News – Variable West

Variable Voice Pitch Guidelines

March 11, 2021March 15, 2021News

Variable Voice is our online journal that features exhibition reviews, interviews, Love Letters, and essays.

We’ve received a flood of outstanding writing from all over the US and international contributors, and put together the below Pitch Guidelines to help all writers. Want to write for us but not sure what to pitch? Sign up for our monthly Art Writing Assignments email!

PITCH GUIDELINES

WHO: Amelia Rina, Variable West Founder & Editor, hello@variablewest.com

WHAT: A concise summary of what you want to write about including any pertinent information (exhibition dates, location, related programming, etc.)

WHEN: Anytime! We accept pitches on an ongoing basis

DO:

Include links to artist(s) work, website, exhibition information, etc.
Include links to your website and/or clips of relevant published writing
Check out our past publications to get an idea of the tone and style we’re looking for
Visit our Call for Pitches pages for information about rates and requirements
Consider your identity and how it relates to your subject. Be sure you can accurately and considerately analyze and tell the stories of your subjects. If you don’t have shared experiences, consider pitching an interview to allow your subject to speak for themselves.

DON’T:

Send a full/complete draft with your pitch
Include multiple ideas/topics in one pitch

TIMELINE: We do our best to respond to all pitches within two weeks. If you haven’t heard back from us by then, feel free to follow up.

Introducing Sponsored Connections

February 23, 2021March 10, 2021News2 Comments

We are very excited to announce a new model of paid content that we’re calling Sponsored Connections.

Most people consume sponsored content on a daily basis without even knowing it. Advertisers pay media companies to publish journalistic articles that seem to follow the editorial ethics and opinions of the outlet but are usually little more than an elaborate press release.

The worst part of sponsored content is how enthusiastically it’s hidden. Disclaimers are often tiny, designed to be missed, or left out all together. Another pitfall of sponsored content is it’s typically only available to companies with huge budgets.

At Variable West, we’re dedicated to operational transparency, but we also need an operating budget. Enter: Sponsored Connections.

To avoid any confusion about whose ideas you’re reading, Sponsored Connections will always be in interview format. We also want to extend the visibility of paid content to organizations that might not have a big (or any) marketing budget. That’s why each Sponsored Connection consists of pairings: The fee paid by one organization covers an interview with its representative and another interview with a representative from an organization with a smaller operating budget.

Sponsored Connections offers us a way to embed community support in our advertising model, and we’re pretty excited about it. Check out our previously produced Sponsored Connections here.

Interested in commissioning a Sponsored Connection of your own? Email partners@variablewest.com to learn more.

Eden Redmond standing in front of a cement wall with light and dark texture. She wears a vibrant, tomato red blouse and has buzzed brown hair. She smiles at the camera.

Eden Redmond Joins Variable West as Partnerships Coordinator

February 4, 2021February 5, 2021News

We’re so happy to announce that Eden Redmond has joined the Variable West team. As Partnerships Coordinator, Eden will cultivate collaborative relationships that enable Variable West to effectively increase engagement with the West Coast art world. She will identify and nurture relationships through dynamic program development and sustainable fundraising partnerships.

Eden Redmond (she/her) is an arts writer and fundraiser based in the Pacific Northwest. Breaking from the exploitative legacies of capitalism, Eden’s creative partnership work depends on dignified relationships and sharing resources in collective abundance.

Eden also serves as the Director of Operations at Signal Fire, where she shapes and funds programming connecting artists, activists, and Indigenous communities in the fight for land justice.

Learn more about Eden on her website.

Want to work with us? Get in touch with Eden at partners@variablewest.com.

Justin Duyao sitting at a small wooden table on a beach in the late afternoon. Justin has brown hair, and has his elbow propped on the table with his head resting in his hand. He smiles at the camera.

Announcing Variable West’s Editorial Apprenticeship

January 21, 2021January 21, 2021News

We are thrilled to announce that Justin Duyao is Variable West’s inaugural Editorial Apprentice for the spring 2021 semester.

Justin is a writer, editor, and student with a BA in English Literature from Harding University. He lives in Portland, Oregon, and is pursing an MA in Critical Studies from the Pacific Northwest College of Art. His interests include studies of consciousness, sociolinguistics, and gender.

The VW Editorial Apprenticeship is a semester-long paid program that allows emerging writers and editors to learn how an online journal works while expanding their art writing practice. In addition to assisting with daily tasks such as website and social media management, apprentices receive reading and writing assignments, participate in discussions, and will take ownership of Variable West’s Love Letters column.

Apprentices receive a stipend of $2,000. This year’s program is made possible through a collaboration with the MA in Critical Studies program at PNCA.

Introducing Variable Voice: Letter from the Editor

October 27, 2020January 13, 2021News

Over the past ten years, my life as an art writer has only been possible because of the support and trust of mentors and colleagues. Editors took chances on me, professors encouraged me and helped me make connections, and I swapped editorial feedback with my network of peers. These interactions were absolutely essential to my growth as a young writer, yet they feel like an impossibility in today’s new world of cascading closures, cancellations, and social isolation.

The media and publishing worlds have been in trouble for a while—years before the pandemic—with countless magazines, newspapers, journals, and blogs shutting down, often abruptly, citing a lack of financial sustainability. Two of these recent deaths hit me particularly hard: The Village Voice in 2018, and Art Practical earlier this year. To me, both publications represent environments where emerging writers could learn about the business, develop their voice, and build their career. Their absences leave a palpable void—one I am determined to fill in whatever way I can.

With that in mind, I’m relaunching Variable West’s editorial venture as the online journal Variable Voice. You can expect exhibition reviews, essays, interviews, Love Letters, and other series that try to find a balance between generous, accessible language, zealously researched topics, and experimental prose that challenges the conventions of each format.

Of course, I could never replace these two publishing legacies, but I am deeply inspired by what they both did for art criticism and writing. No other art journals have dedicated as much care and passion to the West Coast art ecosystem as Art Practical. No other newspaper—alternative or mainstream—compares to The Village Voice‘s radical, celebratory, razor sharp criticism and journalism. I hope to infuse the essences of both these publications in everything we produce in Variable Voice.

You might be thinking: Sure, great ideas, but how will we stay afloat when so much of the publishing world is drowning? That’s where our incredible community comes in. By becoming a monthly subscriber or making a one time donation, you can help reinvigorate, sustain, and expand West Coast art writing and scholarship. Plus, I’ll be hustling everyday to find new funding opportunities. We’re extremely fortunate to have received a grant from Critical Minded, which will help us start with some real momentum.

Head to the Variable Voice page to see what we have published so far, and stay tuned for more!

I’m so excited for this new adventure, and can’t wait to share it with you.

Enthusiastically,

Amelia Rina

Founder and Editor,
Variable West

Variable West Receives Critical Minded Arts Writing Grant

October 27, 2020News4 Comments

We are thrilled to announce that Variable West has received a $5,000 grant from Critical Minded. The funds will be used to commission exhibition reviews, essays, and interviews from outstanding arts writers on the West Coast.

As if that weren’t great enough, the inimitable Ashley Stull Meyers will act as a guest editor of the Critical Minded series. Stull Meyers is a fierce advocate for West Coast arts and art writing, and has curated exhibitions and public programming for a diverse set of arts institutions along the West Coast. She served as the Northwest Editor for Art Practical, and her writing has been featured in BOMB Magazine, Daily Serving, The Exhibitionist, among other publications.

This project is supported by Critical Minded, an initiative to invest in cultural critics of color cofounded by The Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Ford Foundation.