online arts magazine rises from ashes of vue
Kickstarter campaign to keep venture aloft during search for investors
The editors of the recently euthanized arts and culture periodical Vue Weekly did something too few of us do when robbed of something we love: they said uh-uh.
To quote Fred Rogers, there are many ways to say I love you, and former Vue editors Stephan Boissonneault, Chelsea Novak and Doug Johnson are using their obvious passion for Edmonton’s arts and culture as the molten energy pushing their new project forward.
In the wake of some very bad news, where the free SEE Magazine and Vue Weekly once perished, Daze Magazine now stands — currently online at dazemag.ca — with hopes to materialize into a physical phenomenon on the stands in bars and cafes as soon as possible.
That’s news at least as reassuring as the news that Happy Harbour, instead of fading away, was sold and rebranded Wonderland Games (and the new version is great, I can assure you).
Part of Daze’s action plan was a Kickstarter campaign that ends today, the result of which is a booster shot not so much to get it off the ground, but keep it aloft.
The editors have already been posting about a story a day since a soft launch on Jan. 18, a mere two months since Facebook gossip chains lit up bemoaning the end of a legacy of indie and gonzo arts coverage going back a quarter century.
Johnson was away in Montreal, but Novak and Boissonneault took time on Family Day to break down the new reality and push their endeavour, which already feels lighter and brighter than the war-ravaged Vue, which for years was the entangled octopus to the persistent squid of SEE Magazine.
And if it feels weird to you I’m writing about this as a competitor, let me reiterate a core belief: the more arts coverage the better.
“As far as Vue shutting down,” says Boissonneault, “I thought we had at least another year or two. We were just as surprised as everyone else. There was no goal to keep Vue going, they really didn’t want to.
“We decided we didn’t want to quit. It was us in our little cubicle office space saying, ‘No, let’s do our own thing.’ We put a post up on Vue’s Facebook page and they immediately took it down,” the former Vue music editor smiles.
“Even before we shut down,” says Novak, whose coverage centres on fine arts, “we heard a lot of outcry because we got rid of listings — there was a big backlash. So to lose Vue completely …”
“It was a hit to the arts scene, for sure,” says Boissonneault. “A lot of smaller bands, grassroots art, would not be getting that coverage.”
Novak tells a personal story here: “I moved back to Edmonton last year, gone about 10 years. My sense was that the arts and culture scene had really grown here in the interim. And to continue to do so, people need to know what’s going on from as many perspectives as possible. When we moved back here — and we had some other options — we decided with the arts and culture scene, we wanted to help it thrive.”
Boissonneault adds, “As an artist and musician myself, having coverage, getting people to the shows, having people informed about what’s going on, it’s so important. I’m so fascinated that, for example, people don’t know what Peter Robertson Gallery is, or Harcourt House — it’s a hidden gem.
“But unless people read about it, read a review of a show, or an interview with an artist, they’re not going to know.
“Venues, promoters, artists, media, we all have to help each other out, because we all have the same goal.”
The new reality is already showing some of its perks.
“Vue’s whole point was to cultivate the arts scene. But it was very stringent, I could only do so much, I had to meet quotas — you know the whole story. With Daze we can do whatever we want, learn from what Vue did wrong. We can do it daily, release a story the second it’s been edited. If there’s suddenly a secret show we can do a story about it right away.
“We’re also trying to get away from being completely event-based. There are so many stories that don’t get written because of that.”
Daze’s other features include a ranking system for articles by percentage, and a per-article notice how long it should take you to read it.
As yet, there’s no hierarchical structure — just three founding editors, picking and choosing what to assign and write about.
The three, who have been working for free from home and freelancing for other publications to keep the furnace on, are currently strategizing how to pay for Daze. The Kickstarter funds are going to freelancers, the website, logo designer and, of course, Kickstarter itself.
The Daze staff is speaking with investors, and planning live fundraiser events that are already all but confirmed.
And, more good news, political columnist Ricardo Acuna is hopping over from the ruins of Vue. More columnists are on their way.
I ask them how they feel and Novak laughs, “Kind of exhausted for someone who’s unemployed.”
“We survived the firing squad. I’m working harder than I ever did at Vue,” explains Boissonneault, “because it’s coming from us.”