Brow Magazine

What is Brow?

Brow is a magazine dedicated to cultural criticism—all of culture (art, film, music, performance, Instagram reels, sharpie drawings on bathroom walls) and, of course, all of the brows (high, low, and middle).

We want heat, voice, sweat, vomit, blood, and tears. Hold nothing back. Tell us how you really feel.

Why Brow?

Many of us seem to think culture is dying. No one cares about film, fine art, or literature anymore they keep saying. Tiktok is part of the problem, yes, but we at Brow think too much blame is assigned to the attention economy. If it were really true that short-form vertical videos and memes killed our abilities to enjoy difficult art, then why are we bemoaning its death?

Clearly we want rich and challenging art for all the obvious reasons—it makes life more beautiful, it pushes us to be better versions of ourselves, it tests our core beliefs, and it helps us examine the aspects of life that cannot be neatly described in straightforward prose. In short, art is a good "third object" that offers a sounding board to grapple with larger questions.

It would be great for art to speak for itself, but that’s a tall and unfair ask. We all come from different backgrounds that make it hard for art to meet us where we are without a little nudge or inspiration.

That's where criticism becomes necessary. The only problem is that much of published cultural criticism is either easy and vanilla or clout-y gobbledygook. We are dying for criticism that pushes us and lets us fall. (I think we can handle it?) Good criticism tells us how to interpret art. Great criticism helps us feel and think alongside it—offering one point of view which the reader can either sing along with or shout back in anger.

What we want

Clear writing. Strong takes. Personal stakes. Full-hearted debate. Writing that argues from the gut, risks embarrassment, and refuses to end with a tidy bow. Put the reader on a raft and push them out to sea.

We encourage people from all backgrounds to write about culture. In fact, we might even prefer it if you hail from a different domain. We want fresh ideas that make art legible to everyone--not just those in the scene. (That said, we also welcome submissions from veteran culture critics.)

We are open to almost any idea, but we don’t want too much mission creep. We are not a normal literary magazine. Our focus is cultural criticism—we won’t have any articles on politics (unless it’s about aesthetics) nor any fiction or poetry (unless it makes a cultural argument).

If you want inspiration, here are some things we would be curious to hear your takes on: Is there anything redeeming about viral videos? Why is contemporary art so bad? (Or is it?) What do "difficult" forms of art need to do to stay alive? Does a unifying culture exist anymore when algorithms only give us what we want to see? Have any recent films, books, essays, poems (etc) made you think twice about an urgent issue? Have any recently shaken you to the core? Have any made you see the world anew in some way?

Here are some examples of writers that we think have done what Brow is hoping to do very well: Becca Rothfeld, Andrea Long Chu, Patricia Lockwood, Robert Hughes, Peter Schjeldahl, Sam Kriss. If you know of others, let us know.

What’s the submission process?

Read our pitch guidelines linked here.

Email us at submissions@browmagazine.com.

We are still figuring out the editorial process, but there is one main way we will be different from other magazines: First, we’ll discuss your idea with you—by email or a call—to sharpen the take. Then, we’ll do normal line by line editing.

Join the team!

We are in the early stages of building Brow and we are still looking for some key participants.

• Designers — print layout, logo, and website design
• Social media whizz — help with Instagram and other socials to raise hype and spread the word
• Web developers — build a fully functioning website
• Illustrators — make cartoons, illustrations, and spots
• Money — or people who can help us raise money

If you'd like to join, email us at submissions@browmagazine.com with the subject line "I'd like to join Brow as [your role]" and a little blurb about your background and why Brow appeals to you.

Our start-up plan