The Lyndhurst Foundation and ArtsBuild have partnered in a project to create an e-magazine that will promote Chattanooga as a premiere arts and cultural city to regional and national media outlets. The website, www.egg.gallery, launched Friday.
“From the beginning, we wanted to create a platform for stories about the arts and artists, culture and culture makers in Chattanooga,” said Karen Rudolph, program officer at the Lyndhurst Foundation. “Our goal was never to create a branded experience, which focuses upon a particular arts organization; instead, we wanted minimal branding that focuses on the platform itself in order to create greater focus on the artists and Chattanooga’s vibrant arts community.”
The website’s approach is editorial in nature and includes long-form stories and artistic-quality photos that dig into the lives and work of individuals and groups. The site’s content is designed to be shared, either by editors looking for content or on social media networks.
“All of the website’s content, including the photos, is available for use in any publication or online,” said Dan Bowers, president of ArtsBuild. “The site targets editors and people who place media. Basically, they are able to reprint the content by simply submitting an email address. We wanted to make the sharing process as simple as possible.”
The six stories featured in the first issue of Egg include: painter Mia Bergeron, Townsend Atelier and Horsin Around Carving School, sculptor Isaac Duncan, musician Tim Hinck, community co-op The Open Press and Ignis Glass Studio, and a group of local culinary artists.
“Sometimes we get so accustomed to talking about how great our city is, that we forget what makes Chattanooga great – that in every corner, we find people doing what they love, and doing it beautifully,” said Caleb Ludwick, the project’s lead writer. “We are launching Egg with six profiles of people, and groups, who are doing just that in art and culture. Every four months we’ll add six more, adding up to a picture of what it’s like to live here, now."