How long has Fuse been around?

For almost 40 years, Fuse Magazine has provided a space for diverse communities to speak critically about their society as artists and activists. Over the past four decades legions of people have come through the organization and imagined a better future in the pages of the magazine.

What gap does Fuse fill in the Canadian Cultural Landscape?

Fuse is an essential part of the landscape of alternative cultural institutions, because we are one of the few venues in which writers and artists are asked to consider the intersections of art, culture and politics. Fuse is also an essential part of our communities because it provides a venue to think critically and creatively about our activism and the ways in which people come together to resist marginalization and plan for a future built on social justice and the right to self-determination.

Fuse is a community of visual and performing artists, educators, community workers, writers, activists, organizers, policy makers, social thinkers and curators, among others.

Together we produce an online and print publication that is focused on the intersections of art, culture and politics. We also host and sponsor events such as screenings, public panels, community dinners, dance parties and artist talks.

What Happened?

The cuts from Heritage Canada’s Magazine Fund (received by many small magazines across Canada) are what put us over the edge but we, like many in the arts and not-for- profit sectors have been teetering for some time. Our situation is endemic to what is happening in the arts and not-for-profit sectors and calls for broad cross-sectoral organizing.

Fuse is a work in progress! This moment has provided an opportunity for us to rethink what the magazine has been doing, increase community engagement and consider the different forms our editorial content can take. By consulting with you, we are bringing more people into the organization to help rethink, re-imagine and re-create what Fuse is and can be.

Will there be a Community Consultation?

We have already begun this process by forming a steering committee that is still growing. So far, our steering committee consists of:

Franco Boni, Deirdre Logue, Rebecca McGowan, Christopher Regimbal, Kristian Clarke, Jessica Shepherd, June Pak, Syrus Marcus Ware, Izida Zorde, Denise Macharacek, Heather Keung, Cheyanne Turions, Michelle Jacques and Srimoyee Mitra are working to put these ideas in motion and make Fuse magazine relevant, readable and revolutionary. And this list of people is growing.

Pretty great group, right?

Email us at info@fusemagazine.org if you want to get involved.

What happens if you raise the money and get through this?

Alternative voices are essential to a healthy society and a strong future. What we hope to do with this fundraising campaign is put a positive new future into motion for the next generation of people that become part of Fuse.

How do I donate?

You can donate through paypal by going on our website:

paypal: http://fusemagazine.org/support-fuse

Or through the mail: Fuse Magazine, 454-401 Richmond Street W, Toronto, ON, M5V 3A8

What happens if you don’t raise the money you need?

If we don’t raise the money we need, we will invite all of you to come celebrate almost 40 years of critical writing and art practice that have been contained in the pages of the magazine. We will invite you to celebrate yourselves and the many others that have been and continue to be such an important part of this community. We will also offer all those who donated the back issues of the magazine that you need to complete your collections.

Anything else you want to tell us?

Fuse is in an exciting transformative time and we are optimistic about the future. This moment has provided us an opportunity rethink, re-imagine and re-create what Fuse is with the help of many people from across different communities. Check our website often. We will have the winter issue up in the next couple of weeks.

For nearly 40 years, Fuse has provided a space for important critical discourse on art, media and politics.

I’ve been involved with Fuse for more than ten years – as a board member, a writer and a contributing editor. Fuse has provided me with an opportunity to explore issues that are important to me and to participate in a community of individuals that are committed to art, ideas and the social good.

In 2010, small magazines like Fuse received a 100% funding cut from Heritage Canada. For a publication operating on a not-for-profit model, this is a hard – even impossible – hit to bare. But if Fuse and magazines like it were to give up in the face of this challenge, where would alternative voices be heard? Where would we celebrate culture and the producers who dare to question the status quo? How would we create the discourse and debate that is so necessary to inspiring change for the better?

Fuse has decided to turn this current crisis into an opportunity. An opportunity to expand our reach and strengthen our voice by diversifying and amplifying the community of writers, readers and thinkers who engage with Fuse. A first step to this end is to increase the amount of free online content.

As such, you will find the content of the fall 2010 issue on-line. Peruse the features, columns and reviews. Think about showing your support by making a small but meaningful donation of $5 – less than the newsstand price for a single issue. And even if you can’t make a donation, if you read something that engages you, leave us a comment. A financial contribution will mean a lot to Fuse. Knowing that you’re out there and that you support the magazine will mean even more.

Sincerely,

Michelle Jacques

For nearly 40 years, Fuse Magazine has been a diverse community of visual and performing artists, educators, community workers, writers, activists, organizers, policy makers, social thinkers, curators and many others. And yet this essential and unique cultural voice is at a CROSSROADS.

Fuse has run into a financial crisis that we can’t solve by shaving back our budgets or recruiting volunteers. Anyone who works in the cultural sector knows how increasingly vulnerable we have all become. Along with the closure of public swimming pools, libraries and youth centres, the defunding of essential cultural organizations and alternative publications regardless of their value to the community is the result of a political climate shifting further away from the social good.

The not-for-profit magazine community is declining as the commercial publishing model continues to dominate. Magazines operating outside of the mainstream industry, like Fuse, were further challenged this year by a 100% funding cut from Heritage Canada. The hit was both unexpected and impossible to fiscally absorb, and is being felt across small magazine publishing.

In 2011, Fuse will celebrate our 40th anniversary. In order to address our financial crisis we are launching our 40 For 40 campaign. Our goal is to raise $10,000 by December 1st and an additional $30,000 by March 31st to keep the doors of the magazine open. With your help we will be successful in raising this $40,000 for 40 years of publishing one of the foremost publications on Canadian and international art, culture and politics.

Fuse remains committed to providing a space for diverse voices from the cultural community. We bring to you critical arts discourse presenting work that ranges in issues from migrant and indigenous struggles, poverty, youth issues, gentrification, multiculturalism to creating sustainable cities and participatory models for democracy, as told through the lens of art. The voices in our pages provide an essential analysis of the intersections of art, culture and politics.

What can your donation do?

$50 dollars can fund a Pinky Show cartoon
$100 dollars will fund a review
$250 dollars will fund an artist project
$500 dollars will fund a feature story
$1,000 dollars can fund a public program

Your contribution will be fundamental to our ability to establish a new, sustainable model for our organization, and to make sure Fuse remains a leader in innovating the role of critical discourse in Canada. Please give what you can and help us shape the publication revolution!!

We invite you to visit our new website at www.fusemagazine.org for more information, and to donate.

Sincerely,
Fuse Magazine’s Board of Directors Franco Boni, Denise Macharacek, Srimoyee Mitra, June Pak, Jessica Shepherd and Izida Zorde, Editor