Why another culture magazine?
When The Curator was just a seed of an idea, the question kept floating around in the back of my mind. After all, there are a lot of magazines out there, and even more that publish on the internet, and plenty of them include fine, well-written culture coverage. Do we really need to be adding more to the already-crowded field?
I think we do. While there are many excellent publications which are worthy of your attention, the mission of The Curator is, I believe, unique:
The Curator is a web publication of International Arts Movement (IAM), which announces the signs of a “world that ought to be” as we find it in our midst, and seeks to inspire people to engage deeply with culture that enriches life and broadens experience.
In keeping with IAM’s belief that artistic excellence, as a model of “what ought to be”, paves the way for lasting, enduring humanity, The Curator seeks to encourage, promote, and uncover those artifacts of culture – those things which humans create – that inspire and embody truth, goodness, and beauty.
Here, we’re providing a place for you to find artifacts of culture which we believe are worthy of your time, either to contemplate as a reflection of the good, the beautiful, and the true, or to cause you to ask important questions about the many dimensions of humanity – thought, expression, faith, citizenship, mortality, recreation, and our relationships with ourselves and each other. Our goal is that you will find the ideas and cultural objects presented in The Curator to be fresh, insightful, and thoroughly worthy of your attention.
We aren’t here to write simple reviews. After all, if you want to find out which movies are bad, which artists are lazy, or which movements are socially irresponsible, you can read the review section of any good newspaper or magazine. Instead, we seek to uncover only the creative, the good, and the honest, provide context for its existence, and explain its cultural significance in order to inspire you to engage your culture and start creating. Each week, we will publish several articles, and we welcome your feedback and perspective. (Interested in writing for us?)
The Curator also represents a bit of a paradigm shift in how we treat our contributors; instead of receiving assignments pegged to current trends and interests, our writers are encouraged to write about whatever strikes them as important or noteworthy, whether it’s a new development, an old book unearthed from the attic, or somewhere in between. Anything is fair game. Each of our contributors were chosen for their expertise in a given field and/or their evident delight in many areas. It’s our hope that delight-driven writing will re-invigorate the writing process (and make up for the fact that they’re all volunteering for now!).
These are big ideas, and we’re in way over our heads. But we’re glad you’re along for the ride. Let us know what you think.