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Karen Gadbois shows some work from her loom in her home in New Orleans, La., in February 2024 (Emily Kask/Poynter)

I have three treasured pieces of art from journalists I admire — a cross-stitch, a weaving and a beaded necklace. I know many journalists who are artists. I do not know many artists who start newsrooms.
This week, my Poynter colleague Amaris Castillo published a deep dive into Karen Gadbois, who founded The Lens in New Orleans. Before Castillo’s reporting started, she learned that Gadbois is a textile artist.
“An actual artist,” she said. “Immediately I was intrigued. How does an artist begin a nonprofit newsroom? What drew her to journalism?”
The story explores Gadbois’ work, what led her to New Orleans and the gaps she started trying to fill there after Hurricane Katrina. As Castillo writes, “In a time of growing news deserts, local newsroom closures, and what feels like a never-ending stream of job cuts at legacy news publications, The Lens — a pioneer in nonprofit news — operates with a newer and attention-grabbing business model.”
I asked Castillo what she learned about local news while reporting this story.
“In reporting this story, I found that passion and a diehard commitment to a cause can help a nonprofit newsroom stay afloat,” she said. “Funding is important, too — that’s obvious. But someone who is fiercely behind the organization will persist and fight tooth and nail to keep it alive. Karen is that to The Lens. We’re living in a local news crisis, and there’s no magic fix. It’s grim out here. But there can be an unwavering commitment to your mission, to serving the community, to showing funders that you’re about the work. That, to me, is a part of what’s working in local news.”
You can read the whole story here ([link removed]) .
If you want to poke around the journalist/artist space more, here’s a very interesting report on artistic journalism ([link removed]) , a 2021 Nieman Lab prediction about the journalism/art fusion ([link removed]) , a Nieman Lab story about data journalists who crotchet to tell stories, and Tonika Johnson’s Folded Map Project ([link removed]) , which brought together Chicagoans who share addresses on different sides of town.
That’s it for me. This all has me thinking that I should pick up my cross-stitch tools again. Are you a maker? Respond to this email and tell me about what you’re making when you’re not making journalism.
Kristen
Kristen Hare
Faculty
The Poynter Institute
@kristenhare ([link removed])

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