Today, art matters more than ever. Creativity matters more than ever. Culture matters more than ever. And that’s why Cultural Weekly matters: today, and for our future.
[alert type=alert-white ]Please consider making a tax-deductible donation now so we can keep publishing strong creative voices.[/alert]
Make no mistake about it: The words in Cultural Weekly are fighting words. Our dances are the dances of protest; our poems are the poems of insurrection; our buildings edify dissent. We celebrate filmmakers who challenge society, musicians who sing for freedom, artists who revolt against the forces that validate oppression.
With the consolidation of media – that is to say, the consolidation of thought – creative people need more avenues in which to express themselves, and more places where their work can be part of conversation. Cultural Weekly is an open, handcrafted forum. We don’t let just anybody write on our pages. We don’t and we won’t. We curate and select. We select based on the writer’s capacity to express ideas and to have an aesthetic.
We believe that the more we talk about the creative culture that surrounds us, the greater our capacity to make creative works that sing and dance, speak and move. Creative works that push, bend, impel our future toward the world we want to live in.
We stand up for the vulnerable, the marginalized, the outsiders, the rebels, the dreamers, the poets, the imaginative; we prize and validate the artists; we share and encourage creativity. We are a platform for those who love and question and include. We do not view those who see the world differently as “other,” even if some people see us as “other.”
If you feel the same way, you can’t be passive or silent, and neither can we. We need to step it up, and so do you. Be bigger, bolder, louder, stronger, more open, more productive, more engaged, more organized, more public, more creative.
We have decided to take Cultural Weekly non-profit so we can keep publishing in 2017 and beyond. We need your money to make that happen. Your donation is tax-deductible. While every dollar counts (and please give what you can), will you, yes YOU, consider giving $100 or more?
Thank you. With your support, we step it up together. We go on together. We get stronger.
Top image: BODYTRAFFIC (photo by Joshua Sugiyama) recently featured in our popular column ScreenDance Diaries.
Adam Leipzig is the founder and CEO of MediaU, online career acceleration. MediaU opens the doors of access for content creation, filmmaking and television. Adam, Cultural Daily’s founder and publisher, has worked with more than 10,000 creatives in film, theatre, television, music, dance, poetry, literature, performance, photography, and design. He has been a producer, distributor or supervising executive on more than 30 films that have disrupted expectations, including A Plastic Ocean, March of the Penguins, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Dead Poets Society, Titus and A Plastic Ocean. His movies have won or been nominated for 10 Academy Awards, 11 BAFTA Awards, 2 Golden Globes, 2 Emmys, 2 Directors Guild Awards, 4 Sundance Awards and 4 Independent Spirit Awards. Adam teaches at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Adam began his career in theatre; he was the first professional dramaturg in the United States outside of New York City, and he was one of the founders of the Los Angeles Theatre Center, where he produced more than 300 plays, music, dance, and other events. Adam is CEO of Entertainment Media Partners, a company that navigates creative entrepreneurs through the Hollywood system and beyond, and a keynote speaker. Adam is the former president of National Geographic Films and senior Walt Disney Studios executive. He has also served in senior capacities at CreativeFuture, a non-profit organization that advocates for the creative community. Adam is is the author of ‘Inside Track for Independent Filmmakers ’ and co-author of the all-in-one resource for college students and emerging filmmakers 'Filmmaking in Action: Your Guide to the Skills and Craft' (Macmillan). (Photo by Jordan Ancel)