Taking place on August 26 and 27, 2012 at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, MagFest coincides with the wider season of arts and cultural events that collectively make up the Edinburgh Festival, the largest annual cultural festival in the world.
MagFest aims to reach out to writers, editors and designers by sharing expert knowledge and magazine publishing successes from Scotland, the UK and around the world. It is supported by PPA strategic partners Pensord and Primitive Media, and will comprise creative workshops, an industry conference and an inspirational exhibition co-curated specifically for the event by Jeremy Leslie of magCulture, London and Andrew Losowsky of The Huffington Post, New York.
The magCulture exhibition will be located in the impressive Ozone space at Our Dynamic Earth and will feature 40 stunning national and international magazines, all exemplifying excellence in magazine design. The exhibition opens to the public at noon on Sunday, August 26 and entry is free to MagFest delegates.
Kathy Crawford Hay, Business Manager of PPA Scotland, said: “We are so proud to launch the UK's first festival dedicated to magazines. At MagFest we aim to build a platform that not only promotes publishing in Scotland but also provides a showcase for national and international titles and reaches out to a new generation of creative writers, editors and designers.”
“As well as our practical industry sessions, MagFest will be a hub for sharing ideas and networking with peers and investors. We believe this new event will provide an invaluable opportunity for Scotland’s publishing sector to interact with influencers at a global level, and for the international publishing and creative community to come together in celebration of magazines.”
The workshops will be held on the afternoon of August 26 and will provide a unique opportunity to learn from experts in the fields of magazine design and editorial. As well as people already working in the publishing industry, up-and-coming designers and writers are also encouraged to attend.
Led by Jeremy Leslie of magCulture, the design workshop will cover the principles of magazine design and features a hands-on masterclass in magazine cover layout with Matthew Ball, former Art Director of Rolling Stone magazine, and other design experts.
The editorial workshop, How to Get Published, brings together a wealth of experience from award-winning magazine editors from New York and the UK in a forum that aims to stimulate budding writers and equip them with the knowledge they need to get published.
The MagFest industry day features speaker sessions covering the hot topics in magazine publishing today: Entrepreneurship in Publishing; The Digital Dialogue; Serious Business of Making Money; 2020Vison – the future. Confirmed speakers include publishing heavyweights and high-fliers including: Christopher Ward, Redwood; John Bird MBE, The Big Issue; Chris van der Kuyl, brightsolid; Andrew Losowsky, Huffington Post; Max von Abendroth, European Magazine Media Association; Matt Phare, ShortList Media; Barry McIlheney, PPA and Richard Nicholls, Future Foundation.
MagFest has been generously supported by Acorn Web Offset, Adestra, CMYK Design, DC Thomson, Edinburgh Napier University, Holyrood Communications, Matthew Ball Design, MCL Edinburgh, Menzies Distribution, Our Dynamic Earth, Pensord, Primitive Media, Professional Publishers Association (PPA), Stephens & George Print Group, The Drum, UPM and White Light Media.
Tickets for the event will be available for purchase at the MagFest website at www.magfest.co.uk and the latest updates on the event are available via @MagazineFest on Twitter.
About PPA
The PPA says: “The PPA promotes and protects the interests of print and online publishers of consumer and business media in the UK. The PPA has around 200 publishing companies in its membership, which collectively produce more than 2,500 consumer and business magazines and journals as well as digital media, data products and events.”
About PPA Scotland
The PPA says: “PPA Scotland represents some 25 member organisations from the Scottish magazine publishing and printing industry. The Chairman of PPA Scotland is Helenor Gilmour, Head of Brand & Consumer Insight, DC Thomson, Dundee. PPA Scotland Business Manager is Kathy Crawford Hay.”
