Barrington Stage Develops Partnership to Implement BSC’s iCritic in New Initiative

On Monday, October 10, five projects that offer innovative models for local arts journalism received funding and were named finalists of the Knight Foundation/National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Community Arts Journalism Challenge, founded this summer to find new ways to use technology to inform and engage people in the arts.

"Our goal for the Challenge is to increase high quality local arts journalism," said NEA chairman Rocco Landesman. "To succeed, art requires informed and engaged audiences, and informed and engaged audiences require news, criticism and information on a regular basis. Both the arts and arts journalism are essential for building vibrant and creative communities."

The five Knight/NEA Community Arts Journalism Challenge finalists were selected from a competitive pool of 233 applications submitted from eight pilot communities including Detroit, Charlotte, N.C., Miami, San Jose, C.A., and Philadelphia. Finalists will work with a consultant and receive support of up to $20,000 to develop an Idea to Action plan in late 2011. Those plans will be reviewed and up to three of the five will be selected for further development and implementation with an award of up to $80,000. The final winners will be announced in spring 2012.

"These winners demonstrate creative thinking in ways to keep local cultural coverage enlightening, engaging and sustainable. They seized the opportunity the digital age offers, and that is to use technology to connect with people in new ways," said Dennis Scholl, Vice President/Arts at Knight Foundation.

One of the five finalists was iCritic Detroit a project developed by journalists Dan Shaw and Jennifer Conlin in partnership with Barrington Stage. iCritic^TM Detroit will create a mobile video booth where audience members can record their reviews that are then posted on local websites and shared on social media channels. Attending the performances of both established and emerging groups, iCritic^TM Detroit will crisscross the city and weave together geographic and ethnographic communities, creating a video tapestry of the city's cultural life. iCritic^TM Detroit will provide a much needed platform for residents to talk about the vibrant art scene growing in their city. Visitors to the iCritic^TM Detroit web site will be able to follow their favorite citizen reviewers. An app will allow users to track where the iCritic^TM Detroit is located on any given night.

iCritic^TM Detroit was spearheaded by Jennifer Conlin, a former and long-time reporter with The New York Times Travel and Style sections, and Dan Shaw, a former editor and reporter for The New York Times Style section and co-founder/editor of Rural Intelligence.com, an online arts and lifestyle magazine for the Hudson River Valley and Berkshires. Conlin and Shaw will work with Barrington Stage to expand BSC's iCritic model on a large, mobile scale.

"When I went to Detroit this summer and saw its geographically and culturally diverse arts scene, I was reminded of the Berkshires," said Dan Shaw. "By putting the Barrington Stage iCritic^TM booth in a truck and making it mobile, we thought we could meet the NEA and Knight Foundation challenge of creating a new form of arts journalism that takes advantage of social media and other modern forms of communication."

The iCritic^TM booth at Barrington Stage was launched this summer at the Mainstage production of Guys and Dolls and more than 150 videos-with total video views exceeding 4,200-have been recorded since its inception. Barrington Stage's development of the iCritic^TM Booth was made possible through funding from a New Generations Program for Future Audiences grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Theatre Communications Group (the National Organization for the American Theatre), awarded to Barrington Stage in 2010.

To see videos of the five winning projects and read more about the Challenge, visit artsjournalism.org. Join the conversation on Twitter at #artsjourn

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.

About the National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies and the philanthropic sector. To join the discussion on how art works, visit the NEA at arts.gov.

About Barrington Stage Company
Barrington Stage Company, a professional award-winning Equity regional theatre located in the heart of the Berkshires, in Pittsfield, MA, was co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Julianne Boyd. Barrington Stage's mission is three-fold: to present top-notch, compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to find fresh, bold ways to bringing new audiences into the theatre-especially young people. Barrington Stage garnered national attention in 2004 when it workshopped, and premiered William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin's musical hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which later transferred to Broadway's Circle-in-the-Square Theatre where it won two Tony Awards and played more than 1,000 performances. In 2009/2010 Barrington Stage produced the world premiere of Mark St. Germain's Freud's Last Session, which later moved Off-Broadway to the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater and then to New World Stages where it is currently playing. Barrington Stage was voted "Best Live Theatre" by The Berkshire Eagle readers in 2011 and was named "Best Theatre Company" in Metroland's Best of the Capital Region 2009-2011.

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