Donate to the mag focused on Black & POC creators!

Founded in 2021, Search Party Magazine is an artist-led, collaborative print and web publication curating art and cultural coverage for and by St. Louis. The magazine centers underrepresented Black and POC community members and cultural practitioners who are fueling the city’s artistic resurgence.

 

Our first issue was funded by a $7,000 grant from The Luminary’s Futures Fund. We pay all of our collaborators (staff, artists, writers), and we are hoping to increase our budget for our next issue, as everyone worked incredibly hard on the publication, and we want to be able to compensate them fairly for their work.

Search Party is the first and only magazine owned by and featuring exclusively St. Louis-based Black and Brown artists, musicians, designers, writers, etc. It is important for us to have a publication that reflects our city’s residents. In addition to the magazine, we continue to support our contributors through social media and newsletters, and in future issues and events, we hope to feature more and more Black and Brown St. Louis-based creatives. There is so much talent in St. Louis, but we are lacking a central infrastructure for the arts that offers consistent, paid opportunities, especially for creatives of color. We are working to grow an interdisciplinary artistic infrastructure and community for St. Louis, and we need your help to do it!

In our first year, we have:

1. Sold print and digital publications to audiences largely in St. Louis and Chicago, with others located nationwide

2. Held two well-attended release parties: one at Profield Reserve in St. Louis and one at Young Chicago Authors in Chicago

3. Vended at TEDx St. Louis

4. Co-hosted events with Hustle City at City Foundry and DNA STL

5. Distributed print publications to local St. Louis businesses: Left Bank Books, Vintage Vinyl, Know/How Bookshop (located inside The Luminary), Hustle City (in City Foundry), The Noir Bookshop, Profield Reserve, DNA STL, and the CAM shop (in the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis)

This year, we are hoping to expand our reach as more than a magazine. Here are some things we want to accomplish in the future:

1. Hire a publicist

2. Redesign and relaunch our website

3. Produce events, activations, and content around St. Louis: artist mixers, panels, block parties, flea markets, gallery shows, podcasts

4. Register as a 501c3 nonprofit organization

5. Add more contributors to our annual print publication

Please consider donating. By paying artists and writers to contribute stories about their experiences, lives, and practices in the city, you’re reinvesting back into St. Louis!

 

If you donate to Search Party, you will also receive magazines and merch from us! (note that these items have not yet gone into production, but will ship out when Issue 02 goes to print!)

$25: Issue 02

$50: Issue 02 + stickers

$75: Issue 02 + stickers + zine

$100: Issue 02, issue 01, stickers, zine

$200+: Issue 02, issue 01, stickers, zine, limited edition t-shirt

Corporate sponsorships

(We will work with you to create spreads fitting with our magazine's design!)

$500: Shoutout in magazine and on social media

$1,000: Half page advertisement

$2,500: Full page advertisement

$5,000: Full spread advertisement

COST SUMMARY

Artists

Visual contributions: $6,450

(12 contributors paid at a rate of $537.50 each)

Written contributions: $2,720

(8 contributors paid at a rate of $340 each)

Production

Editor-in-chief: $1,500

Managing Editor: $1,185

Design and Art Direction: $3,000

Editorial Assistant: $2,000

Printing: $3,000

Marketing

Website: $145 (web domain and hosting for one year)

Website redesign: $2,000

Public Relations: $3,000

Total= $25,000