Rather than try to tell you (again) how thrilling it was for our team to see the response to our first-ever Readers Decide campaign (running through this Tuesday, March 31), we thought we’d let the writers speak to you for themselves. Here’s what they want to say to YOU, the readers who are supporting their work.
“A pocket of hope”
Theater and museum critic An Nichols says she is “elated that the readers responded so quickly. I work with a couple non-profits and they’re ALL having funding difficulty this year. The fact that BSR readers decided to donate to us rather than any number of things they could've done with their funds gives me a small pocket of hope for what's going on in our current society. Thank you to everyone.”
“Your support means everything”
Film and features writer Stephen Silver has been contributing to BSR for about 10 years. “I am very grateful to have it as an outlet, and also as a community, one that provides the sort of coverage that no one else in town is doing,” he says. “Thank you to the Readers Decide contributors for helping to ensure BSR’s health.”
“I am so grateful to all the supporters who contributed,” says critic and essayist Cass Lewis. “Your support makes a tremendous impact, not just on my livelihood, but also in our community and in our region.” As outlets for real journalism continue to get the ax in this “terrifying time,” support for local outlets is crucial. “BSR remains an unrivaled resource for thought-provoking discourse about important social and cultural themes that emerge from the arts. I am honored to be one of their contributing writers and your support means everything.”
Protection from attacks on journalism
“When independent, regional-scale art and artists feel ever more undervalued, it's been encouraging to see BSR's community come together so quickly to support Philly's only media outlet willing to cover much of the region's independent arts and culture scene,” says emerging theater writer Anna Fiscarelli-Mintz. “Thank you for deciding to make BSR's important work, and thus the irreplaceable service it provides to Philly's smaller-scale artists, sustainable!”
“I was thrilled to find out how enthusiastically our readers met our initial fundraising challenge,” says theater critic Jill Ivey. “It shows that our work resonates with them. Our work matters to them. At a time when it feels that both the arts and journalism are under attack, our readers are helping to ensure the survival of both.”
What happens if local media disappears?
Art and museum writer Pamela J. Forsythe explains how BSR coverage can be an antidote to the worst qualities of the modern world. “Museums enable us to step away from the hair-on-fire world and get us out of our own heads. Writing for Broad Street Review, I imagine bringing readers along, so they experience exhibits with me and then, maybe, go themselves. I go slow and take notes. Lots of notes, which can make museum guards nervous. Which in turn makes me nervous. So sometimes I talk to them, asking what they think about the artist or works on view. On a few occasions, guards have pointed out things I’ve missed, or provided background I didn’t know. And when we talk, the guards and I are less nervous about each other. If I didn’t write for BSR, I would not have learned about museum guards' secret knowledge.”
“If local media goes away, who will report on local issues? How will we read about them?” asks essayist Julien Suaudeau. “Outlets like Broad Street Review exist because a lot of us do not want to live in an information world dominated by AI and influencers. One of the main reasons I have the drive to write about Philadelphia is that I am able to read about Philadelphia.”
“Reporting back to friends”
“I’m pretty new at BSR, but I have never seen readers respond so quickly to a campaign as Readers Decide,” says reviewer and reporter Walt Maguire. “It says a lot about both the faith in the editors but also the bond with BSR. We're not just guessing and hoping readers are out there, but it feels more like we're reporting back to friends.”
We could not say it any better than our writers. Thank you for seeing the value in BSR. Thank you for stepping up to keep our writers and editors working. If you have not yet joined the Readers Decide campaign, you have until midnight on Tuesday, March 31 to make a gift of any size, and tell our writers that their work matters.
