MEANS magazine.
Artist-led physical magazine focusses on experimental and grassroots art, music and writing in order to support well-being and community cohesion.
Latest call-out:
Seeking organizations involved in grassroots art and music!
Latest issue:
MEANS 7
YOU CAN’T CLIMB A TREE WITH DEAD ROOTS:
a practical guide to saving grassroots art and music
MEANS 7 is a full colour 72 page art magazine featuring writers, organizers and creatives discussing their role in the Grassroots. Contributors include:
ART YARD BKLYN
Art educators and social space in Brooklyn.
LIMNETIC MAPS
Digital world map for discovering underground music.
AWEN / RHYS TRIMBLE
DIY space for experimental performance in North Wales.
THE SONDERING
Unique festival of death and grief.
SPACES OF THE NO-AUDIENCE UNDERGROUND
Exploration of the sites of participatory noise-making.
TURQUOISE COCONUT
Label and fundraiser for the social good.
THE SPIRIT OF GRAVITY
25 years with the iconic Brighton promoter.
OTHER SPACE ARTS
Multi-use art space and vegan cafe in Windsor.
PRIMITIVE PERCUSSION YOUTH ORCHESTRA
School children improvise weird music.
A VAST NETWORK OF PIPES
The state of grassroots digital radio.
TO ARTISTS
Ukrainian refugee art collective explore resistance through art.
SPOT
Modern approaches to gig listings in Sussex.
POETS OFFLINE ART CLUB
Quiet art outside of the noise of social media.
OUTPUT
Netherlands experimentalists rock the boat.
ST. GHOSTY CREATIVES
Projects at the nexus of theatre, writing and sound.
+ music reviews, project breakdowns, a music compilation of experimental voices from the grassroots, and more.
MEANS is a community-led project aimed at supporting grassroots art, music, and writing through the publication of a physical magazine. With each issue dedicated to a unique, socially minded theme—such as Power, Privilege, and Politics—the magazine explores real-world issues that affect grassroots artists while simultaneously serving as a vehicle by which to share and promote their work.
The magazine is first and foremost a ‘means’ of fostering community, well-being, and social inclusion. With a recent study showing that 73% of independent musicians suffer from mental ill-health - a number that rises exponentially for those in poverty or with a disability - a supportive community for grassroots artists is more vital than ever. The role of MEANS is to foster meaningful connections between an often disparate array of global grassroots artists, offering a non-hierarchical, economical, and community-led means of sharing their practice.
MEANS has covered topics as broad as the Ukrainian musical underground’s response to war, the effect of sanctions on Iranian composers, philosophical discussions on composition and spirituality, alongside interviews with contemporary artists, label profiles, photography and artworks from the UK, USA, Europe and beyond.
About
MEANS is a magazine dedicated to underground, experimental, and intermedial arts and culture. Founded by Daniel Alexander Hignell-Tully (The Quietus, Freq, Toneshift), the project consists of a both a digital site and a quarterly physical magazine.
Working with a community-led, artist-first model, MEANS aims to restore power to artists, and seeks to encourage fair renumeration for the work they do. We believe supporting grass-roots art is a mechanism for supporting social well-being in general: enabling communities to explore their creativity, and providing an outlet for often overlooked artists to share their work on a global scale.
We are always open to collaborations, and actively seek to expand our network of community-led artists, labels, publishers, and audiences.