There has been some discussion here about terminology: this space that we’re opening up for conversation – is it a blog? Has the form already reified into something conventional that comes with a set of expectations, e.g. that it will be a mixture of comment and opinion, in a chatty style, that links to other blogs, podcasts and videostreams, and feeds off the (real) work of other journalists?
Maybe if we called it The ITM Café or Grub Street, that might give a better sense of what we have in mind. I’m thinking, of course, of those 18th-century coffee houses where modern journalism was born, in the form of rapidly circulating pamphlets. Or even more romantically, of Vienna or Paris, in later periods, where artists and writers of all persuasions and beard lengths would work, read, talk, argue, smoke and drink – complete with sepia tint and a Mahler/Satie soundtrack.
However we decide to name it, this will be a complementary space, sitting alongside the rest of the magazine’s content and even expanding on it, like annotations to a manuscript. (More nostalgic analogies.) It will reflect the opening up of Irish Theatre Magazine to your comments and feedback, to create a dialogue between theatre-makers, audiences, and critics. Yes, critics.
As the great achievements in cultural development of the past fifteen years are in danger of being dismantled, a forum for critical discussion of the arts in Ireland is needed more than ever. (See News section.)
Our readers’ surveys last year told us that you want more of ITM: more reviews, news stories, features, comment and opinion, delivered quickly, in online form. Here it is. Let us know what you think.
Helen Meany