Design Observer is “a leading platform offering thought-provoking content on design, culture, and social innovation.” They offer a $150 honorarium for art-eds, op-eds, and essays (around 800 to 900 words). Rates begin at $1.50/word for commissioned short pieces that include original reporting and sourcing (usually 500 to 900 words). To learn more, refer to their call for pitches.
Artdose Magazine is an independent print and digital art magazine based in Wisconsin, committed to connecting and supporting the visual arts in the Midwest. They are seeking arts writers from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. They're looking for articles (500 words max) on visual arts-related topics that have connection to the writer's region, state, or art community. They are open to submissions from arts writers at all skill levels and experience. According to their pitch guide, they pay $125 per selected article for print only. To learn more, refer to this page.
Newcity Brazil is an English-language digital publishing operation focused on the visual art culture of Brazil, with special emphasis on São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. They are seeking art critics and journalists based in São Paulo and throughout Brazil who are familiar with artists and the gallery and museum scene, and are also looking to expand their coverage into design and architecture. They publish art exhibition reviews, art news, artist and gallery profiles, and interviews and features. Reviews and news are 500 or so words, and features or interviews are 1,000 or more words. According to their pitch guide, reviews pay $50; features $125. To learn more, refer to this page.
Curationist enables users and communities to seek, find, and reimagine cultural heritage through their vast archives of open access images, radical work with metadata, and editorial features shining light on marginalized histories of art and objects. They seek proposals for their editorial features and want to hear from arts writers, artists, historians, curators, librarians, archivists, and anyone in the GLAM field. The editorial features critically investigate and contextualize the Works in open access archives. According to their guidelines, they pay $1500 (aiming for ~1500 words). To learn more, refer to this page.
The Floor Magazine is an online and print publication celebrating black art and their artists. They welcome pitches for reviews of art (music albums, films, books, photography exhibitions etc), commentary, interviews (Q&A or profile), personal essays, and long form essays. They pay a flat rate for 800-1200 word pieces. To learn more, refer to this page.
Rhizome champions born-digital art and culture through commissions, exhibitions, scholarship, and digital preservation. They publish writing by artists and specialists for an art-interested audience. They accept pitches for articles that offer new research and perspectives on works in two of their categories: ArtBase and #Artist Profiles. According to their guidelines, rates are $250 for Artist Profiles and $0.50-$0.75/word (up to 1500 words) for articles about works in the Rhizome ArtBase. To learn more, refer to this page.
Communication Arts is the premier source of inspiration for graphic designers, art directors, design firms, corporate design departments, advertising agencies, interactive designers, illustrators and photographers. They are seeking creative industry thought leaders who can contribute well-written opinion columns or reported pieces that cover emerging trends, ethical issues and what it takes to thrive in the visual communication field. They pay a ''highly competitive'' rate or flat fee, which is negotiated upon assignment. To learn more, refer to this page.
Darklight Digital is an online platform featuring fresh voices in photography culture. They like stories that have a strong photographic lean. They state that writer’s fees are negotiated depending on the type of feature, but that they are able to offer a higher rate for longer thought pieces than for visual essays. According to an old tweet, their rates begin at £125. To learn more, visit their pitching guide.
The Abundant Artist (TAA) offers online courses and training to artists on how to sell their art online. They are looking for skilled writers and/or video creators. They are interested in articles/videos about what’s working in sales right now, stories of artists transitioning from offline to online sales, how to sell on Instagram, emerging platforms (e.g. Clubhouse, TikTok), etc. Our previous research indicated rates to be $150-$300/article, but current pay rates are not clear. They are not always open to submissions. To learn more, visit their write for us page.
Momus is an art publication and podcast that stresses "a return to art criticism." They seek out writing that looks critically at contemporary art and bridges its relationship to larger contexts. According to their pitch guide, they pay between $400-600 USD for reviews (800-1,500 word) and features (1,000-2,500 words) get paid $550-750 USD.