“The Year of the Editor.”

The 2027 Arts Writing Incubator will focus on editors and the art and politics of editing. We believe that all good writing is made possible, in part, by good editing and that all good publications are stewarded by editors who have clear missions and champion excellent storytelling, reporting, and criticism.

The 2027 AWI thus invites applications from individuals who currently work as editors as well as experienced arts writers seeking to expand their skillset to encompass the role of an editor.

The Incubator will function at one level as a technical workshop on practices of copyediting, developmental editing, production timeline management, editorial design principles, and more. These practices are not neutral; they comprise the tactical toolkit with which editors shepherd writers’ ideas and arguments—or shut them down. This Incubator will also emphasize the political and ethical strategies that editors employ in their work, especially with and among writers of color and in response to the art criticism by people of the global majority.

Selected applicants will receive:

  • Honorarium for their participation,

  • Fee for contribution to special edition of BES’ annual journal, A Year in Black Art

  • 5 copies of the A Year in Black Art

  • One year subscription to the Chicago Manual of Style

  • Travel and lodging for the final, in-person convening in Chicago in June 2027

Read on for more details on the Incubator and application guidelines.

Applications Open

Apply — 2027 The Arts Writing Incubator

  • This is a project-based Incubator: applicants should apply with an editorial project that 1) can be completed, or nearly completed, within six months; 2) involves commissioning and editing several pieces of writing; and that 3) reflects your current or aspirational editorial goals.

    Participants will meet monthly, virtually from February to June 2027, and will work asynchronously on assigned deliverables between meetings. The final Incubator session will take place in-person, in Chicago, June 2027, and will bring together artists, writers, and editors from around the city into conversation.

    Elements of participants’ final editorial projects will be included in a special edition of the BES journal, A Year in Black Art, a dossier on editing that will also include interviews between editors, reflections on Black editors in particular, and writings that demonstrate the varied styles and approaches to editing itself. here

  • This Incubator session is pitched toward emerging editors; emerging and established editors who want to pivot within the field, or sharpen their skillsets in a particular way; and published arts writers who want to develop their editorial skills.

    All applicants should have experience editing or writing for publications that feature criticism and writing at the intersection of art, culture, and politics. Interested applicants will reflect the wide range of genres, disciplines, discourses, and style guides that such publications represent. The following guidelines for applicants and project proposals are therefore intentionally broad:

    Editors of emerging, independent publications who have not yet published more than 3 editions/issues.

    Such applicants should propose projects aimed at developing a specific element of a single issue (e.g. a handful of commissioned texts, or serialized content across planned issues) or completing a whole issue.

    Editors with 3+ years of experience at legacy, established, and/or independent publications who want to pursue an editorial project beyond the scope of the frameworks they typically work within.

    Such applicants can propose projects aimed developing at a specific element (e.g. a handful of commissioned texts, or serialized content across planned issues) of a single issue or completing a whole issue of their own, new independent publication. Project proposals can also be for authorized offshoots of a publication they currently work at (e.g. new sub-publications, special editions). In both cases, publications must be in early stages of development. Applicants must detail current progress and, as necessary, agreements in place with relevant publication stakeholders.

    Such applicants can also propose non-serialized projects—for example a suite of texts that may or may not be thematically related, but which allow the applicant to hone their specific technical and/or conceptual goals for the Incubator.

    Art writers/critics with 3+ years experiences of being edited for publication, and who want to develop their own editorial practice

    Such applicants can propose projects aimed developing at a specific element of a single issue (e.g. a handful of commissioned texts, or serialized content across planned issues) or completing a whole issue of their own, new independent publication.

    Such applicants can also propose to commission non-serialized texts that allow the applicant to hone their specific technical and/or conceptual goals for the Incubator. The texts may themselves be quite unrelated or they may share interests in a particular artist, work, region, style, conceptual problem, stylistic convention, or what have you.

  • Interested applicants should submit a two-page statement of interest as a PDF, addressing the following:

    • Your editorial background and goals. Describe your editorial experience and/or aspirations, and explain how the Art Writing Incubator will support you (and your publication, if relevant) at this moment. Include the conceptual and technical support you hope to gain.

    • Views on the conceptual and/or political work of editing. Reflect on the politics of the role of the editor within the arts writing ecosystem that you are most familiar with, and in the broader intellectual, social, and cultural environment(s) you and your work are situated within.

    • Your proposed project. Provide an overview of the project, including:

      • The mission or rationale of the publication and/or for the suite of materials you will edit during your time.

      • Project’s current stage of development including but not limited to contact with writers; audience cultivation; editorial design and distribution plans and rationales; capacity for executing before, during, and after Incubator; and any other relevant details that will help the reading team understand where you’re at.

    Applications are due by 5 pm PST on January 4, 2027.

    Submit your application using this Google Form.

    Please note we are unable to provide feedback on individual applications!

Questions?

Write to "editor [at] blackembodiments [dot] org"