One Art World Magazine’s Steady Path Towards Influence

If you’ve been keeping an eye on the world of print magazines over the last few years, you may have experienced a touch of whiplash. In the last year or so, it’s seen some unexpected revivals and a few moves no one saw coming — including the return of a print edition of The Onion. If there’s one big takeaway from the state of print magazines in 2024, it’s this: having a specialized audience can be a big help.

Last week, Puck’s Marion Menaker chronicled the slow, steady rise of Sarah Harrelson and the publication she founded, Cultured Magazine. Maneker hailed the maagzine’s ability to, as he phrased it, “create a shared but specific sense of glamor that places the art world’s figures at center stage.” Given the readership cited in the article — 50,000 — it certainly sounds like that’s been a winning combination for Cultured to date.

What Maneker describes in the article is Cultured‘s slow and steady path towards beoming an influential publication. Some of that seems to have come from patience; the publication debuted in 2011. And there’s a sense of scalability as well; Maneker points out that Cultured has released broadsheet editions for certain art fairs.

But there’s also a case to be made for it having found a niche by following its own path. “I always wanted to present the artists as they were in the studio, you know, without a team of hair and makeup and stylists,” Harrelson told Puck — as opposed to the more staged images featured in other art world publications.

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As the article details, Cultured‘s rise hasn’t been without some issues, including a Los Angeles edition that closed as a result of the pandemic. Harrelson also hinted at futher plans for expansion, with Mexico City cited as one of the potential destinations. The publication has also branched into events, with a series of conversations curated by Harrelson that debuted this summer at Anderson Ranch Arts Center. It makes for a fascinating case study in how one magazine has found success.