Amid all the gnashing of teeth over the future of news media, a bright note: The Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation are teaming up with the Globe on an initiative that might just serve as a new model for supporting arts journalism. With funding provided by the San Francisco-based organizations, Zoë Madonna, who won the 2014 Rubin Prize in Music Criticism at the Institute, starts a 10-month post as classical music critic at the Globe on Monday, corresponding with a temporary leave by Globe critic Jeremy Eichler, who is now a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. Madonna, who started writing for the Globe as a freelancer after graduating from Oberlin College last year, is looking forward to her new post. "Boston is a wonderful city in which to be writing about music. With everything from acclaimed outfits like the Boston Symphony, the Boston Lyric Opera, and A Far Cry to small experimental ventures," she said, "there's no way to go musically hungry here. I am happy to have been given the opportunity to write about this thriving scene, and I am so grateful to the Globe as well as the Rubin Institute and its donors for providing the means for me to do so."
Calling this a "groundbreaking endeavor," Stephen Rubin, president and publisher of Henry Holt & Co. and benefactor of the Rubin Institute, said he hoped the partnership "will be a model for other newspapers across the land." "We could not be more delighted to participate in this novel experiment with such worthy partners, added Globe editor Brian McGrory. "We are excited about the benefit to our industry, to some of the great cultural institutions of Boston, and most especially to our readership, which will very much appreciate the proven talents of this young critic."
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