Projects

Students Learn Journalism Skills in First NM Journo Fund Project

This week, the New Mexico Fund for Public Interest Journalism publishes its first project, which showcases arts reporting and writing by local students on SITE Santa Fe’s current biennial exhibit Casa tomada.

The project ran for six weeks and included a field trip and tour of the SITE show, along with weekly meetings and discussions on reporting and journalism. The students interviewed artists, curators and others involved with the show for their final pieces.

The final pieces published Nov. 21 in the Santa Fe Reporter:

Santa Fe Prep senior Ruby Woltring interviewed one of the show’s three curators, Candice Hopkins, for a discussion of how the curators found unifying themes in the show, and the way in which New Mexico’s history of conquest and displacement makes it a particularly appropriate setting for the works included.

University of New Mexico senior Celia Raney’s story investigates the challenges of presenting Indigenous art in museum settings through interviews with SITE’s Indigenous Outreach Coordinator Winoka Begay and Navajo artist Melissa Cody, whose work is part of the exhibit.

New Mexico School for the Arts senior Maya Forte writes about the compelling photography of renowned Chilean photographer Paz Errázuriz, whose work mines subjects often overlooked in society.

Santa Fe Prep junior Bettina Broyles interviewed artist Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, whose sculptural installation is informed by Guatemalan history and serves as a meditation on the role of materialism in forging identity.

For this project, the Journo Fund worked with SITE’s robust education department, which already runs several youth programs, such as its Zine, Gallery Guide and Scholars program.

The Journo Fund is now fundraising for its next training program, which will focus on environmental reporting. To help us cultivate the next generation of journalists, please consider making a donation here.

Journo Fund Student Interns Report on SITE Santa Fe

Interns in the Journo Fund’s training program meet weekly to learn and practice journalism.

Students chosen for the first cohort of the New Mexico Fund for Public Interest Journalism’s training program are winding up their six-week intensive in arts and culture reporting and writing.
The students, who range from high school sophomores to college seniors, were chosen from a group of applicants earlier this fall. The four students have met weekly to learn and practice basic reporting skills—from interviewing to structuring stories, working with Journo Fund board member journalist Julia Goldberg.

Interns toured SITE Santa Fe’s Casa tomada exhibit and will be interviewing artists.

The group also has been working with SITE Santa Fe Director of Education and Curator of Public Practice Joanne LeFrak, who arranged a guided tour and helped connect the students with artists for interviews in connection with the museum’s biennial exhibit, Casa tomada. Upon completion, the students’ work will be published in the Santa Fe Reporter.

Meet the Journo Fund’s first cohort:

Bettina Broyles is a junior at Santa Fe Prep. She is interested in creative writing and arts, and wanted to explore journalism as another mode of creative expression. Bettina enjoys hiking with her dog, art and skiing.

Maya Forte is a senior in the New Mexico School for the Arts. She has lived in New Mexico for the past 12 years, and has been published in both the Taos News and NMpolitics.net. She is considering pursuing careers in environmental science, international relations or journalism.

Based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Celia Raney is a multimedia journalist, avid reader and coffee connoisseur. Rainy days, late night car jams and high-mountain hikes dominate her ever-seldom free time. She is a senior at the University of New Mexico, studying journalism and English. Her cat Opal regularly stars on her social media.

Ruby Woltring is an Alaskan born senior at Santa Fe Prep. She loves writing and reading, and is passionate about prison reform.

Fundraising is underway for the second cohort of interns, this time focusing on the environment.

Sponsor a Student Journalism Intern

The New Mexico Fund for Public Interest Journalism is seeking support for its a six-week reporting and writing training workshop with veteran journalist educator and mentor Julia Goldberg, former editor of the Santa Fe Reporter and lead faculty member at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. Email [email protected] to let us know you might be willing to sponsor a student with a donation.

During the program, Goldberg will:

provide curriculum and classroom training for students to develop skills in interviewing, research and writing stories for publication
develop with each student a reporting plan that explores an artist or artistic endeavor in northern New Mexico with a focus on cultural diversity, identity and social change
oversee and edit stories for publication

The program will be six weeks long and consist of:

two weeks of classroom training consisting of two two-hour classes
two weeks of field work for reporting with the student working independently in the field for at least one week
two weeks of writing and editing with the student working in consultation with the program’s mentor for planning and editing.

Work is intended for publication in the Santa Fe Reporter and on nmjournalism.org.

Each six-week training session will be limited to four students who must attend the first two-week classroom training together.

Student interns will be paid $500 for the entire internship and receive a certificate of completion with publication of their pieces. The mentor will be compensated.