Economic Aspects of Leonardo

Leonardo, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 257-258, 1983. Printed in Great Britain. EDITORIAL 0024-094X/83 $3.00 + 0.00 Pergamon Press Ltd. ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF LEONARDO As outlined in a recent editorial (Leonardo, 16, No. 1), Leonardo's current operating context differs significantly from that of a year ago. We have moved our editorial office and expanded our areas of concern. Equally important, we have entered a new financial environment. We think it appropriate to inform readers about the special support received during the past year and to report on Leonardo's longer-term outlook. SPECIAL SUPPORT FOR THE JOURNAL At this critical stage, Leonardo's history, relevance and potential has prompted numerous individuals, as well as public and private organizations, to provide extraordinary assistance in various forms. Leonardo exists today only because of this collective support. The larger institutional benefactors are Pergamon Press Ltd., San Francisco State University, the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts, and Apple Computer, Inc. Pergamon Press, the long-term publisher of Leonardo, continues in that role under contract to the nonprofit International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology (ISAST) (see Editorial in 16, No. 2). In addition, the Press has generously subsidized our Editorial Office during 1983. Robert Maxwell, Pergamon's publisher, and Ivan Klimes, associate publisher, have been exceptionally supportive ofour efforts to broaden the service we offer our readers. Leonardo's search for a new editorial office ended when the Art Department at San Francisco State University generously offered scarce faculty office space for our use. The university setting has proved to be a particularly suitable and encouraging environment for our editing tasks. Robert N. Rogers, Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, and Margery Livingston, Chair of the Art Department, were particularly helpful in clearing the bureaucratic path. In its early deliberations the new editorial staff looked forward to computerizing office operations. Overtures to Apple Computer, Inc., resulted in the contribution of a fully equipped Apple III computer system-due to the diligent efforts of California artist Milton Komisar and James Ferris, Apple's Director of Creative Services. Recently, Leonardo received a one-year grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Funds from the Artist's Forum Category of the Visual Arts Program will assist artists who write for the journal and will cover special costs for editing their articles. Last, and most important, many individuals continue to contribute time, energy and skills to performing the journal's editorial functions. Most of the editorial staff, editorial board, manuscript and book reviewers, and international co-editors serve without pay. On behalf of Leonardo, I want to thank all the individuals and organizations that have enabled us to come through the year of transition stronger than ever. ISSUES FOR ECONOMIC SURVIVAL The editors of Leonardo intend to make the journal more accessible to the entire international art community. Realizing this goal will require a sound financial structure. However, becauseLeonardo is an unconventional publication, it is always likely to require an unusual mix of economic support. In terms of form and content, Leonardo is a hybrid-part scholarly journal, part popular art magazine. From a financial standpoint, however, neither is compatible with Leonardo's peculiar situation. In its scholarly role, it must fit the economic model of a smallcirculation periodical that is required professional reading. But, compared to scientists, for example, artists have no tradition ofwriting about their work, or reading other artists' prose. Until such a tradition is established, Leonardo, unlike scholarly publications in academic disciplines, cannot rely heavily on support from a captive institutional readership. As a popular art magazine, Leonardo must compete with numerous periodicals for its share of the market. In doing so, it is placed at a distinct economic disadvantage. Unlike other art periodicals, it has a long-standing policy of not accepting advertising related to artists' work or exhibitions. The questionable effects of advertising on the format and content of most 'commercial' art magazines must be obvious to anyone who has ever leafed 257 258 Editorial through them. While Leonardo's policy allows a less commercially biased editorial approach, it excludes this standard means of financing. The problem is compounded by the fact that...