It is with great esteem that I take this opportunity to address C Magazine’s readership through its pages, to share some of my departing thoughts on what it means to maintain a meaningful project like C over time.

Publishing a small, not-for-profit, art and art criticism magazine is not a financially lucrative business. However, it’s been irrefutably valuable work for myself and for all of us who have contributed so that C can continue to serve and reflect the contemporary visual arts community in Canada. The magazine is the creation of a large and beautiful array of fellow contributors who make it worthwhile to do this work in the first place—artists, writers, editors, designers, board and advisory members, interns, funders, donors, sponsors—and every one of them, and you, are our readers. Of utmost importance to me is the understanding that this publication is a collective effort.

Directing C for the past 14 years has been both a privilege and a challenge. At its heart this work is administrative— it’s not glamorous on a day-to-day basis, but it’s necessary work that supports a shared purpose. At times overlooked, I think strong administration is essential to developing an ethical work environment and relevant content, and of course to ensuring that the creative work can continue. For some time, this work has involved recognizing and actively address ing the historical shortcomings of a publication founded in the colonial and racist ideologies and structures of the 20th-century art world. C began as a project initiated by artists and curators with the purpose of serving creative workers and thinkers in their community. That initial purpose continues to be the basis for reparations, with the imperative forward movement of radical inclusion.

Much has been said about the state of art criticism—a debate that has sought to articulate the loss of principled critique in the face of capitalist interests. Why does the quality of art criticism matter? Art publishing might seek only to describe and analyze works of art, in order to provide the basic service to artists of attracting attention and communicating to those interested in looking at or buying art. This limited scope related to promotion and exposure might be what some desire, yet for many of us readers—including professionals in the field—there is much more that can be considered and expressed. That is really why a publication like C exists. No matter the experiences that artists and writers choose to engage with, I think our role at C is to take them seriously, and to provide a forum to show how they touch on our needs, wants, environments, and politics.

C serves artists by extending the dis course of contemporary art. It’s important that publications like C focus on interpretting and evaluating art and the ideas surrounding it at a level that challenges the status quo, and creates new thinking about the most profound issues affecting humanity through the lens of contemporary art. I’ve found the most consequential type of art and cultural criticism to be one that interprets the ideas and experiences most pressing, and difficult, for us to process as individuals. This is the realm in which I think the greatest need exists for art criticism. If our circulation is an indicator, unfortunately, it may be where the least public interest lies. In no way does this disparity make our work, or art criticism, unimportant—rather, I believe that we should publish the best and the least heard voices among us in the service of the collective good.

As publisher, I’ve taken the view that we need to stay closer to the side of ideas than the side of simple promotion and profit, if only because I recognize how rare it is to be able to do so. We are supported in this project by a sophisticated and relatively generous system of public funding, and in my mind it would do a disservice to the public if we did any less than work in solidarity with artists and writers, to use our means to extend their practices and record the ways in which they engage with and challenge society. I’m not particularly interested in putting individual artists on pedestals, or raising one above the other—the point of publishing C is to maintain an environment that values artists as changemakers and important voices, not simply as entertainers. It’s hard work being an artist, and C’s role is to strive just as hard to understand that work.

I’ve published 53 issues of C Magazine, working with and supporting somewhere in the realm of 1,000 writers and many more artists, and I can’t think of any thing more rewarding than knowing this work exists and that the magazine might continue for as long again. When it comes right down to it, the very purpose of C is to invite engagement with con temporary art, and the very best way to support C and the artists it covers is to read its pages.

l’ll take this opportunity to ask you one last time to subscribe, advertise, and donate regularly, so that all those involved can be paid fairly and the project can continue on the best footing possible. Ensuring the quality and viability of this organization has been my goal throughout, and I very much look for ward to seeing what my colleagues who come after will produce. Long live C!