ARTS ANGLE VANTAGE is an intergenerational public service that prepares youth from diverse backgrounds for success by providing access to the arts and empowering them to use their voices to create arts journalism that reaches a wide and diverse public. It is a program of the nonprofit Arts Journalism Trust, Inc.

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WE EMERGED TO ADDRESS
• increased interest in arts and creativity among young people,
• precipitous decline in arts education and attention to writing,
• continued inequities in access to the arts and media by marginalized populations,
• and decreased arts and local coverage, which the journalism industry endures with profound changes in the rise of global technology and powerful economic forces. 

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YOUTH-FOCUSED
Our work to elevate the voices of young people helps youth better understand themselves, others, and the world around them. These voices, represented by diverse participants, are central to our teen-centered platform and program — Arts Angle Vantage. This collaborative work fosters greater community-wide awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the local arts landscape.

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When teens participate in Arts Angle Vantage, they connect with the community’s arts, become better writers, and strengthen critical thinking and problem-solving skills. They become better prepared for higher education and careers in the 21st century, including but not limited to those in the media, and the arts. As Arts Angle Vantage improves their media literacy, they become better citizens of a world shaped by digital technology.

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Our work offers free workshops to youth that empower them to create arts journalism and engage with the arts, artists, and the greater community about the issues that shape us. Participants get opportunities to attend arts events, meet and talk with artists and arts leaders, learn about writing about the arts and creativity as well as the process and other finer points of reporting and writing and producing original content for the Arts Angle Vantage digital platforms and other media in the region. (The organization values sharing its content with media partners to give youth a wider voice. Partners have included LEO Weekly and the Courier Journal.) 

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FOR COMMUNITY
Our platform and programming prioritize engaging the wider community and members across society — youth, educators, artists, cultural organizations, civil servants (in conversations about our coverage), and issues concerning local creative life.

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OUR VALUES

• The critical roles of arts, self-expression, and journalism as critical for a healthy community and democracy.
• Elevating the voices of youth to create a community of belonging
• Integrity, accountability, and truth.
• Access to quality arts experiences for everyone and a focus on cultural equity.
• Collaboration and partnerships. 

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OUR HISTORY
From 2018 to 2021, we invested in young people via our pilot project, Arts Bureau Edge, with nine workshops supervised by media professionals benefiting more than 25 teens. Their articles about the arts were published on our website and in local media outlets. Some 45% of participants identified as BIPOC and LBGTQ. In a survey, 70% said they would recommend the program and said it helped them in school.

 

One wrote, “I had a great experience meeting others from around the region interested in similar things. I also enjoyed writing a piece on a subject that I felt was important and mattered.”

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DONATIONS ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE

In 2022, we increased our workshop offerings after the pandemic had slowed our work. The same year, the Internal Revenue Service designated our parent organization, Arts Journalism Trust, a public charity. Your donation is tax-deductible our organization is a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. • Arts Journalism Trust, Incorporated's EIN# is 86-1349907)
 

​PHOTO: The cast of "We've Come to Believe," part of Actors Theatre of Louisville's 2019 Humana Festival of New American Plays. Photo by Jonathan Roberts.