Oh, what a night . . .

17 Mar

The launch of ARTform magazine at The Orangery Gallery, Shenton Park.

ARTForm has arrived and we couldn’t be more excited.

ARTForm, produced on behalf of the City of Subiaco, is Subi’s newest arts and culture magazine.

After many months of work bringing not just a brand-new publication to fruition, but one about art and culture at that, when both sectors are under such pressure to make a dime, the launch party for ARTForm on March 14 was just perfection.

The mood in the beautifully illuminated courtyard at The Orangery Gallery in Shenton Park was supportive, positive, joyful and reinforces all the reasons the Galley Press team still produce printed magazines. Seeing the guests pouring over its pages, holding their copy like a precious artefact and taking it home to read some more just makes old-school media types like me smile from ear to ear.

Free copies will be distributed far and wide over the next few weeks, around Perth and beyond. Look out for copies in Margaret River and the south west as well as at art-friendly venues generally.

I'd also like to applaud the far-sighted and hugely supportive crew at the City of Subiaco who don't just SAY they support the arts. They really, really do. It's been wonderful to work with Laura Lewsey and her team and be supported so strongly by the council as a whole, including Mayor David McMullen.

As the content evolved and morphed over those months, when we finally nailed the list of stories, we ended up with a contents list that covered everything from community choirs and book illustrators, from a brand-new Indigenous artists' sculpture trail to world-class artists transforming a disused chimney stack - all in the Subiaco postcode.

Print is the only medium which really gives these stories the chance to sing - and like Subiaco, news of its demise are much exaggerated (and wrong).