‘I think we have the Southern Caribbean on lock down’

The publishers of a local visual arts magazine with a Caribbean flavor, have their eyes fixed on being a major player in the promotion of Caribbean artisans and their works to the world.{{more}}

ARC Magazine, the brainchild of local artists Holly Bynoe and Nadia Huggins, is destined for great things if the duo have their way in getting their publication into all bookstores in the Caribbean for starts, and eventually, the rest of the world.

Bynoe, speaking to SEARCHLIGHT about the publication, said that so far, the magazine is on its way; it is readily available locally, as well as in a number of other territories, and they are looking at expanding.

“It is available in St. Vincent and the Grenadines at Jujube and at the Bequia Bookstore and at the public library. I am trying to get into all of the UWI campuses as well.”

“We’re in Trinidad, Suriname, Grenada, Barbados, Jamaica, New York and Canada.”

“I think we have the southern Caribbean on lock down; it could be much better… it’s the islands north of Dominica we have a problem with….”

ARC, the acronym for Art, Recognition, Culture, is a quarterly magazine, which has only seen its second issue released this April.

Issue two contains features on the work of Jamaican artist Andrea Chung and writer Annie Paul, Barbadian film maker Russell Watson, writer/ film maker Tracy Assing, as well as artist Dalton Narine, among others.

In all, each issue features up to 15 artists, covering photo, video, film, performance, media, painting, and poetry.

There are at least seven to nine contributors to the magazine.

Bynoe said that the magazine, which started off as an electronic publication, was a project that she and Huggins had been contemplating for some time, and it took off immediately.

“I think that we were always talking about doing work together and it sort of grew from us taking photographs, to us collaborating and writing and this is how it materialized. We started working on it late August last year, and we started working heavily towards it.”

Huggins, the creative Director of the magazine, takes control of the branding of the magazine, its website (www.arcthemagazine.com), and how the magazine looks in print.

Bynoe does everything else.

Almost.

The dynamic duo is assisted by a part-time editor and two proof readers, and someone responsible for shipping the final product to its destinations.

Eventually, the team may cautiously consider expanding its staff, after base relocation from St. Vincent to St. Lucia is complete.

The Bequia-born Bynoe credited family and friends for the motivation to embark on such a journey, fully conscious that coming into the world of print in these times can be very risky, especially for a publication that is one of its kind in the region.

“We decided to do it anyway, because we don’t have a magazine in the Caribbean that is completely dedicated to visual arts or an artist’s story.”

“My father (who passed away last May) was very artistic, (but) I’m not sure if he was alive if he would be fully supportive of the publication. He would think it was crazy, and in many ways it was crazy.

“My mother has mixed feelings about it; she has supported me financially; she is our secretary. She came up with the name of the magazine; she reads everything, even if she doesn’t even fully understand it.”

“My sister is also very supportive. I have a very close family and I think they [are] sort of resigned to the fact that they have an artist in the family, for about ten years now.”

And take note, the second issue has not yet cooled on the shelves of the magazine stands and bookstores that they have found themselves in, and plans are already underway for issue three, due out in September.

“I have a couple of artists in mind; Nadia has a couple of artists in mind; we sit down, we talk about who we want to feature and who will probably be best for the issue or an upcoming issue.

“We start with the 15 artists and we see which contributors we want for the issue…. We have everything sorted out and just have to wait on the content.”