Our third issue, Ephemeral, was released on June 12, 2023. We paid eight contributors to create new works and received additional funding through a grant from Multnomah County Cultural Coalition (MCCC) - a first for Berm! Like previous issues, Ephemeral had a print edition of 100 copies that we self distributed.
From our second issue, we aimed to improve the production schedule in order to reduce internal stress and more accurately line up with the grant cycles, continue to improve contributor transparency documents, and build on design lessons as this would be the second issue in the larger size!
Goals & Achievements
One of the big goals coming out of the previous issue was to reduce the amount of internal stress the production schedule had accidentally built in. This was partly due to the way we planned the issues before starting to work on grant applications. Put simply: we didn't really grasp the grant cycle well until we were deep in it! Grants like PICA's Precipice Fund or RACC's Art3C grant have applications that are due in fairly predictable intervals (if you keep on top of the announcements) and they also have announcement dates for when you find out if you've won a grant, or not. Part of the stress that we encountered with the second issue's schedule happened because we wanted to wait for the grant funding announcements in order to decide what level of budget we had to work with, and what shape the issue would take based on that funding. This meant that we started pitching much later than we had initially planned, and as a result, the schedule for everything was compressed, creating unnecessary crunch and stress.
To solve this scheduling issue we did a few things: We greatly lengthened the production schedule overall from three to six months! This allowed for a lot more time to pitch to contributors, prepare the design documents, and apply for the next round of grant funding. It allowed us to get ahead and breathe much more easily. We had time to pitch to more contributors, edit their pieces, and work with folks on designing specifically to their ideas.
Another goal that has been lingering since the inception of Berm was to have funding that was not from our own pockets! This is an ongoing issue, obviously, but it was exciting to receive two grants in 2023. While we did receive two grants – one from MCCC and one from Literary Arts Oregon – we decided to split them between Issue 3 and Issue 4 in order to reduce the financial burden of the entire year. This was a big deal for us, and allowed us to feel more confident in the project. We'll return to the MCCC grant in more detail in the budget section. But for now, we celebrate!
The design for Ephemeral had a few firsts for us as well. In addition to improving on the overall design elements and flow in the larger format, we were able to work with one contributor, and Brown Printing, to add perforation to one of the pieces. For Cosmic Howl of Information, 2023, Demian DinéYazhí asked if we could make the pages perforated so that they could be physically ripped out of the magazine. For an issue all about ephemerality this was an exciting idea to us and we wanted to make it happen - and we think it turned out great.
For the design process, Wes made a couple changes to preparing for the issue. First, they started the research process earlier. This was a lesson from issue 2, when Wes was feeling stuck on the design and struggling to create the layouts and designs. Additionally, Wes created a small research library of magazines, books, and other reference material near their computer. This sounds like a small detail, but having inspiration and design materials within arms reach makes a big difference when you're in the thick of the production schedule and searching for ways to get unblocked.
One last achievement to note is that because of all our work fixing the production schedule and improving the design and research process, we were able to get this issue done with time to spare, which was important because Wes's day job had a two month period near the end of the production schedule where they had near zero time to work on the issue. Removing the crunch and stress experienced for our second issue meant that this 2 month period where Wes was unable to help much with production did not seriously impact the production schedule of the magazine.
Lessons Learned & Budget
For Ephemeral, we applied for a grant from MCCC with a proposed budget of $2,500 and were awarded $1,500, which meant we had to make up the rest of the funding from out of pocket deposits, previous issue sales, and ongoing support from Patreon. This funding was a huge relief to get, and allowed us the mental freedom to play a bit more with this issue. That being said, the award was a bit of a surprise and we haven't had any contact with MCCC since the deposit of the grant funding, which is counter to the experience we've had recently with Issue 4's grant from Literary Arts Oregon. Overall, we're very happy to have the funds to push Berm forward, but the process is a little cold.
Payments to contributors for this issue were delayed for about a week due to a miscommunication with the accountant that handles how the payments are distributed. This was a big stress factor for this issue because we pride ourselves on transparency and being a reliable partner to our contributors during the production process of the issue. That being said: we feel like our communication to contributors during this time was very good and we received feedback that folks felt like they were in the loop as we worked through the issue.
Speaking of money! Our first real year of taxes hit the business during this issue. Berm is organized as an LLC, which for us meant $650 in business taxes for 2022. We worked with a wonderful tax accountant to organize and submit our state and federal taxes, who also helped us learn a lot about the process and how best to prepare for it in the next year(s). We also learned that a bookkeeping accountant was different from a tax accountant! Some accountants do both, but ours did not.
The final budget for Ephemeral was $3,298, which breaks down to $1,553 paid directly to contributors, $500 paid to a marketing photographer, and $1,245 for printing, packaging, and shipping. After accounting for the grant, previous issue sales, and donations, we paid $1,278 out of pocket to produce our third issue. Overall, this felt right! We felt like we had the freedom to play with design and printing elements, as well as work with contributors who had partners they wanted to involve in the production of their pieces.
Closing Thoughts
Ephemeral was a really fun issue to produce. To us, it felt like a big level up from the previous two issues. This was largely in part due to the planning changes made to the production schedule, our further experience with the grant process, and the theme being an interesting reflection point to talk to contributors about. It felt really smooth to produce – so much so that we forgot to write a post mortem about it until now!
For our next issue, which has the theme of Money, we dive deeper into grant funding, the way artists make (or don't make) money, and what sustainability means for artists and art publications. Being 90% of the way through that production cycle now, we can say that it is also an exciting issue that went very differently from our third issue. So look out for that post mortem in the next few months as well.
Berm is supported by grants, but also through ongoing donor support on Patreon. We will be changing up the way the Patreon is structured as we announce the pre-order for Issue 4 to include more benefits for Patreon subscribers and to hopefully create a more sustainable model for ourselves. More on this soon!
Copies of Ephemeral are still available for purchase through our store page.