Come join local arts writers/journalists of color in discussing the state of arts discourse in a cultural ecosystem in which BIPOCs are still marginalized and a media landscape that is continuously shrinking. Who gets to write about the arts? And how does that contribute to the ways that artists of color are or are not represented in our local media?
When legacy media outlets have not always prioritized artists of color—whether due to institutional blind spots or simply lack of resources—and coupled with the rapidly increasing wealth inequity in the city, what are the ways in which both journalists and artists can rally to ensure that Seattle has an arts ecosystem that thrives? What are ways artists can support newsrooms?
Panelists:
Florangela Davila (KNKX)
Agueda Pacheco Flores (Crosscut)
Naomi Ishisaka (The Seattle Times)
Anya Shukla (The Colorization Collective, TeenTix)
Florangela Davila is the news director at 88.5 KNKX public radio. She worked 14 years at The Seattle Times covering race and immigration. As the former managing editor at Crosscut, she built the arts team and drove arts and culture coverage. @florangela |
fdavila@knkx.org
Anya Shukla is an 11th grader at Lakeside School, where she sings acapella and serves as the Arts and Entertainment editor for her school newspaper. For the past two years, she has been a member of the TeenTix Editorial Staff, which curates the TeenTix blog and manages a newsroom of writers interested in arts criticism. She’s also part of the
TeenTix New Guard and is the co-founder of The Colorization Collective, a group that highlights the accomplishments of teens artists of color (TAC). The Collective posts a bi-monthly web series featuring TAC and written reviews of race-related shows, as well as interviews with adult artists of color. Throughout her work, Anya prioritizes journalism that elevates marginalized voices.
Agueda Pacheco is an arts and culture writer at Crosscut. She began her career as a journalist when she was 17, working her way up the student newspaper at Highline College. Agueda is originally from Queretaro, Mexico, and is privileged to have DACA, a legal status for dreamers in the U.S. Her limited access to the world and her home country fuel a deep curiosity for the experiences of cultural hubs. Besides writing she enjoys reading, skateboarding, bombing at stand up open mics and beating people in a good duel of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Naomi Ishisaka is the Social Justice Columnist for The Seattle Times. She is a journalist and photographer who focuses on racial equity and social justice. Through writing and photography, Ishisaka documents social justice movements, issues and events. Her writing and photography have appeared in The Seattle Times, Seattle Magazine, Seattle Globalist, South Seattle Emerald, Heart and Science Magazine and many other publications. Ishisaka served for eight years as the Editor in Chief of the award-winning ColorsNW Magazine, a monthly magazine focusing on communities of color in the Northwest.
