Bellona Magazine launched in 2020 with the aim of publishing long-form writing that challenges “creative” forms of mass consumption and the instrumentalized social relations that predominate in the culture industries today. We have since published two issues–on the subjects of Autonomy and Empire–and had aimed to publish a third on Surplus earlier this year. Unfortunately, life has since got in the way and the singular issue model has become untenable within our editorial collective’s time and capacity constraints. In response, we have sought out a new publishing model that retains the rigor and thematic qualities of our first two issues and allows both our editorial collective and writers to work more fluidly throughout the year. With that in mind, we are launching a number of ‘Streams’–verticals developed from the aesthetic, historical and theoretical subjects touched on in the magazine thus far–that will publish year-round and will allow for conversations to transpire both within and across each respective section. The five streams we are launching today include: Surplus, Ecology, Music’s Political Economy, Histories of the Left and Contemporary Aesthetics.

In practical terms, the ‘Streams’ model means we will be accepting submissions year-round including submissions for new ‘Streams’ and thematic, conversational and contemporary critical entries. It also means that subscribers to our Patreon will no longer receive whole issues of the magazine in PDF form. While we still hold dear to the whole magazine template, the level of resources and time necessary to produce the digital issues has not been met by a sizable readership, while our online publishing arm has received, and continues to receive, engagement from a broad swathe of readers. We hope that both new and old subscribers continue to read and support our independent publishing collective as we move into this new configuration.