After a year and a half hiatus, the World Press Institute (WPI) will hold its 57th annual journalism fellowship program and has invited nine journalists from Argentina, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, China (Hong Kong), Finland, Germany, India, Iran and Nigeria to participate in the program. The program will begin on March 18 and conclude on May 21, spending March 27-29 in Grand Marais.
The fellows will spend nine weeks in the United States 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 27-29, 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, Anna Deschampe with the Grand Portage National Monument, Kent Anderson of Hedstrom Lumber Mill, a U.S. Forest Service representative, Staci Drouillard and Golden Eagle Lodge. The public is invited to a Q&A forum with WPI participants at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts on Tuesday, March 29, at 7 p.m.
The themes that the fellows of the program will investigate include issues of racial equity and police reform, nuclear threats and security, the upcoming U.S. Congressional elections, and new business models for journalism in the digital age.
For more information on WPI, visit: worldpressinstitute.org.