Pioneering programs where nonprofit arts, media, and technology converge. Rooted in rural America.
Philosophy :
Hi there. Welcome to my nontraditional website. It’s a little bit writing, a little bit tech, a little bit social practice art, a little bit rural development. Like me.
A good way to live, I think, is to actively engage with big questions. I’ve listed some of my favorites below.
“The success of our species comes down to this; art creates culture, culture creates community, and community creates humanity.”
—Susan Magsamen
Arts Writing :
What happens when the nonprofit arts disappear from traditional media?
My writing career began with the advent of personal content management systems. I blogged about the NYC dance scene and wrote reviews for a number of magazines. In 2016 I founded Critical Read, a digital platform for telling the stories of noncanonical works of art. The goal was to reimagine arts criticism as narrative feature writing, assigning critics “artwork biographies” aimed at the general interest reader.
Publishing :
Who gets to tell Appalachia’s story?
In 2018 I found a new home in the mountains of Appalachian Kentucky, where I co-founded Appalachia Book Company. I was blessed to live in the mountains, where I met so many generous and talented people. The area remains an inspiration for my creative work. This is where I began interested in the power of place in creative pursuit.
How do you build a sustainable career as a creative in the internet age?
Starting in 2020, I began work with business partner Matt Mankins on a number of monetization technologies designed to compensate creatives working and distributing content online. Our work has been guided by shared concerns around equitable allocation of resources in a digital creative economy. How can we deplatform digital culture in a sustainable way? What are the sustainable models of independent creativity online?