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'The world's most assertive Quaker'
From the new editor of Broad Street Review
Judy Weightman
My starting point is always the reader — you. In my discussions with Dan Rottenberg and the BSR board prior to being named as editor in chief, the single word I used most was “resource.” I want to make BSR a great arts and culture resource: the site you visit for information about what’s going on in Philadelphia and in the creative community more broadly construed.
The main thing you need to know about me is that I’m more of an editor than a writer. For me, the meaty creative act is putting together the mosaic of voices, topics, and points of view that form a publication. I enjoy identifying the missing pieces, finding people who can fill them in, and polishing the individual tiles so they stand well on their own as well as contribute to the whole.
Some elements of what that mosaic will look like are already in evidence. As managing editor, I proposed and oversaw the complete redesign of the website, which we unveiled in October. The idea was not only to give us a more modern and inviting appearance, but also to improve the functionality of the site — more visuals, a more robust search function, and so on. We’ve pretty well taken care of the post-launch punch list, and are starting to work on adding even more features — stay tuned!
One of the most important elements in the relaunch was the addition of a whole new section to the site — What’s New What’s Next. As a BSR reader, I’ve had the way too common experience of reading a review and thinking “Dang, that sounds like it was an amazing [concert/play/dance performance], I wish I’d known about it.” WNWN is designed to provide those recommendations in a timely manner and to let you know about other exhibits and events that might not otherwise cross your radar. We’ll also be using it to introduce you to some of the people and groups doing interesting work in and around the Philadelphia arts community. Our new associate editor, Alaina Mabaso, is spearheading WNWN — she welcomes ideas and submissions at [email protected].
In order to serve as that kind of resource, one of my top goals for 2014 is to improve communication with the various arts groups and venues with which Philadelphia is so richly endowed. Some of them know about BSR and are already providing previews and updates, but there are lots who don’t — BSR should be a resource for them as well, a way to connect with an active, involved group of arts lovers (that’s you!). If you’re an arts group who wants to connect with our writers on an ongoing basis, the information for that is here.
The other connections I want to forge are with people who might want to write for BSR — not just professional writers but artists and “civilians” with something interesting to say about the arts. I’m going to continue Dan’s policy of considering all submissions from those who stumble upon us, but I also want to strengthen our outreach to find new voices, new subjects, and new points of view. Sound interesting? I’d love to hear from you; our writer’s guidelines are here.
What kind of topics will we be covering? My personal interests include an eclectic taste in music, with a preference for improvisational genres like jazz and — well, unclassifiable artists like Andrew Bird, a major favorite of mine. I’m notorious among my friends for a deep love of cheesy TV (and have gone public with my love for Dancing with the Stars), but I’m not a complete philistine — I am currently reading Thomas Berger’s Arthur Rex as a follow-up to my binge-watch of the BBC series Merlin.
I guess the two-word version of this is that I’m fascinated by the creative process, whether it’s musical improvisation, outsider art, or Project Runway. I’m a huge fan of Kile Smith’s essays on his work as a composer, and I am delighted to run Treacy Ziegler’s essay on being a visual artist whose vision is compromised. I hope to be able to do much more of this in the future.
Despite all this emphasis on new and improved, though, I also intend to keep doing what BSR already does very well. I want to add coverage of more musical genres — but our coverage of classical music is the best in the city, in my opinion, and we’ll continue reviewing everyone from soloists to orchestras.
So what will Broad Street Review look like going forward? I’m as eager to find out as you are! I hope you’ll get involved too, perhaps through commenting on posts or engaging with us on Twitter (@broadstreview) and Facebook.
It should be an exciting adventure!
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