Dear Readers:
Earlier this week, portions of my June 9, 2020 letter to the shareholders of MediaCentral were sadly taken out of context.
I believe it’s important you understand how important the arts and culture are to me personally. Music, theatre, art, and literature have always been and will always be fundamental to informing how I make my way through the world. To suggest that I would somehow allow the elimination of the heart and soul of our storied publications is simply folly. One need only flip or scroll through the pages of our papers and digital platforms to see that our coverage around the arts and culture has remained true. Arts and culture have been the cornerstone of NOW and the Straight from day one, and they will continue to remain important facets of our publications.
Based on reader demand, we see an opportunity to ensure that you are provided with our unique perspective on stories and ideas whose importance is only now being realized, as well as ensuring that we hold true to what made our unique publications stand the test of time. So while we strive to ensure a commitment to the past, we need to expand our coverage into the future and to invite new readers into our community.
To do so, we have also selected an omnichannel publishing route that engages all our print, digital and social media channels, to best leverage the award-winning editorial that I am proud to deliver to you each and every day. While our content is not or ever will be for sale, our new approach to publishing was created to triangulate the discussion between news and marketing, to better understand potential and previously unidentified readership and publication growth opportunities.
I want to personally thank each and every reader for engaging with our storied titles, and challenging me. Each one of you is valued, as are your opinions. NOW Magazine and the Straight have been meaningful alternative voices since day one, and we intend to keep them that way.
If you have further comments or suggestions, I invite you to reach out to me personally at briank@mediacentralcorp.com.
In the meantime, please look out for these arts-centered issues:
NOW: Hot Summer Guide, Virtual Pride, and Fringe Festival
Georgia Straight: Feature on summer arts festivals, coverage of Joey Haywood basketball film, roundup of museum and gallery openings, and preview of the Dancing on the Edge festival.
Thank you.
Brian Kalish
Publisher
@nowtoronto
