They used to say during the Cold War days that if it ever came down to nuclear war – where one side or the other launched a strike and the other side retaliated – the resulting debris would block out the sun for years creating a Nuclear Winter. It seems we have reached an Economic Winter.
All sectors of the arts are hurting – commercial and nonprofits alike. Public and private funding is shrinking and in some places has dried up completely. Art galleries are closing, performances are being canceled or scaled back and the future is uncertain.
As the visual art community goes – so does Carolina Arts. Our advertisers are not immune to the current economy downturn.
During our 20 plus years of doing an arts newspaper we learned fairly soon that we have to reflect the economic situation of our supporters – when they cut back – we must cut back. And, when they expand – we expand. We have to remain flexible so we don’t put the whole paper in jeopardy. As long as we have advertisers – we will continue the paper.
Back where I come from – the half-a-year frozen tundra state of Michigan – one of the characteristics of winter is the loss of color. In this economic winter, Carolina Arts may lose its color cover. We’re not there yet, but we are very close. Some of the people who have been keeping our wonderful color covers going are having to cut back on their expenses – which we understand, so we’re calling out to see if there are folks out there who can fill in the gaps – to keep the color covers going.
Up to this point we have mainly offered full page ads ($1,000) and 1/2 page ads ($500), but we may be opening the cover up to 1/4 ads ($250) to help those willing to keep the color flowing. Of course we’re hoping to find people who want to advertise on a regular basis first, but will fill the pages as best we can – as long as we can, but if necessary we will go back to a black and white cover – which served us for much of our 20 years of publishing.
And, when considering these prices – keep in mind the size of our paper 11″ x 17″ – our ads are much bigger than most publications – it’s almost twice the size of most 8 1/2″ x 11″ magazines. A full page ad is 10″ x 16″. That’s a lot of image or a lot of images.
If you are interested in color advertising – give us a call now at 843/825-3408 and be the first to take advantage of this opportunity. Who knows – the economy could turn around at any minute. I’m hoping it will.