#HTE

Colossal Needs You!—Introducing Membership

Since launching Colossal nine years ago, I’ve taken great pride in focusing the site entirely on art and artists. For the first several years Colossal didn’t have advertising—the site was a labor of love. We were lucky to see traffic skyrocket, but with that increased audience came increased server costs and it became necessary to introduce a few ad banners. Colossal quickly grew into a flourishing arts publication that employs several full and part-time staff as editors, contributing writers, and (always paid) interns. Every single day I wake up to write, edit, curate, and publish. It’s a dream realized.

We have so much to be fortunate about. Our advertising partner Nectar Ads keeps sponsorships running smoothly and supports our decision to have only three ad units per page where many large news and culture publications have 10-20 units including unreasonable auto-play video and pop-ups. With this cornerstone of advertising, a quirky online store, and a few fun projects, we’ve been able to devote ourselves to exciting stories in contemporary art, design, modern craft, photography, and literally hundreds of other topics.

It’s time for Colossal to grow in new areas to continue sharing the work of incredible artists into the next decade. There’s a deep cost for independent publishers when behemoth social media companies limit reach, siphon advertisers, and rake in record-breaking profits. We’re working quickly behind the scenes on projects large and small, including several upcoming exhibitions and forays into print, video, and audio. Honestly, it’s an exciting time, and I have discovered enormously positive benefits when forced out of complacency.

Today we would like to invite you into our next chapter with Colossal Membership. We thought long and hard (literally years) about whether this was the right step for us, and after speaking with many talented and wise people, we decided to take the plunge.

You can choose from a monthly, annual, or lifetime membership that will give you immediate access to a bevy of new content and programs including our bi-weekly interview series (we’re launching with Ai Wei Wei), a brand spanking new newsletter (details on what’s coming up!), a new artist grant available to members (get your money!), school supplies for classrooms (hook up the kids!), and a variety of special offers and perks from partners.

To be clear: Colossal will never charge for daily articles or anything you’ve been accustomed to seeing over the last nine years. We believe that art should be accessible for everyone and we plan to keep it that way. Your membership gives you all sorts of ins to new information, and supports Colossal’s writing staff and day-to-day costs moving forward into our second decade.

It’s impossible to thank you enough for reading. In a time when it feels like we’re all running from darkness, we publish Colossal as a way to turn on the light. Please join us by becoming a member and support independent arts journalism. We can’t wait to share the stories of another 6,000 artists who also see the hope, wonder, and joy in this beautiful, complicated world.

P.S. Thank you to artist Zaria Forman for giving us permission to use her extravagant pastel iceberg drawings on our membership and page social media channels for a few months. She’s the absolute best.

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2019/11/colossal-needs-you-introducing-membership/