Web 3.0 has started to influence
traditional arts organizations and traditional news outlets. Barron sees “arts journalism
[as] a bridge between the work of the [arts] institution and the public. It’s about
translation.” The arts journalist and the arts organization work together in a certain
capacity, but what then of the public, the artist, and arts education? We are all “in it
together,” states Barron.
8

Arts journalists are inherently supporters of the arts because they do some of the same
things that patrons do: attend productions and write about the arts in a semblance of
educating others. Arts education, as a whole, should benefit from enhanced arts
advocacy journalism produced by future artsvocists and when looking toward the future,
it is important to look back at the past, as well as past mistakes. Dr. James S. Catterall
has studied how an arts education affects students.

Dr. James S. Catterall, professor of urban schooling in UCLA’s Graduate School of
Education and Information Studies, explores how experiences with arts learning can
“reorganize neural pathways, or the way the brain functions,” and how this change in the
brain affects “other tasks” in his landmark essay Conversation and Silence: Transfer of

8
Stephanie Barron (Senior Curator and Modern Art Department Head at the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles) interview by Haley
Greenwald-Gonella, April 6, 2010.
10
Learning Through the Arts. Catterall points out that to “attain rich learning” through any
work of art, it is necessary “to reflect, discuss, and reflect again.”
9
The learning is further
ingrained through the “writing process itself, where things are seen anew through the
iterative processes of writing, reviewing, and revising.” This is the work of the arts
journalist and the future artsvocist.

Catterall also contemplates the issue of educating the audience—“intensive study and
response to artwork by both artists and non-artists can elicit similar processes in the
respondent; therefore the arts present a learning experience for both artist and audience,”
states Catterall. This is an important point. Arts journalists, their audience, as well as
artists in general, can benefit from arts journalism and the way in which it is able to parse
out meaning from the work that is produced by the arts world. However, the work of the
arts journalist needs greater attention in order to be effective, thus providing a need for
the innovation of artsvocist. The current uncertainty in the state of journalism could be
the potential answer to the question of how the plight of the arts world could be better
publicized.
10

9
James S. Catterall, “Conversation and silence: Transfer of learning through the
arts,” Journal for Learning Through the Arts, 1/1, 1-12, Spring 2005.

10
James S. Catterall, “Conversation and silence: Transfer of learning through the
arts,” Journal for Learning Through the Arts, 1/1, 1-12, Spring 2005.

11
By the same line of reasoning that arts journalists are inherently supporters of the arts,
arts journalists are also advocates for the arts. To this point, Nuckols asserts that an arts
journalist “can advocate for the work of the arts and still be very critical of its actual
execution.” Despite this, both Nuckols and Barron do not foresee either of their
organizations hiring arts journalists to work as journalists for them in the future. LA
Opera and LACMA are still wrestling with how to hire a journalist, while allowing her to
maintain her objectivity. This seems shortsighted and mired in the current confines of
Web 2.0-based media. The appearance of objectivity is important because the reason that
arts organizations currently need arts journalists is for, essentially, free and unbiased
advertising. Arts organizations fear that the objectivity element would disappear if they
were to hire arts journalists as journalists who would basically promote the organization
through arts journalism. While LA Opera and LACMA are not currently hiring
journalists to produce arts journalism on their behalf, Human Rights Watch, an advocacy
non-profit organization, has hired journalists to do its advocacy journalism work.
11

11
Jim Barnett feels that a greater number of advocacy non-profits, such as Human Rights
Watch, will begin to do more to “fill the void in traditional journalism.”
12
Chapter 3: New Advocacy Journalism within Web 2.0 & The
Business of Arts Journalism in Web 3.0 Based on the
Human Rights Watch Model
Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense
pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights
Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted
change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.
Human Rights Watch

Arts journalism’s current model has failed. The new online 3.0 models of journalism will
hopefully encourage greater collaboration and convergence among the audience, artist,
and journalist. The artsvocist could be able to be successful in Web 3.0 media in ways
that a traditional arts journalist would not be able. The current problem with arts
journalism is how to funnel traffic and greater interest in arts journalism and the answer
to this problem is public relations and marketing.

A new business model for publicly marketed arts journalism—artsvocism—should
necessitate partnerships with arts organizations to garner funding, not from the arts
organizations themselves, but from their donors and patrons. Using targeted advocacy
methods, such as those that Human Rights Watch uses, the question becomes who can do
something to further the situation of the arts, as well as arts journalism and its eventual
new form?

13
According to its website, Human Rights Watch publishes more than 100 reports and
briefings, which educate the public about the conditions of human rights in 90 countries
every year. These findings are reported through an angle of “targeted advocacy”.
12

Human Rights Watch employs over 280 staff members, like Emma Daly, a journalist—a
former foreign correspondent, around the world and they are watching, targeting, and
advocating. Human Rights Watch’s staff is consistently looking for the same story—one
in which governments are abusing, or ignoring human rights. Human Rights Watch does
not pick its battles, rather the battles pick Human Rights Watch. As Daly, Human Rights
Watch’s Director of Communications, points out, the organization does not decide, for
example, that Somalia needs attention and then goes and “tries to dig something up.”
This is similar to what the premise for the innovation of the artsvocist should be. The
artsvocist should be reporting about what is happening in the arts while using public
relations and marketing strategies, as opposed to merely publishing articles, to better
advocate for the arts and to also educate the public about the arts world.
13

When Human Rights Watch hears about the possibility of a human rights violation in a
particular location, it sends a research team to the location to investigate. Being more
investigative needs to be one of the attributes of the new kind of arts journalist—the
artsvocist, as well. The Human Rights Watch research team looks into the alleged

12
Human Rights Watch. http://www.hrw.org/.

13
Emma Daly (Communications Director at Human Rights Watch, phone interview)
interview by Haley Greenwald-Gonella, March 9, 2010.
14
situation and, if applicable, will make international inquiries, then it will target the people
who can make change happen. Human Rights Watch staffers figure out who can help to
make changes in each particular rights abuse situation and then targets its advocacy
toward that person, people, and/ or organizations and will make recommendations about
what should be done to remedy the human rights abuse situation.
14
The advocacy
journalism that Human Rights Watch produces comes from what its research provides. It
always “starts with the premise that there’s an abuse going on somewhere,” the abuse is
investigated, then based on what is found, advocacy goals are developed.

Human Rights Watch’s goal is to disseminate knowledge and information about human
rights violations and abuses in order to ensure that no government can deny that it knew
that the violations were occurring. The reports and briefings that Human Rights Watch
publishes become public record. It is in this way that no one can claim that the abuses or
human rights violations were not happening. Daly speaks about the reporting that Human
Rights Watch conducted about the massacre that took place in a stadium in Guinea and
she details the advocacy functionality model
15
under which Human Rights Watch
operates. Due to the nature of the subject matter on which Human Rights Watch reports,
the way in which this organization functions essentially necessitates that it is through a

14
Emma Daly (Communications Director at Human Rights Watch, phone interview)
interview by Haley Greenwald-Gonella, March 9, 2010.

15
definition: advocacy functionality model—an original term meaning indicating an
advocacy journalism model that is based on investigative findings, which then reports
and disseminates the information found. The dissemination of the information found
during the investigation becomes the means through which advocacy is achieved.
15
means of targeted advocacy. This should be similar to the way in which an artsvocist
advocates for the arts. Human Rights Watch’s targeted advocacy comes from
investigations and the subsequent reported findings become the means through which
advocacy is achieved. It is this model that artsvocists need to apply to their own
reporting in order to become more effective reporters, as well as to ensure that they still
have something to write about—artvocists can help to ensure the presence of the arts.

When the massacre in Guinea took place, Human Rights Watch sent in a research team to
conduct fact finding about the massacre itself, as well as the cover up which occurred
thereafter. Human Rights Watch sought “accountability for the people who ordered the
massacre and redress for the victims,” Daly points out. Daly also states that Human
Rights Watch “makes recommendations within its report,” which can also function as
demands. Demands are essentially a call to action, which is a necessary part of advocacy
journalism. Additionally, Daly refers to working with the British media and states that a
journalist might be asked to “write an opinion/ editorial piece about what he/she thinks
should happen.” This is similar to the opinion piece written by Susan Coliton, vice
president of The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, and Patricia A. Wasley, dean of the
College of Education at the University of Washington, that The Seattle Times published
recently about how arts education strengthens the economy. Coliton and Wasley’s call to
action is that the “gap between strong arts-education policies and inconsistent arts-
16
education practices” needs to be addressed.
16
This opinion/ editorial piece is a current
example of the blurred boundaries that might eventually be seen between arts
organizations, arts education, and artsvocists. As far as Human Rights Watch and its
brand of advocacy goes, Daly says “we’re not just trying to end individual human rights
abuses, what we’re really trying to push for is the systemic change that changes people’s
lives en masse.” If arts journalists, like the advocacy journalists that work for Human
Rights Watch, could take this kind of approach, then maybe the arts would not be in such
a dire state, but to do this, arts journalists need to evolve into something entirely different
in order to be the most effective. Arts journalists should become artsvocists through
journalism’s crucible, which will be Web 3.0.

Daly, unlike Nuckols and Barron, thinks that it makes sense (for Human Rights Watch) to
hire journalists. “We feel a real kinship with reporters,” she says. Also, she points out
that the research aspect of her job is “very similar to what journalists do.”

Artists and arts education programs need money, so they are not the ones from whom to
seek funding, even though arts education programs, as suggested by Hilda Yeghishian,
recent Master’s degree recipient in Strategic Public Relations from the University of

16
Coliton, Susan and Patricia A. Wasley, “Educating creative thinkers is good for
the economy,” The Seattle Times.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2011627643_guest19coliton.html.
17
Southern California, are supposedly the ideal arts patrons.
17
Artsvocists need funding to
be able to do their jobs, so they are also not the right people to fund this new arts
journalism venture. The general public and the government are currently failing at
funding the arts and arts journalism. This is where the public relations and marketing
aspects of the artsvocist will come into play to eventually garner greater funding from
these sectors. Current arts patrons and donors, who essentially represent arts
organizations because their names become synonymous with the organizations to which
they donate, should be the clientele of tomorrow’s artsvocists. A SWOT (Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the artsvocist finds that the primary
strength of the new entity is that it is comprised of the best of the journalist and the best
of public relations and marketing—relating to how a reputation is established. However,
the greatest perceived weakness of the idea of the artsvocist is that the blurred lines
between the arts organizations, as the clients, and the artsvocists functioning as
journalists. This is because journalists by definition are supposed to report news from all
sectors in a responsible and objective fashion. If the newly minted artsvocist is
advocating for an arts organization, how can she be perceived as fair and balanced?

There are vast opportunities for the artsvocist because the landscape of Web 3.0 has yet
to be completely discovered. At the same time, a potential threat to the existence and

17
HildaYeghishian, “Promoting the Fundamentals: The State of Arts Education in
Los Angeles County Elementary Schools.” (Master’s thesis, University of Southern
California, 2010.)

18
success of the artsvocist is a supposed lack of objectivity, but this could be negated by the
journalistic aspects of the artsvocist and will hopefully be proven in time not to be an
overarching threat.

Similar to the way in which Human Rights Watch functions, today’s arts journalist
reports about the arts for the public good, while, at the same time garnering an income, as
do the journalists and other staff members who work for Human Rights Watch.
However, on the other hand, Human Rights Watch is a non-profit organization. One of
the truly interesting aspects of Human Rights Watch is that it does not accept any funding
from any government, directly or indirectly, in order to maintain its objectivity. As far as
the artsvocists are concerned, the legacy media for-profit model, as well as a purely non-
profit model do not seem to be the answer to how artsvocists, as arts educators and arts
advocates, can further the arts. The Web 3.0 arts journalism model needs to be a for-
profit model that acts like a non-profit—primarily functioning to do public good—in
order to maintain objectivity.

The following tables depict how a potential artvocist-staffed public relations firm—
ARTSvocist Ink. would function in today’s Web 2.0-based media and how it might
operate in tomorrow’s Web 3.0-based media. In this model, essentially public relations
practitioners would proactively offer arts-focused stories to traditional media outlets.
They would be able to give these stories to news outlets because they are garnering an
income from their clients—the arts organizations. Due to the fact that artvocists
19
understand what makes news, they would be more likely to succeed in garnering ink
and/or mentions in an array of media, as opposed to citizen journalists. Table 1 shows
how and to whom the artvocists would pitch stories. Table 2 shows how, after gaining
visibity for arts organizations, the artvocists would expand their visibility efforts. In
Table 1, the columns in the table present the media outlets utilized by ARTSvocist Ink.
The rows are the events or information being distributed by ARTSvocist Ink. These tables
depict how different kinds of information could be disseminated by artsvocists.
20

21

22
Artsvocists will not be able to simply be reporters—the advances of Web 3.0 will require
greater innovation and interaction. The most crucial point that Daly makes is that she
believes it is hard to be “completely objective,” and that it is seemingly more important to
be “honest and fair. You have your reputation and not much else,” states Daly.
23
Conclusion: The Future of Arts Journalism
The face of arts journalism is changing.
Mira Saraf
The Canadian Journalism Project

In the next two to five years, artsvocists should be the ones to fill the void of arts
journalism in today’s legacy media, as well as to establish themselves as the new arts
journalists in the undiscovered Web 3.0 media outlets. The artsvocist will be a separate
entity from that of the arts journalist. The artsvocist should most likely operate within the
confines of a public relations firm staffed by artsvocists, similarly to how Human Rights
Watch uses journalists, as members of its staff, to publish its reports, which are made up
of advocacy journalism. The artsvocist public relations firm should aggregate a national
and international arts calendar, in addition to reviewing the arts and reporting on trends in
the arts world, both the business and artistic side of the arts. The artsvocist should
develop arts education curriculum to be used by schools in conjunction with arts
organizations. Artsvocists should also create campaigns promoting the arts in general.

The artsvocist has strengths that traditional arts journalists do not. Artsvocists can
globally afford greater publicity to the arts. Due to the fact that artsvocists could and
should receive monetary sums that rival those of arts organizations, there should be fewer
restraints on what and how the arts are reported by artsvocists—large-scale media
campaigns should definitely be one of the strengths and new opportunities that the
artsvocist has, as well as one of the elements that separates an artsvocist from an arts
24
journalist. Today’s legacy media editors would benefit from this as well, due to the fact
that artsvocists could pitch stories to traditional media outlets. These stories would be
able to be more thoughtful and have more time dedicated to their production. The major
weakness of future artsvocists could be the appearance of being biased while finding their
niche in the Web 3.0 media landscape.

Artsvocists will be able to advertise the arts, as well. However, there is the threat of
traditional media outlets wanting to distance themselves from artsvocists, so as to not blur
their own boundaries. Copyright laws will also be challenging for the artsvocist because
she will need access to artistic works to promote the arts. Additionally, artists may not be
willing to share images, video, or prints of their work with artsvocists, due to a fear of
what might be done with the artists’ work. Obstacles, such as working with copyright
laws and artists, will most likely be experienced by traditional media outlets during Web
3.0 as well as by artsvocists.

It will, however, be easier for the artsvocist than for the arts journalist to take her rightful
byte out of tomorrow’s digital media because a space has been created for greater
collaboration and new opportunities within Web 3.0. Through targeted advocacy, arts
education, and collaboration with arts organizations, artsvocists are the future of 3.0 arts
journalism.
25
Bibliography
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2010).

“Arts education the focus of UN-backed cultural conference opening today.”UN News
Centre. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34801&Cr=Crl=
(accessed May 28, 2010).

Barron, Stephanie (Senior Curator and Modern Art Department Head at the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles). Interview by Haley
Greenwald-Gonella. April 6, 2010.

Boehm, Mike. “L.A. County, city arts budget proposals include cuts for many
programs.” The Los Angeles Times.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-county-city-artsbudget-
20100424,0,7230887.story (accessed May 28, 2010).

California Alliance for Arts Education. “Historical Context.”
http://www.artsed411.org/educate/context.aspx (February 15, 2010).

Catterall, James S. “Conversation and silence: Transfer of learning through the arts.”
Journal for Learning Through the Arts, 1/1, 1-12. Spring 2005.

Coliton, Susan and Patricia A. Wasley. “Educating creative thinkers is good for the
economy.” The Seattle Times.
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(accessed May 28, 2010).

Daly, Emma (Communications Director at Human Rights Watch, phone interview).
Interview by Haley Greenwald-Gonella. March 9, 2010.

Human Rights Watch. http://www.hrw.org/ (accessed November 15, 2010).

Inglis, Sidney A. “California Develops The Ryan Reforms 1966-1970.”
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(accessed February 20, 2010).

James Irvine Foundation. Critical Issues Facing the Arts in California: A Working
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May 28, 2010).
26

Nuckols, John (Vice President, Advancement at LA Opera, Los Angeles). Interview by
Haley Greenwald-Gonella. March 5, 2010.

“Public Relations Defined.” Public Relations Society of America.
http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/PublicRelationsDefined/ (June 7, 2010).

Saraf, Mira. “Arts Journalism: Staying Critical in the Digital Age.” The Canadian
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(accessed May 28, 2010).

Schiff, Jaclyn. “Barnett: Advocacy, Membership Groups to Push Non-Profit News.”
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Strickland, Jonathan. “How Web 3.0 Will Work.” How Stuff Works.
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Szántó, András. “With newspapers in terminal decline, what future for arts journalism?”
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Asset Metadata

Creator Greenwald-Gonella, Haley (author)

Core Title Artsvocism: a new role for future arts journalists in the changing digital landscape of Web 3.0

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Specialized Journalism (The Arts)

Publication Date 07/20/2010

Defense Date 07/01/2010

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag advertising,advocacy,arts education,arts journalism,arts journalist,arts organizations,artsvocism,artsvocist,business model,Change,Future,Marketing,media,OAI-PMH Harvest,Public Relations,Web 3.0, digital

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Anawalt, Sasha (committee chair), Floto, Jennifer (committee member), Wertman, Adlai (committee member)

Creator Email h.greenwaldgonella@gmail.com,hgreenwa@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m3199

Unique identifier UC1297167

Identifier etd-GreenwaldGonella-3873 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-348662 (legacy record id),usctheses-m3199 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-GreenwaldGonella-3873.pdf

Dmrecord 348662

Document Type Thesis

Rights Greenwald-Gonella, Haley

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Los Angeles, California

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu