The World Press Institute (WPI) will hold its 58th annual journalism fellowship program this month and has invited 10 journalists from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Turkey to participate in the program. The program will begin on March 3 and conclude on May 6, spending March 12-15 in Grand Marais.
The fellows will spend nine weeks examining the free press and media innovations and learning about America’s social and cultural diversity and its political system. They will spend the first three weeks in Minnesota, based at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, visit Grand Marais March 12-15, and then visit farming communities in the southern part of the state. The fellows will then travel around the U.S. for five weeks, meeting with journalists, policy experts, and political, business and community leaders. They will visit New York City, Washington D.C., Miami, Austin (Texas), Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles before returning to Minnesota for the final week of the program.
When in Grand Marais, participants will stay with host families. Their itinerary, organized with the help of Marja Erickson, president of the Cook County Historical Society (CCHS), includes visiting with various businesses and individuals, including the CCHS, North House Folk School, Steve Robertsen with the U.S. Forest Service, Kent Anderson of Hedstrom Lumber Mill, Anna Deschampe with the Grand Portage National Monument, Golden Eagle Lodge and more. The public is invited to a Q&A forum with WPI participants at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts on Monday, March 13 from 7-8:30 p.m.
The themes that the fellows of the program will investigate include issues of U.S. democracy (elections/institutions/political divide), climate change (including energy and food security), cutting edge journalistic technology, and new business models for journalism in the digital age.
For more information on WPI, visit: worldpressinstitute.org.