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From 2011 - 2013 I was the designer, creative director, and publisher of The Louisville Paper — a free monthly magazine focused on positive news stories covering Louisville’s arts and culture, its creative scenes, and community activism.
For 2 years and 24 issues the editor, Stephanie Brothers (now Kertis), and I worked together with an amazing team of writers, photographers, and illustrators to publish the Paper. Each month we printed 5000 copies which were delivered to more than 100 locations across the city. In each issue we did our best to tell the stories of the people that make Louisville a great place to live.
The Paper received numerous awards including a gold LGDA 100 Show Award and a first place award for page design from the Society for Professional Journalism.
The impetus for the publication came in 2011, after the latest round of cuts at Gannett’s The Courier-Journal, specifically those of the Neighborhoods section and the weekly features publication, Velocity. Seeing an opportunity I reached out to some of those recently laid off, employees of The Courier-Journal, writers whose work I new and respected. These writers alongside others who had already been self-publishing via blogs, formed the bulk of The Paper’s earliest contributors.
I quickly joined forces with Stephanie Brothers who I’d met through mutual acquaintances. Stephanie had never published a magazine before but had worked for a local publishing company, Holland Brown Books, for about five years. Stephanie took the role of editor and she and I partnered together to shape each issue.
’The Paper is going to be dedicated to celebrating all the good happening in our city, on our stages, in our studios, behind counters, and around the corner in every neighborhood. We want to make good things happen, and tell you about the good things that are happening all around our city. The Paper wants you, its reader, to feel good about who we are as a city and what we are capable of…”
“Paper is going to be local. Locally owned. Local writers. Local focus and approach. It will be unique to our city and reflect what we find important. We will be active in our promotion and enhancement of the arts and our communities.”
“The centerpiece of The Paper is going to be a section called “Good to My Hood ”, a spotlight on a person, group or project that is making a difference in a neighborhood; as well as listings for good that is going on in Louisville’s neighborhoods and how to get involved.”
We set out with the mission of sharing “good news” coming out of Louisville with a focus on neighborhoods. As Stephanie put it, “…we realized that there were a lot of great stories to tell about Louisville, but what we wanted to do was to tell the stories about the people behind the cool things that were happening in town. We wanted to talk about the people that are having those ideas, that are making it happen and making it possible.” She continues, “…we expanded our definition of what it means to do good in your community beyond just cleaning up trash or starting these community projects — that having a theater group is important and it helps the community. Look at any issue, any maker that’s been in there, every person that makes this place a little bit more interesting, a little bit more unique, and a little bit less homogenous — that does good. It injects personality and it makes Louisville what it is.”
For 2 years and 24 issues Stephanie and I worked together with an amazing team of writers, photographers, and illustrators to publish the Paper. Each month we printed 5000 copies which were delivered to more than 50 locations across the city. In each issue we did our best to tell the stories of the people that make Louisville a great place to live.
“The Paper, one of the best and most constructive free publications Louisville has seen, has folded. It celebrated many who make Louisville weird and wonderful — and came from a very cool, civic-hearted place.”
Fortunately, back issues spanning 24 months are available online at thelouisvillepaper.com. Click on “Meet Your Makers’’ to read about its evolution, meaning and purpose in the words of editor Stephanie Brothers and creative director Matt Dobson.”
You can see the online archive here: http://www.thelouisvillepaper.com
