About

Founded in 2008, BURNAWAY is an Atlanta-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide coverage of the arts in and from Atlanta and the South, to support the vibrant creative communities in our region, to increase national recognition of our region’s artists and organizations, and to foster new voices for the arts. We fulfill this mission through our online arts publication, our Art Writers Mentorship Program, the Atlanta Art Guide, writing workshops, an annual print publication, and public talks.

BURNAWAY recognizes the importance that writers and thinkers play in supporting artist communities to promote, challenge, and propel them forward. Our editorial and programmatic content strives to provide coverage that reflects the geographic, demographic, and artistic diversity of the region. BURNAWAY exists to continue the established tradition of art criticism and uphold its highest ethical and professional standards, while also exploring the potential of new media and providing a fresh identity and perspective for arts dialogue today.

Through reviews, features, interviews, and audio and video content, BURNAWAY attempts to respond to the famous challenge issued by William Faulkner:

So vast, so limitless in capacity is man’s imagination to disperse and burn away the rubble-dross of fact and probability, leaving only truth and dream. (Requiem for a Nun, 1951)

To “disperse and burn away”—a statement about the nature of creativity that compels us to look beyond what merely is and envision what could be.

Our conflict of interest policy

BURNAWAY will not consider contributions regarding: the artwork of someone with whom the writer has a personal relationship; the work of an artist, gallery, or institution with whom the writer has a current or previous financial relationship or internship; any gallery that represents his/her work; any gallery institutionally related to the organization employing the writer; a colleague in the institution employing the writer. We also will not consider submissions by a writer whom the gallery or artist has paid or commissioned to write the article in question, or a submission by a writer who collects the work of the artist in question.