…announcing Future Studies, a new initiative dedicated to cultural organizers and organizations who are invested in in-depth research and critical action—those who are thoughtfully building new structures to cultivate and uplift their communities.
The program is inspired by the Foundation’s namesake Ruth DeYoung Kohler II, who believed that art had the ability to change lives, pointing to both the future possibility of creativity and the understanding that art, when fostered and supported, could contribute to fundamental change. In this way, this multi-year program is ambitious and outward looking, highlighting those who are at a transformational moment in their own development and ready to work on a more impactful scale.
With a deep investment in our collective futures, these organizations are creating more equitable art spaces, building new forms of connectivity and learning, and providing alternative ways to transform the art world.
On the occasion of this launch we are pleased to share a contribution from Burnaway, an online art magazine that celebrates art and artists from the South. Upon being named a Future Studies recipient, Burnaway’s Executive Director Brandon Sheats and Interim Editor Courtney McClellan discuss the field of art criticism and their vision for the magazine.
What role does art writing and art criticism play in the ecosystem of the arts?
Courtney McClellan: Absolutely. I agree that context and description are vital to the visual art ecosystem. Description is both what a work looks like, but also the cultural, social, and political environment in which a work is made. In a review, a writer can archive an artist’s work for both a current and future audience. In addition to sharing the work of artists, art writing and criticism offers the capacity to experiment with how that description is achieved.
What audience does Burnaway currently serve and what audience does Burnaway want to reach?
CM: Yes, we love Southern artists and writers, and we want to honor the cultural production in the South. This includes artists with Southern backgrounds that might be living or exhibiting elsewhere. We know that Southern artists have and will continue to impact American culture. We continue to serve our regional audience, but we are also an outpost to an international network of practitioners, writers, and creators.
What is your vision for the future of burnaway?
CM: Burnaway is an incredibly agile online platform. We’re dedicated to growing our diverse community. I want us to continue connect with our audience while also taking advantage of many unique opportunities to experiment with how we share and talk about art in the South. That includes recommitting to the work of long-form thematic essays and short reviews, as well as the Art Writing Incubator, our workshop and public speaker series that supports emerging arts writers. But there are additional means with which to celebrate art and artists in the South we want to consider: new columns, in-person events, and educational programs, as well as regional, national, and international partnerships.
BS: That agility puts us in a place to really expand not only our audience, but also how we create/engage in dialogue with visual art. Some of our writers have studied art history, but we’ve also worked with landscape designers, rap scholars, and people outside of visual art, all which offer unique perspectives that aid our readers. We want to do more of that inside/outside. The worlds of art and publishing are in major flux; now is not the time for existential crisis, we must see this moment for exactly what this is. We’ve got to take chances knowing this work is necessary and doable and remember independence is a catalyst for interdependence. All that said, Burnaway is an experiment disguised as an art magazine; the further we go, the better it becomes.
