A three-day gathering to reflect upon the present and future of contemporary art criticism in the United States
September 26–28, 2025, 10am
September 26–28, 2025 / Atlanta, Georgia
50 USD/three-day full program ticket
Art Papers will host an Art Writing + Publishing Symposium, a three-day gathering to reflect upon the present and future of contemporary art criticism in the United States. This symposium marks a pivotal moment in the magazine’s 50-year legacy, as it enters its final year of operations.
Founded in 1976, Art Papers has long been a critical platform for arts discourse, supporting diverse perspectives in contemporary art and culture. This program is part of the Fire Ecology Project, a three-year plan launched in 2024 to celebrate Art Papers’ legacy, mobilize the organization’s resources in service to the cultural community, and thoughtfully arrive at a meaningful and controlled conclusion of operations in 2026, at 50 years. Through these efforts, we aim to honor and preserve the legacy of Art Papers, and to support arts organizations of the future by sharing our knowledge and experience to enrich the soil from which they will grow.
National Arts Writing & Publishing Symposium
As part of this final chapter, Art Papers will present the Art Writing + Publishing Symposium in Fall 2025, bringing together key voices from arts publishing to examine the field’s present and future. The symposium will present 17 speakers who represent some of the most innovative, sustainable, and renowned voices in art writing and publishing.
Re’al Christian (writer; Vera List Center for Art and Politics), Sasha Cordingley (independent writer), Daria Simone Harper (writer, podcaster, editor, Jupiter Magazine), Tempestt Hazel (Sixty Inches from Center), Sarah Higgins (ART PAPERS), James Hoff (Primary Information), Maori Karmael Holmes (Seen/Blackstar), Jameson Johnson (Boston Art Review), Courtney McClellan (Burnaway), Siddhartha Mitter (independent writer), Be Oakley (GenderFail), Mary Louise Schumacher (Dorothea & Leo Rabkin Foundation; independent filmmaker), TK Smith (writer, curator, Emory University), Hrag Vartanian (Hyperallergic), Emily Watlington (Art in America), Lindsay Preston Zappas (Carla), Natalia Zuluaga ([NAME] Publications; Frost Art Museum at FIU).
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The symposium will be structured around three central lines of inquiry:
What Models? What funding, institutional, administrative models, offer stable structures for success? How can we (re)define success? What tradeoffs exist between the options? How do we build diversity, accessibility, and inclusion into the framework of our models as such initiatives fall increasingly under fire? Nonprofit vs for profit, independent vs imprint, post-covid resilience, writer compensation—what is sustainable?
What Forms? What forms of writing/publishing/programming matter most? Are there forms that feel inadequate or unable to respond to current realities, or ones that feel emergent in their relevance? Print vs digital, writing vs other media, “critique” vs “art writing,” balancing fundability with identity—what are new ways to communicate, and new (or old/worth reviving) ways to respond to rapid change/crisis?
What Audiences? What do readers want and need from arts writing today - and is there any common ground? How can we balance intellectual rigor vs popular accessibility? Is this possible? Discussion about artists and writers/artists as writers. What do intersecting audiences want and need from arts writing today—and where is there common ground? What has changed about audience expectations?
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FIRE ECOLOGY: A Metaphor for Institutional Transformation
Embracing the metaphor of Fire Ecology, Art Papers recognizes the necessity of controlled endings to nourish new growth. Through research, community input, and public programming, the organization seeks to model an intentional and dignified conclusion to its operations in 2026. “Rather than adhering to the unsustainable ‘survival-at-any-cost’ approach that so often defines nonprofit arts organizations, we are choosing to demonstrate an alternative—one that acknowledges the realities of our field while creating space for new models and future possibilities,” says Executive + Artistic Director, Sarah Higgins.
About Art Papers
Art Papers is an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization dedicated to documenting, examining, commissioning, and presenting contemporary art and culture through publishing and public programming. Originally established as the Atlanta Art Workers Coalition in 1976, the organization evolved into a nationally recognized arts journal in 1991, gaining an international reputation by the early 2000s. In its final years, Art Papers continues to push boundaries in arts writing, engaging in critical dialogue about the evolving landscape of arts publishing and nonprofit sustainability.
Art Papers Art Writing + Publishing Symposium is supported by funding from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Mellon Foundation, Teiger Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art, Wagner Foundation, City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Georgia Council for the Arts, Homestead Foundation, Critical Minded, SouthState Bank, and Aprio.
