Long-form online magazine called The Deep planned for eastern Canada

An unusual collaborative venture based in Halifax intends to lead to the launch of an online magazine called The Deep, dedicated to long-form storytelling concentrating on eastern Canada. 

Depending on the success of a crowdfunding campaign in raising an initial $15,000, the startup will publish one major story a month. The hope is that the business model will eventually allow the publication to become self-sustaining through subscriptions, events and sponsorships. The project will be co-managed by Chelsea Murray of The Coast, the alt-weekly which will present it and provide startup support and by Matthew Halliday, formerly an editor with The Grid and Canadian Business, 

“With American startups like Longform.org, The Atavist and others, the past few years have seen a resurgence of original, beautifully written, exciting long-form journalism online. And people are paying for it,” says Halliday in a release. “But the form barely exists in eastern Canada, despite a long literary and storytelling tradition. We want to revitalize long-form journalism in the Atlantic provinces, just as it's being revitalized elsewhere."

Murray said: 

"The Coast has been very successful making itself relevant to readers in this city, even as alt-weeklies close up shop elsewhere," says Murray. "And in part that's because even after 20 years they're still experimenting, which is more necessary than ever in this industry. This project fits right in with that attitude."

A kickoff for the project will be an event Tuesday, October 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Halifax's Timber Lounge where Chris de Waal, Stewart Legere, Lezlie Lowe, Alexander MacLeod, Valerie Mansour, Ceilidh Sutherland and Rebecca Thomas will be telling what are called "surprising-but-true tales".