9.13.24

Alumni launch Wichita-based arts and culture newsroom

With funding from the 2023 Wichita Foundation Info Challenge, two alumnae and longtime friends Teri Mott ’99 and Emily Christensen ’14 launched the SHOUT, an independent newsroom covering arts, culture and community in Wichita’s metro area.

A familiar face in local theater, Mott is communications manager at WSU’s Ulrich Museum of Art. Christensen, a former WSU College of Fine Arts staff member, is a noted journalist and arts writer whose credits include being a 2022 recipient of an Andy Warhol Foundation writing grant and a 2020 fellow of the National Critics Institute. As communication professionals and members of the local arts community, the two recognized a common challenge faced by arts organizations of all sizes in disseminating event information and identified the need for a centralized channel. “What we heard over and over again is that arts organizations are desperate to get the word out and they’re not sure how,” Christensen says. “There’s not one central place that people go to find out what’s going on.”

They began brainstorming how to set up and distribute a monthly arts calendar supported with articles about theater, visual art, culture and community. The Info Challenge grant, Mott explains, equipped them with the tools they needed to get the SHOUT off the ground. “We’re one of three micro newsrooms selected in 2023 as part of the Info Challenge, which is an open call for independent news ventures to address information gaps in underserved communities,” she says. Each newsroom received $30,000 from Press Forward Wichita at WF to jump-start their operations plus a two-year membership to the Tiny News Collective, which assists local news-gathering operations with resources and networking. Since launching the SHOUT in April, they have over 600 subscribers and have highlighted more than 1,000 local events in Wichita and surrounding communities.

Christensen and Mott are especially attuned to the importance of highlighting events by creators with limited resources. “Some of the coolest things are being put on by people who don’t have a marketing person, or a gigantic budget,” Christensen says. “We want to make sure those are highlighted.” Their inclusive approach ensures that both established venues and emerging artists have a platform to promote their work. They are also actively engaged with the Wichita Arts Community Forum, gathering insights and suggestions from peers on ways to enhance their platform. Also, they say, being in contact with other Tiny News newsrooms has helped them develop a strategy to streamline event coverage. So far, they have published reviews and stories by 13 freelance writers and photos by five local photographers.

“We share a passion for the arts, a commitment to accessibility and a certain level of awe at the exceptional talent we see all around us,” Mott and Christensen say. And they invite everyone to stay in the know on all the latest arts happenings in and around Wichita by subscribing to the SHOUT.