Knight-Wallace Arts Journalism Fellowship: Brittany Moseley, 2025-26
What role does arts journalism play in strengthening communities—and what happens when those stories and funding disappear?
In this episode of Creative Currents, host Mark Clague sits down with Brittany Moseley, the 2025-26 Knight-Wallace Arts Journalism Fellow and culture reporter for Signal Akron, to discuss the evolving landscape of arts reporting, public investment in the arts, and why local storytelling matters now more than ever.
Whether you're an artist, journalist, educator, or arts advocate, this conversation offers thoughtful insights into the future of cultural reporting—and why telling these stories is more important than ever.
In this episode:
Inside the Knight-Wallace Arts Journalism Fellowship
Innovative public funding models for the arts, including Cuyahoga County's cigarette tax and the Massillon Museum's property tax
Advice for aspiring young arts journalists
Season 5, Episode 2
00:24:25
Listen on:
*Production Note: Creative Currents is produced by Jessica Jenks and edited by Brian Lillie.
Transcript
Mark Clague: 0:06
Welcome to Creative Currents, a Michigan Arts podcast where we explore the power of collaborative creativity and how the arts can spark meaningful conversations. I'm your host, Mark Clague, and today we're joined by a journalist whose work sits at the intersection of arts and culture, community and civic life. Joining us today is the 2025 Knight Wallace Arts Journalism Fellow, Brittany Mosley. Brittany is a culture and arts reporter from Signal Akron, a nonprofit newsroom in Northeast Ohio that blends community building with local news reporting. Her reporting focuses on covering the region's vibrant creative ecosystem from artists and performers to cultural institutions and grassroots initiatives. An Ohio native and graduate of Kent State University, Brittany has spent her career covering arts and culture across the Midwest, with work appearing in Cleveland Magazine, the Columbus Dispatch, Next City, and Poets and Writers. As this year's Knight Wallace, Arts Journalism Fellow, a partnership between Wallace House and the Arts Initiative, now in its second year, she is exploring the changing landscape of public funding for the arts and what sustained investment can mean for communities across the country. We're thrilled to have her here today to talk about the future of arts journalism, community storytelling, and the role of the arts in public life and how we're going to keep funding that going forward. Brittany, welcome to Creative Currents.
Brittany Moseley: 1:19
Thank you. Glad to be here.
Mark Clague: 1:21
What has it been like this year in Knight-Wallace? Like it sounds like an amazing program. You're one of a group of fellows, right? And you and you work together and from all sorts of different fields. And so tell us a little bit about that experience.
Brittany Moseley: 1:34
Yes, there are 18 of us from all across the world, really international, national, people covering, you know, national news, local news like myself, specialized topics, freelancers. And it's been, I think, a life-changing experience. I think people come to fellowships for so many reasons. I think for me, I really wanted to kind of figure out like what was next for my career. You know, what do I need to be doing to prepare myself to really commit and continue to do with this career full-time, you know, long term. And I think I've really left with a better understanding of what I want to do as a journalist and what that means to be a local journalist and an arts journalist in this year. And it's also really reminded me that I belong in the room I'm in. I think when you come to these things like fellowships, it can be very intimidating being around so many people who are so accomplished. And there was a lot of imposter syndrome that first month of what am I doing here? But uh it feels good to be here now and realize I definitely belong here.
Mark Clague: 2:37
Well, we're so glad you are here and that you're um writing about the arts in the Midwest, you know, because uh sometimes we think the arts is only happening in the fancy places, the big cities, the coasts or international uh centers, but there's a lot that's happening in our community. What do you think is important about covering arts in the local scene?
Brittany Moseley: 2:54
I think for me, it relates to what you said about this idea that we so often think of art, in quotes, as things that happen on the coast. And I think along with that, we think of arts as things that maybe are only available to a certain group of people based on their income, based on their social status, education, whereas arts has always and will always be for everyone. And I think that there will never be a shortage of journalists to cover the Oscars or ballet and opera in New York or Chicago or Paris. But finding people, I think, like in Akron, Ohio, for example, who are covering local art happening there is just as important, I think if not more important, because I think it affects more people. And those are the jobs that we're seeing lost in terms of arts journalism, those local on-the-ground kind of jobs.
Mark Clague: 3:41
I've experienced that all the time. And I actually grew up here in Ann Arbor, and we had the Ann Arbor News, and it was a paper that was printed on physical copy, and it was dropped off at my doorstep, you know. And you know, I I particularly feel it at election time. It used to be pretty easy for me to track what was happening in local elections, like who was running for City Council and the mayor and all that. And now that information is sort of hard to find. And I think you know what you're doing in local journalism is so important because it's that's where our democracy starts, right? It's a relationship to your neighbors, not your relationship to one person who's at the top of the heap, right? It's it's the many, many other people who are involved in government who who make the our world work. And uh you know, when we don't know about what's happening in our own communities, we get detached from that that local story where democracy happens. So, you know, and we of course feel that the arts are really critical to that, because that's where the emotions and the ideas and the passions and the different people and identities and and those stories get enriched.
Brittany Moseley: 4:40
Aaron Ross Powell Yeah, I think there have been so many studies about a correlation between the death of local papers closing down in cities, and to how honest, for example, the government is in that city, you know, how often corruption happens, how well-informed people are, how much they vote. Like all of those things really go back to having a strong local news. And it's so many things. I think it's all connected, you know, to how you participate in your community, how your government works, how your schools work, all of those things really come back to, I think, having a strong local news, whether it's online, in print, audio, what have you.
Mark Clague: 5:17
Well, I know one of the reasons we were excited for you to come to Ann Arbor for the fellowship was your work at Signal Akron. And that's a kind of we're seeing these new models prop pop up about how we're going to support local journalism going forward. And it seemed like Signal Akron maybe has part of the solution that we need for some of our communities. Can you tell us a little bit about that organization and how it works?
Brittany Moseley: 5:38
Yeah, I hope it's uh part of the solution. Um, Signal Akron is a nonprofit newsroom based in Northeast Ohio. When I say nonprofit, it's similar to many models that you're probably familiar with, whether it's NPR, PBS, or the local symphony or art museum.
Mark Clague: 5:53
Yes, exactly.
Brittany Moseley: 5:54
A lot of art nonprofits as well. So what that means is a lot of our funding comes from grants, whether local or national, like for example, the Knight Foundation, which is also funding my fellowship, or things like the American Journalism Project, down to local funders like the Akron Community Foundation. We're the second newsroom in Ohio under the larger Signal Ohio branch, started in Cleveland. And we also have a State House Bureau, and we're expanding the Cincinnati. And I think for me, it has just been so gratifying to work for Signal because I'll admit, before starting there, I was really feeling a bit down in the dumps about local journalism. I had had a great job in Columbus. I had seen that staff be gutted by a corporate owner. I had seen so many journalists I love looking for jobs. And nothing was really coming up to fill that because it takes a lot of money to fund these things and a lot of people. So when I learned about Signal, I remember keeping my eye on it from the very beginning and, you know, following it in Cleveland in the early days and was so glad to hear it was coming to Akron because, you know, Akron has a strong journalism history. The Akron Beacon Journal is still there, still publishing. And I think that we got so used to maybe just having one or none in terms of like local news titles in a city that we're now realizing, oh yeah, you can have multiple. You can have the Beacon Journal, you can have Signal Akron, you can have the local TV station, and we can work together and keep each other accountable. And, you know, you don't have to just have one title. Like there's a lot of news happening in Akron, and it can't always be covered by one staff. So I think that's been really great. And also, I think the public was really enthusiastic about us coming and they were really excited. And that was very restorative, especially in a culture now where we hear so many terrible things about the press and then what people think about the press and journalists. To know that there were still people out there in my community who were eager and excited about news coming to their community was really gratifying.
Mark Clague: 7:54
And so, how does the arts coverage, like arts journalism, fit into this larger newscape? Like wh why do we need coverage of the arts?
Brittany Moseley: 8:02
I think, you know, as you well know, arts is such a big part of the community. You know, how we tell our stories, you know, that is through art. We tell them through music and dance and visual art and plays and writing, all of these things. So to me, it's, you know, you can't have one without the other in terms of community journalism. And I think for us, it was really important to paint a complete picture of Akron. You know, Akron is, oh, I'm gonna get this wrong, 24 neighborhoods, I'm pretty sure. So it's a it's a good sized city. There's a lot going on. So that means covering things like the symphony, like the art museum, which are kind of those stalwart, you know, downtown icons, to also covering things, for example, there's a long-running cotillion put on by a black sorority in Akron. It's definitely not as well known as some of these other bigger things, but it's a it's a really important indicator of the culture in the city, of who lives there, of what's happening. So I think art can tell us, you know, so many things about a community that maybe you wouldn't get from a story about a city council meeting or things like that. And I think it also puts it in more of a, I think, a general public lens. Like it's it's you know, it's much more relatable. I mean, you know, I can read an article about the city budget and not understand half of it like some of my coworkers would, but art is something that we can all kind of come together on and all can understand and appreciate, I think.
Mark Clague: 9:19
Yeah, I can say for me, you know, not only does arts journalism is important for letting me know what's going on and and what I should pay attention to, but it enriches my experience. I mean, I can go to a concert or I can go to an exhibit, and I can, you know, see beautiful works on the wall or in sculpture or hear poetry or music, but knowing the story of the artist, like where they came from, what kinds of issues they've confronted, like the challenges they've overcome, the kinds of values and messages that they put in their work, or maybe the specific experience that I've had, the concert or whatever, that there's, you know, the journalist brings out and interviews that person. Not everybody in the audience can talk to the performer or the artist, right? But it having a journalist go in and ask probing questions enriches my experience. You know, it actually makes the emotional impact of the art itself deeper for me. It's more memorable, it's more meaningful, it brings out dimensions or perspectives that I may not have noticed. Um I think it just it just makes how art works for us deeper and more powerful. So, you know, talking about the art, knowing the history, knowing the story, the the work that arts journalism does is not just like a nice thing to have or, you know, it's it's you know, it's promotion for the artist. It's it really for me is essential to this whole process of how how art works in our lives. And we need we need you and your colleagues in this world. So I'm so glad we have this fellowship and uh you know we can hopefully see this forward for many, many years. Um and this gets a little bit out of your project for this year, has been looking at issues of funding around the arts, and you know, particularly at a time when we see, you know, national funding, N-E-A, N-E-H, um, you know, when we see state arts councils, you know, making budget cuts or, you know, decisions to to change the way their their funding is allocated. Um we don't have as much money maybe to go around at the from the big picture, federal and state level. So this this question of how are we going to keep the arts going, and you know, is there a role, again, for the local community to play in supporting the art that is so enriching for their lives? So what what have you discovered?
Brittany Moseley: 11:28
Oh, wow, so much. I went into this very much, I think, focusing on the national aspect because as I was, you know, applying for this fellowship, things were happening, as you said, at the NEA, at the NEH. So that was really front of mind for me. And I think that is still very much an important part of my research. But what's really stuck out to me is the work being done at the state and local level, because that is also where a large amount of funding comes from for a lot of these arts organizations. Two things have really stuck out to me, and they've kind of been a common thread through a lot of the interviews I've been doing with people in the arts organizations and in the art world. A common thread is that we haven't been great. And when I say we, I'm speaking of arts organizations, leaders, artists, at really making a strong case on the advocacy front for arts funding. I think some would disagree with that, but it has come up several times in these interviews of, you know, what does advocacy look like, not just nationally, but statewide, locally, regionally? That's come up a lot. And something else I've heard is that we need to do a better job of positioning the arts as a basic civic good that people deserve, like clean water and things like that. And I definitely agree with that. I think as we touched on earlier, sometimes we want to kind of put art on a pedestal as something maybe only available to a certain few, but it's something that belongs to everyone. And I think it affects so many parts of society and it has so many benefits, whether it's health benefits, mental, physical benefits, that it really is something that everyone just deserves access to. Of course, there are economic benefits and things like that. But at the end of the day, the arts is really a human right, in my opinion.
Mark Clague: 13:15
Yeah, no, that's resonates with me. And a lot of work we're doing at the arts industry right now is around arts and health. And uh, you know, I I think we all know that our lives are going to be materially affected, quality of our lives, if we don't have access to healthcare, particularly when we're in crisis. But I think often, you know, resonates with me what you're saying about advocacy. I think increasingly we're seeing that actually art is fundamental to our the quality of life that we have, and even lifespan and health span, that those are materially affected. There's so much research right now. So that argument really I think is something we need to do a better job of making. What kind of responses are you seeing at the state and local level? What kind of ideas are being talked about to help with the problem of funding the arts?
Brittany Moseley: 13:56
I think another one of the challenges of arts funding outside of the national level is that it varies so much. This is obviously a very big country, and you know, what works in California might not work in Ohio, or similarly, what works in Minnesota might not work in Ohio, even though we're you know almost neighbors and they're in the same region. I'll highlight a couple examples. One that stuck out to me is a couple small museums in Ohio, the Maslin Um Art and History Museum and the Shaker Heights History Center in Northeast Ohio. They have both gotten funding for Shaker. It's a newer endeavor, but it's a long-running one in Maslin through a property tax levy. And they're the only two museums in Ohio with them. Um I'm not sure if it's maybe a larger phenomenon in other states, but right now in Ohio, we have a group that is petitioning to abolish the property tax. So to know that we're also seeing success with taxes is really interesting to me because it shows that people will support the arts. And, you know, Shaker Heights and Maslin are two very different cities. Masline is very working class. Shaker Heights is, you know, definitely has a higher income level. But they both said, you know, these things are important to us for different reasons. But I think what it came down to for each of the cities was that it was a pride. It was, it's important to have a place to keep this history, to keep this part of our city. So that stuck out to me. And then something that is probably very familiar to many arts practitioners, and it's been around for quite a while now, is the uh the cigarette tax for the arts in Cuyahoga County. It has been around quite a few years at this point. It's been renewed several times. And I remember hearing about it when I moved to Cleveland right after college, and it's really been held up in many ways as, you know, this kind of savior for the arts. I think rightly so. It does deserve a lot of praise. But even the people who run Cuyahoga Arts and Council will tell you that there are still struggles with it. There are still, you know, you have to justify a tax to people. You have to figure out how to approach this when, you know, less people are smoking, which is of course great. But that also means then there's less money for this arts endeavor. So I think what I'm learning also is that there's not really a one size or one thing fits all. Because, for example, with Shaker Heights, this property tax is, you know, a big boon for them, but it's just one part. They also receive funding from the state because they are an Ohio history connection site. So they receive about $30,000 a year. They also receive donations. So it's not necessarily like they have this tax, now they're set. It's we have this tax, we need these other things. You have to constantly be thinking of new endeavors and new ways to keep funding yourself. And it is, in many ways, I think, a thankless job for arts leaders and organizers because you have to constantly be fighting to justify your work.
Mark Clague: 16:48
Well, and one of the things I've come to really admire about the state of Ohio, cognizant of the fact that I'm speaking here from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where uh the blood runs maize and blue and there's uh little concern that about anything uh south of our border. But um Ohio has way better funding for the arts than the state of Michigan, like four times the amount of per capita funding for the arts. So for me as a Michigander in the arts, we've got to fix that problem uh here in Michigan. And uh that might be a surprise to a lot of people, you know, that that actually uh red state, you know, that you know, where the arts, you know, you might think that that's not such a thing, actually is more strongly supported than than it is here in Michigan.
Brittany Moseley: 17:29
I think it's been from what I've heard from people I've spoken to who know much more about this than me, that it seems like it was maybe a a stronger priority from the start in Ohio. And it really became almost like a legacy of we are going to support the arts, you know, at the state level. And, you know, who knows if that'll always be the case? I hope it will be, but you know, I think it was just a couple years ago, there were threats at the statehouse level to cut funding to our libraries, and libraries are a huge part of arts and arts outreach. You know, there's now the same $30,000 I mentioned that goes to the Shakers Museum. There are now going to be cuts to the Ohio History Connection, which is our, you know, state museum and that funds it. So all these things are always, you know, nothing is permanent, I'm noticing.
Mark Clague: 18:14
So yeah. No, I think that's true. And I I hope it changes only in that I hope Michigan catches up. And I'm no longer saying that it has four times the amount of funding that we do here in Michigan. Southeast Michigan in particular, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Dexter, Chelsea, Celine, Myland. We have such a rich cultural scene, but it's really easy to take it for granted. You know, like the Ann Arbor Summer Festival is one of my faves. And you know, it's it's uh it has never really fully come back from the pandemic. You know, we're still trying to raise money. I say this because I'm on the board. So it's a struggle. And part of it is that we've done such a good job, I think, in trying to argue that the arts need to be accessible to everybody, that you know, economics shouldn't be a barrier. I often hear people say to me, like, oh, it's so amazing. We have all these great arts and it's totally free. It is no cost to access, um, but that's because people have stepped up to pay for it and to make it accessible to everybody. But you know, the artists in our community, they they have mortgages too, and they you know they they have bills to pay. So if we're going to really have a thriving creative scene that enriches our lives, and you know, for me with artificial intelligence and uh mental health stresses on on our communities, like the arts are one of the places where we can move upstream to actually ameliorate some of the problems that happen downstream. And there's research to back this up. So it I don't think it's even just a nice to have. I think it is a critical to have and and that there's real value. I mean, I know I've seen some research out of Canada recently saying that every dollar invested in the arts you know pays off four or five times in terms of economic impact. Trevor Burrus, Jr. At the same time, those economic arguments don't get at the real heart of it because it's it is that passion, it is that hurt. Those of us in the arts who really love it, that's what drives us and motivates us. So we've we've got to find a way to sort of hit both those arguments.
Brittany Moseley: 19:57
Yeah, I didn't touch on it too much in my research. So hopefully future fellows, or maybe it'll come you know in future stories that I do, but I think that other part that you mentioned in terms of how do we support the artists and the practitioners is such an important part. Because I think now when we think of funding, we're thinking of, you know, the state or local agencies funding, for example, the orchestra, the museum. But there are also these, you know, local artists who are getting grants. And a lot of that is based around their projects. They pitch a project, they ask for funding, and they get it. But there are, of course, like all of us, there are times when they're not doing projects. There are just times when they are doing so many other things that contribute to their art. And those, I think, also deserve funding. And I don't think we see that. I mean, so many artists have second, if not third, jobs. So I really, you know, I'm hoping that whether it's my work in the future or the future, you know, Knight Wallace Arts journalist fellow can really look at what do we need to really support and prop up our artists and creatives and this economy as well.
Mark Clague: 20:56
So, Brittany, I'm sure you've met a lot of students in your journey here this year. And I'm just wondering if you were a student who was really excited about journalism, wanted to be out there telling the story, what advice would you give them today?
Brittany Moseley: 21:07
It's very simple, but I think it's just to keep at it and don't lose your joy and your love for it. Journalism is a wonderful, beautiful, frustrating, maddening career choice. So you really have to kind of commit to this. And I would love to say that this is a career where everyone is paid what they deserve and has a great work-life balance, but that's unfortunately we're not there yet. So, I mean, it is it's one of those jobs that you do because you love it. Doesn't mean you shouldn't be paid well, of course. And I think also being open to a career that might look a little different. There have been times in my life where I have not primarily worked as a journalist. I've worked more so in a communications or a public relations field. For example, like freelance on the side. And I think, you know, knowing that there are so ways to get involved and be a writer, if it's not even your main job, I think is also important because, you know, work looks different now, I think, post-pandemic for all of us.
Mark Clague: 22:04
So, what kind of products do you think will come out of this year here in Ann Arbor? Do you have uh story ideas or whether this feed into your work um going forward?
Brittany Moseley: So Cuyahoga County has the cigarette tax, and recently the state government gave permission to three other counties: 22:12
Franklin County, which is Columbus, Summit County, which is Akron, where I live, and Cincinnati, and I'm blinking on their county right now. I'm sorry, Cincinnati, but gave authority to those three counties to pursue a cigarette tax. So I'm curious to see if those counties, including Summit, will pursue that and what that will look like in this, you know, day and age where people are smoking less and if there are ways to adjust this tax to things like weed now that marijuana is legalized in Ohio or alcohol, if it's even worth pursuing for these counties. It might not be. I think the biggest thing for me and my research is just having such a better framework of how funding works. I mean, there's so much to it, but I think having that framework has really set me up well to not only be a better reporter in art stories, but also to know what to look for, to know what questions to ask in the stories I'm covering. I'm excited to get back to work and see what's uh what's been going on at Akron while I've been gone.
Mark Clague: 23:13
Well, we're so glad you've been with us here in Ann Arbor and really honored to contribute to your career and we really want you to be out there writing those stories about arts and culture. So thank you so much for you know being in our community this year and really adding to the vibrancy of arts and culture here in Ann Arbor and at the University of Michigan. So good luck.
Brittany Moseley: 23:28
Thank you. It's been a joy.
Mark Clague: 23:33
Creative Currents is a project of the University of Michigan's Arts Initiative. Please subscribe to hear more great conversations with artists, scholars, and arts leaders from across the campus and across the globe. Send your comments and suggestions via email to creativecurrents at umich.edu. This episode of Creative Currents was produced by Jessica Jenks and edited by Brian Lilly. Our original theme music is composed and performed by Ansel Nealy, an alumnus of the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theater, and Dance. To learn more about the University of Michigan's Arts Initiative, please visit our website at arts.umich.edu. Thank you for listening and for being part of the Michigan Arts community. It makes our campus so fabulous. Until next time, stay curious, stay inspired, and keep your creative currents flowing.
