It’s taken several months and a lot of hard work, but the new and improved Red Wedge is up and running. There is still much to do (we’ve had a couple people ask whether we are planning to move the archives from the old site: the quick answer is yes and we’re working on it as we speak), but we’re quite proud of what we’ve gotten up already. A few new changes we want to bring our readers’ attention to:
--First up, the Red Wedge shop! This, of course, is where you’ll be able to buy our first full print issue (on the way to the printers in a matter of days now), or subscribe. There will be more products coming of course — not just future print issues of Red Wedge, but pamphlets, posters, and all kinds of neat consumer goods to fill the empty void in your soul left by alienation and exploitation. (That was a joke… sort of…)
--We also have upgraded our events page, which we intend to not just use for various events connected to RW (fundraisers and the like) but general events that the radical arts communities should know about. This means that we want to hear from you about upcoming events in your area. Book launches for activist poets or novelists? Yes. DIY shows aiming to raise funds for anti-police brutality or domestic violence groups? Those too. Gallery showings designed to bring attention to the struggle of Palestinians? Absolutely. Plays or film showings about migrant rights, community control or the history of anti-fascism? Yes, yes, and yes again.
Our aim behind this new events page is to contribute to the building of networks of radical artists around North America and, eventually, the world. We are under no illusions about how massive an undertaking this will be. Nor do we think we are the only ones with such an idea. That, in some ways, is the point: in every city, in countless communities and campuses, there are pockets of creative workers looking for ways to use their art in order to advance radical or progressive causes. That these pockets exist is not up for debate; what is needed is for them to break out of their isolation and to start talking to each other. We believe that Red Wedge has the potential to be a key resource in making this happen. So if you have an event you want us to bring to the attention of our readership, a press release you’d like us to signal boost, then let us know! We'll announce it here at "Feuilleton" and add it to the events page.
--Note the new blogs section, hosted not on Tumblr as they were previously, but right here at redwedgemagazine.com. We have an expanded roster of bloggers (and may be adding more in the near future) who will be posting here at RW. It’s our hope that the blogs will be a way to keep the conversation going and keep our readership posted in between online issues.
Previous blogs are still here: of course our editors’ blog “Feuilleton” persists and will shift more to focusing on announcements and news pertaining directly to Red Wedge. Blogs previously maintained by editors — Nikeeta Slade’s “AfroBlazingGuns,” Brit Schulte’s “The Hour Glass,” Alexander Billet’s “Atonal Notes” and Adam Turl’s “Evicted Art Blog” are still right here. Bill Crane’s “As I Please” still has a home at RW, but under a new name: “Pink Palimpsest.”
Newly added editor Craig Ross will be curating our “Red Wedge Comix” blog (which is now accepting submissions), and Hope Asya — also a new addition to our editorial board — will be maintaining the “Red Planet” blog along with RW writer Thomas Crane. Two more writers whose work has appeared in Red Wedge — Jase Short and Paul Mullan — will also be running new blogs for us. Paul’s blog “Conditions” will focus on the various mediations of visual art, while Jase’s “The Ansible” will be geared toward politics and philosophy through the prism of contemporary science-fiction.
Some of these bloggers are already posting; others are still planning their first post. But either way, we anticipate that the RW blogs will be a welcome supplement to our conversations around radical culture.