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"AT SOME POINT, AN IDEA BECOMES SO BIG THAT OTHER, USUALLY LESSER IDEAS ARE DEFINED IN RELATION TO IT. WBEZ'S CURIOUS CITY IS ONE OF THOSE IDEAS. I CAN'T COUNT THE NUMBER OF TIMES I'VE BEEN IN A MEETING AND SOMEONE SAYS, 'IT'S LIKE CURIOUS CITY, BUT FOR OUR CITY.'" - Adam Ragusea, Journalist and Host of Current's The Pub Podcast

Jennifer Brandel founded and executive produced the award-winning series WBEZ's Curious City. 

Initial funding for Curious City came from AIR's Localore initiative. Additional support came from the Knight Foundation's prototype fund, The McCormick Foundation, and the Doris and Howard Conant Fund for Journalism. 

Press on Jennifer Brandel / Curious City

January 30, 2012: Current: Localore backs crowdsourcing, collaborative doc projects.

May 29, 2012: AIR Media: Curious and Curiouser: Localore Project Aims to Open Up WBEZ's Editorial Process

Novemeber 16, 2012: Current: Curious City brings its inquisitive audience into the reporting action

February 12, 2013: Current: New Chicago pubTV program to include segment produced by Localore project

February 13, 2013: How Sound: Curious City

June 20, 2013 Current: Expansion of 'Curious City' among five prototype projects backed by Knight

June 24, 2013: MIT Center of Civic Media: What's so curious about Curious City?

July 2, 2013: Current: Transom, Curious City to develop new technology tools with Knight Aid

Nov 1, 2013: Columbia Journalism Review: Curious Tales: Journalism at Scale

Nov 11, 2013: Maximum Fun: Podthoughts by Colin Marshall: Curious City

Nov 20, 2013: Chicago Tribune Lab attendees get the scoop on WBEZ's Curious City

Dec 15, 2013: WYSO's Lewis Wallace Talks to WBEZ Chicago's Curious City about the Growing Curious Family

Dec 16, 2013: Nieman Lab: Predictions for Journalism 2014

Jan 8, 2014: AIR Media: Why So Curious?

Jan 14, 2014: Current: Curious City expands beyond Chicago with WYSO Curious

April 10, 2014: Tape Podcast: Episode 2: Jennifer Brandel

October 10, 2014: Mashable: New Experiment Lets You Vote What News Reporters Cover

November 5, 2014: AIR Media: New Grants Fund Localore Expansion

November 5, 2014: Columbia Journalism Review: Why in-house innovation is a great plan for legacy outlets

Brandel was the second guest on the Tape Podcast. 

Jennifer Brandel is the Senior Producer of Curious City. "I don't think that soft or fluffy news should be given such a bad rap. When you have a question that ignites someone's curiosity and gets them interested in thinking about the world in a different way or considering things they haven't done before, that is important. If you can accomplish that in your stories, they're not fluffy — they're interesting."

Brandel was featured on Transom's Howsound Podcast in 2013. Listen here.