Dear Reader,

You likely noticed our weekly newsletter schedule has changed; it will now arrive in your inbox every Friday morning. Like so many organizations, Canadian Art has been deeply affected by the unfolding health and financial crisis, and has had to make editorial and institutional decisions that impact our capacity and structure in a variety of ways.

Every issue of Canadian Art, every online commission and all our live programs and events are produced by an extremely dedicated team of artists, writers, editors, designers, programmers, administrators and sales professionals. It is because of the labour of our contributors and staff—past and present—that this organization exists. However, we are not immune to financial challenges—publishing is a precarious endeavour even in the best of times, and particularly now. We are experiencing significant reductions in advertising revenue as institutions and galleries remain closed for the foreseeable future. We are taking advantage of every available support to overcome this, including the federal wage subsidy. This will see all staff have their pay and workloads reduced by 25 per cent or more for the upcoming months. This is not an easy reality for any of us. But it means that we can continue to work toward the same organizational goals we always have: to support writers and artists, to publish stories that reflect, and generate, engaged critical discourse around contemporary art, and to help build a vibrant national art community.

We’ve also made the difficult decision, for the first time in our history, to delay publication of our summer issue; “chroma” will now be released in September. Guest edited by Denise Ryner and Yaniya Lee, “chroma” represents the first time we have dedicated an entire issue to Black Canadian artists and art history. This postponement means we’ll be able to add new content to the feature section while keeping existing contributions intact. In the meantime, we’ll be refocusing efforts on our digital platforms. Please stay tuned.

If you care about art publishing, now is the best time to make a donation. Help us continue supporting the networks of artists, galleries and art institutions in this country. It’s also an excellent opportunity to show your support by subscribing to Canadian Art, and to your other favourite Canadian art publications. As with many things in this new time, art writing and publishing is not something we can afford to take for granted. We all need your support.