THE ARTS FUSE TURNS ELEVEN! Help sustain substantial critical coverage of the arts.

By Bill Marx

ELEVEN YEARS of The Arts Fuse! Over five thousand reviews, commentaries, and features on arts and culture written by over 60 writers, ranging from veteran critics for The Boston Globe and the Boston Phoenix to talented fledgling reviewers. Independent serious arts coverage is rapidly vanishing in the mainstream media, which is why we work so tirelessly at the Arts Fuse to fill this much-needed gap. My thanks to the writers, artists,  donors, and readers who have have so generously supported this magazine’s distinctive vision of high quality arts coverage.

Precious few independent online arts publications make it to double digits. Please give us the resources we need to persevere at an essential cultural task. Next stop — Bar Mitzvah!

Among the highlights of the past year:

* a visual redesign for the magazine that has been greeted with unanimous praise from readers — “clean,” “intelligent,” “easy-to-use,” and “mobile friendly.”

* kickoff of a series of public discussions, sponsored by the magazine, on the importance and future of arts criticism. The first took place on February 26th and is available for viewing on videotape. The second took place on May 7th, and dealt with independent arts magazine and bloggers — exploring ways in which we can collaborate.

Criticism is a matter of cultural health. It is not just about selling tickets.

Serious criticism, by talking about the strengths, weaknesses, and contributions of the arts, plays an indispensable role in the cultural ecology. Smaller, newer organizations need a response. When they are ignored as they are by the mainstream media, they fail to gain an audience. And without an audience, they fold, further weakening the entire ecosystem.

The Arts Fuse explores innovative ways to preserve substantial critical coverage of the arts.  

Among our efforts: our snappy redesign, public discussions about the future of arts criticism, and Mentorship Program — as well as the dozens of arts reviews and features that the magazine posts each month. There are few publications that do what we do.

Last year, the fruits of the Arts Fuse Mentorship program, generously supported our donors and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, were posted on the magazine. We have ambitious plans for a bigger and better version of this project in 2019.

The Arts Fuse T-shirt: Wear your support for arts coverage proudly.

We need your support to maintain the public discussions and rejuvenate the Arts Fuse Mentorship program — as well as to continue to post reviews and features of arts performances that the mainstream media overlook. I am therefore asking you to donate to the cause this month. Our goal is to raise $5,000. This annual appeal, which marks the magazine’s 11th birthday, must succeed so that the great reviews, commentaries, and features on the arts will keep coming.

Please click on one of the donation buttons below (secure sites PayPal and Mightycause). Your contribution is tax deducible. Any donations of $500 or above will be listed (with permission) on the upcoming Infuser page of the magazine. It will be our way of thanking you — and making your interest in a meaningful conversation about the arts — public.

Here’s to a summer filled with art enjoyment and appreciation.

To contribute to the Arts Fuse via PayPal:

PayPal

To contribute to the Arts Fuse via Mightycause

To mail a donation, please make out your check out to Global Narratives, Inc. and send it to:

The Arts Fuse
103 Highland Road
#2
Somerville, MA 02144

Include your email and snail mail address with your check.

Bill Marx is the editor-in-chief of The Arts Fuse. For over three decades, he has written about arts and culture for print, broadcast, and online. He has regularly reviewed theater for National Public Radio Station WBUR and The Boston Globe. He created and edited WBUR Online Arts, a cultural webzine that in 2004 won an Online Journalism Award for Specialty Journalism. In 2007 he created The Arts Fuse, an online magazine dedicated to covering arts and culture in Boston and throughout New England.