Contact: Geoffrey Baum, 213-821-1491

Los Angeles, Calif. — Jan. 20, 2004 — Seven distinguished arts journalists have been selected as 2004 Fellows for the USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program.

Funded by a grant from the J. Paul Getty Trust, the USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Fellowship program, now in its third year, seeks to improve the quality of arts journalism by bringing mid-career journalists to Los Angeles for three intensive weeks with established and emerging artists and heads of cultural institutions from many disciplines.

The Fellows for 2004 are:

· JUAN RODRIGUEZ FLORES, La Opinión (Los Angeles). Cultural writer and film critic.
· KATHY JANICH, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Arts writer.
· KIM LEVIN, The Village Voice (New York). Art critic.
· KYLE MACMILLAN, The Denver Post. Critic-at-large.
· LASZLÓ MOLNAR, Salzburger Nachrichten (Austria). Vienna-based music critic and editor.
· OLUFUNKE MOSES, The Independent Weekly, (Durham, North Carolina). Arts editor.
· ELLA TAYLOR, L.A. Weekly (Los Angeles). Film critic, book reviewer and political commentator.

The level of accomplishment shown by the candidates for the fellowship and their expressed desire for vigorous, challenging, professional debate affirms the need for such a program, according to Sasha Anawalt, founding director of the USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program.

"The 2004 Fellows approach the arts from different points of view, but each has tasted what it is like to influence their readership strongly," said Anawalt. "Each questions the media‚s power, and asks how the arts writer and editor can play an increasingly more significant, positive role."

The Fellows were chosen from an international pool of approximately 100 applicants from eight foreign countries and the United States.

A veteran arts journalist, Anawalt is the author of the best-selling cultural biography, The Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company and she contributes to the Los Angeles Times.

John Rockwell, author and New York Times senior cultural correspondent and arts columnist, as well as its former classical critic, rock critic, European cultural correspondent and Arts & Leisure editor (and a former director of the Lincoln Center Festival and a Los Angeles Times dance and classical music writer), will serve as speaker-in-residence for the 2004 USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program.

This year's program begins March 7, 2004. The scheduled activities during the USC Annenberg Getty/Arts Journalism Program are designed to bring the Fellows into direct contact with eminent artists and arts professionals in Los Angeles. Highlights include Robert Wilson's new production of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" and Richard Strauss's "Die Frau Ohne Schatten," with sets by David Hockney, for the Los Angeles Opera. Seminars are planned on Islamic art, performance art, community arts activism and the evolution of domestic and public architecture in Los Angeles. Conversations are anticipated with Hockney, Christopher Knight, Julie Lazar, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Thom Mayne, Tim Miller, Kent Nagano, Laurie Ochoa, Peter Rainer and Peter Sellars.

The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic organization devoted to the visual arts that features the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Grant Program. The Getty is located in Los Angeles. For more information, visit www.getty.edu or call 310-440-7300.

For more information about the USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program, visit www.annenberg.usc.edu/getty. The USC Annenberg School for Communication is one of the nation's leading institutions devoted to the study of journalism and communication, and their impact on politics, culture and society. With an enrollment of more than 1,500 graduate and undergraduate students, USC Annenberg prepares students for academic and professional success in these fields.