By January, a new local newsroom will tackle Louisville’s arts scene, and the team of writers and editors are all from Kentuckiana high schools.
Local nonprofit Arts Angle Vantage will launch its student-led newsroom next year. Applications are open online, and director Elizabeth Kramer said this is a unique, free opportunity for high school students to learn what it takes to write, review, edit and report.
Kramer founded the organization in 2018, after years of working as a journalist in Kentucky, New York and Ohio. In the early 2000s, she was Louisville Public Media’s first arts and culture reporter before moving to the Courier Journal in 2010.
While writing was a part of her daily life, Kramer realized younger generations are not afforded the same opportunities unless it's homework, she said.
“A lot of people don't unless they have a special teacher, go to a certain type of school, or come from a home where it's encouraged,” Kramer said. “Sometimes they're from places that don't have any kind of journalism or real writing programs, and they don't even have theater programs. So they really want to have this kind of access, and this is something we can offer them”
Kramer invited local journalists and photographers to lead workshops for the students next year. During the program, the cub reporters will sharpen their skills in interviewing, photography, audio editing and digital writing.
All the reporting will cover arts in the Louisville area. The newsroom will attend plays, exhibits and other productions including with Actors Theatre, the Louisville Orchestra and the Speed Art Museum. After their trips, a student will write a review about the play or profile an artist behind the production.
While journalism is the focus of the program, Kramer said the organization’s mission is much broader. She said she hopes students will learn more about the arts community in Louisville, especially since those opportunities are often limited depending on what school they attend.
“By giving them access to the arts and giving them a voice, they're also really connected more to the community and more to creativity, and that gives a future to the community as well, because they're invested in it,” she said.
Students publish their work on Arts Angle Vantage’s website and past students have published their work with LEO Weekly, the Courier Journal, and their high school new sites. Next year will be the first time Arts Angle Vantage’s program will be a full-fledged newsroom.
Adam West joined the program as a writer after his junior year of high school. He said he never considered exploring journalism since it was not offered at his school, Atherton. During his time in the program, West interviewed the cast of Broadway shows during their stops in Louisville and composer Tanner Porter, who worked with the Louisville Orchestra’s Creators Corps program.
“It's so cool getting to talk to people about what they're passionate about, and getting to interview them and just seeing that spark in them is just so, so incredible,” he said.
West’s work was published in LEO Weekly. Now, he writes for his school newspaper at Centre College.
While some students go on to work in newsrooms at their colleges or universities, Kramer said other students have used the skills they learned elsewhere, including with engineering schools and community theatres.
The Arts Angle Newsroom will meet twice a week starting in January through May 2026. Applications for student editors are open until Friday and writer applications are open until Dec 18.
