What is Art.Rox?

Art.Rox is a blog about art in the American outback. It was created as a means for arts journalists and artists outside the major American urban areas to celebrate, discuss, critique, and simply share what they do.

This blog is intended partly as a means for the Fellows of the USC Annenberg's 2007 NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater to continue sharing ideas.

But there are bigger hopes here: That this can ultimately grow to serve the larger community of journalists, artists, and institutions involved in the arts in America -- particularly those who reside in smaller cities and rural areas of the country.

Art.Rox is co-hosted by Joe Nickell, John Stoehr, Bridgette Redman and Jennifer A. Smith.

John Stoehr is the arts and culture reporter for the Savannah Morning News in Savannah, Ga. He is a two-time Fellow of the Arts Journalism Institutes of the National Endowment for the Arts. He is also a book critic for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other publications.

Joe Nickell is the arts and entertainment reporter for the Missoulian newspaper in Missoula, Montana. Like John, he is a two-time Fellow of the NEA Arts Journalism Institutes. He is also co-host of Rox, an independent television series that was dubbed "the best TV show in America" by Wired Magazine and "the first television series broadcast in cyberspace" by Time. A former contributing editor at Res Magazine, Joe has written for publications including the New York Times, Salon.com, Wired, Outside, and Business 2.0.

Bridgette Redman is a freelance performing arts columnist and theater reviewer for the Lansing State Journal in Lansing, Michigan. She was a 2007 Fellow of the NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater. She is also a textbook editor and writer for the American Hotel & Lodging Association Educational Institute; the publisher of Book Help Web; a category lead for the book, newspaper, and magazine section of Epinions.com; a ghost writer; a freelance magazine writer; and a drama instructor for K-3 at a local Montessori school.

Jennifer A. Smith lives in Madison, Wis., where she manages the state's arts and culture Web site, Portalwisconsin.org. She is also a freelance arts writer whose work appears regularly in Madison's alternative weekly, Isthmus, and other publications. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a 2007 Fellow of the NEA/USC Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater.