Small is cultural; industry committee name change reflects diversity

Magazines Canada has changed the name of its Small Magazines Committee to be the Cultural Magazines Committee; it will represent the same titles and kinds of titles, says the organization, but the renaming is intended to better reflect the diversity and range of sizes represented. According to a posting on the Shoestring blog,

Cultural magazines within the Magazines Canada membership include art, literary, Aboriginal, issues and gender based titles, regional titles, culturally, socially and racially diverse titles, and environmental and health titles. Many of these magazines are not “small” in the historical sense of the CMPA (Canadian Magazine Publishers Association--our old public name); these cultural magazines of varying sizes have far more similarities than differences. Magazines Canada’s cultural magazine members are diverse; they are written in Canada’s two official languages (as well as other languages that form the ever-evolving Canadian mosaic), and are published in every province and territory in the country. After many months of discussion the Small Magazines Committee recommended to the Magazines Board that the name change be made to the Cultural Magazines Committee. The Board approved the recommendation on March 31, 2008.

The committee members currently are:

Mark Laliberte, Descant
Joyce Byrne, Alberta Venture
Anne Burke, Prairie Journal
Lisa Whittington-Hill, Chair, THIS
Nadia Szilvassy, Brick
Melony Ward, Canadian Art
Meredith Erickson, Maisonneuve