magCulture Live New York 2023
magCulture Live returns to New York this summer for another celebration of the culture of magazines.
The annual event showcases the best creative editorial projects, with speakers from across the magazine spectrum sharing their work. Read on for more details.
The day features a series of talks from the people behind from some of today’s most innovative magazines. All will provide their own unique insight into the role of the magazine in contemporary culture, this year focusing on the variety of formats available to the magazine maker—emphasising differences in scale, shape and periodicity.
magCulture Live, NYC2023
Sunday July 9, 1—5pm
Wix Playground
100 Gansevoort St, New York, NY 10014
Map
Livestream
If you can’t make it to the live event, you can join us online to watch a livestream of the full session. Tickets via the same Eventbrite link.
Tickets
Live and Livestream tickets are $80. For group rates please email events@magCulture.com
We’re still finalising the speaker line-up but are excited to confirm the first names below.
Meet the speakers:
Debra Bishop,
The New York Times Kids
Debra is a designer and art director who has worked for many of New York’s biggest magazines including Rolling Stone and Martha Stewart Kids. For the past six years she has been design director of The New York Times Kids, and she will sharing the origins and success of this brilliantly illustrated and designed broadsheet newspaper for children.
Debra is also part of the New York Times Magazine team that recently won Design Team of the Year at the Art Director’s Club Awards.
John Sunyer and Anna Jay,
Courier
British media company Courier covers modern business across print, email and social. The Courier magazine has just marked its 50th issue with its biggest refresh since launch. It has stayed true to its founding ideas and beliefs—focusing on people living and working on their own terms. Only now it has reimagined how it represents success in the modern economy across art and design, food and drink, entrepreneurship and fashion, with an evolution in its photography and a bespoke approach to editorial and design, with sticker sheets, pull-out posters, interactive illustrations, longform features and more.
Editor John Sunyer and Photography director Anna Jay will talk about the process of reimagining a magazine from scratch.
Matt Willey and Dan Crowe,
Inque
Matt Willey and Dan Crowe have worked on numerous magazine projects together, including Zembla and Port. Their latest collaboration is the large format literary/art magazine Inque, an ambitious annual publication with a pre-planned end at issue ten. Packed with big-name contributors—writers, artists and photographers—it has already won multiple awards.
The pair will be talking about Inque’s origins and introducing for the first time the soon-to-be-released second issue.
Chloe Scheffe,
Here, Backstage Talks, etc
Chloe is a bright young star of editorial design, known for her typographic playfulness, and one half of Scheffe Shields, the independent practice she runs with Natalie Shields. Previously she was the art director at Here Magazine (Away) and a designer at The New York Times Magazine, and has freelanced for Interview, GQ, HommeGirls, Wired, and Backstage Talks, among others. In 2019, she was named a Young Gun by the One Club for Creativity. She is currently based in Seattle.
Gutes Guterman,
Byline
Gutes is an NYC-based cat mom, media-maven and artist who thinks of words as material and media as medium. Having previously co-published cult NY magazine The Drunken Canal, Gutes has just returned to the fray with new online platform Byline. She’ll be discussing its print-adjacent monthly schedule, and the differences betwen publishing in print and digital formats.
Echo Wu,
1413 Magazine
Founded in 2015 by graphic designers Echo Wu and Lisa Zeng, 1413 Magazine is a bilingual platform showcasing Chinese culture. Aptly described as ‘A Tickle Fight with Chinese Culture,’ the magazine offers a unique glimpse of contemporary China, filtered through a nostalgia for 90’s visual culture and a healthy dose of humour. It’s unlike anything else out there at present.
Echo is a graphic designer from Yan’an, China, living in New York. As well as co-founding 1413 Magazine, she works at the creative agency Food.
Tanya Bush
Cake Zine
Tanya is co-founder of Cake Zine, an independent, biannual print publication exploring society through sweets. Founded in 2021, the literary magazine publishes essays, illustrations, reported features, recipes, and fiction in conversation with an irreverent culinary theme and with a smart, bookish design that confounds expectations of the word ‘zine’. She’ll be discussing the creation of Cake Zine and the magazine as a social object.
Book your ticket
MagMagMag pop-up shop
Wednesday–Saturday, July 5-8
We’re also returning to our friends at Vitsoe to present a pop-up magCulture Shop in the run-up to magCulture Live. Visit to browse and buy from a selection of favourite magazines from our London shop.
And look out for news of our free lunchtime talk series across the same dates.
Map
Stay at our official hotel partner Ace Hotel New York
Use code WELOVEMAGS and save 20% from June 23-July 15
Book here
With thanks to our partners:
magCulture Live FAQs
What is magCulture Live?
magCulture Live, previously known as ModMag, has been held annually in London since 2013. We have now organised nine London editions, three New York editions since 2018, and three online editions over the Covid lockdown.
What is it about?
The event presents the most innovative and interesting creative work in magazine publishing, with editors and art directors uniting to share their thoughts and ideas. We won’t duck the big issues facing print today, but neither will we fall for the easy, negative narratives surrounding the industry.
magCulture Live is a celebration and reminder of the power of magazine creativity—read the Journal section of this website for a sense of the scope and focus of the event.
Who is magCulture Live for?
The day is aimed at publishing professionals, design and journalism students and graduates, and anyone with a creative curiousity. The ability to develop an editorial voice is in everyone’s hands today via digital channels. Hear from leading editors and designers how they are handling this responsibility.
Why London and New York?
London and New York have been the two centres of English-language publishing for over a century, and the relationship between the two cities remains a vital one.
Who organises magCulture Live?
magCulture Live is presented by magCulture and curated by Jeremy Leslie. Read more about magCulture here.
If you have any questions about magCulture Live or MagMagMag
Please email events@magculture.com