Announcing the Next Round of “Writing the City”

We’re pleased to share the news that our collaboration with Columbia Journalism School, Writing the City, will continue this year thanks to a generous grant from the Cravens Foundation.

The project, which was launched in 2017 with seed funding from Elise Jaffe + Jeffrey Brown, offers  graduates of the Arts and Culture M.A. program at Columbia Journalism School the opportunity to participate in a limited competition to produce an ambitious work of urban journalism. This year, the request for proposals puts a special emphasis on racial justice and social equity.

The first installment, “Shade,” by Sam Bloch, has set a high standard for the series. In a powerful and wide-ranging portrait of Los Angeles, Bloch argues that shade is a civic resource, a requirement for public health, an index of inequality, and a new mandate for urban designers.

To learn more about the collaboration, read our conversation with David Hajdu, co-director of the Arts and Culture M.A. program at Columbia, published last year.