Proposal: Freak Flag

Anya Kanevsky

Describe your project.
Our goal (our dream, really!) is to publish a free, independent quarterly newspaper in Boston. We’re calling it Freak Flag. Our project serves two purposes: to showcase the varied musical, artistic, journalistic and literary talent thriving in Boston, and to act as a resource for information (and, we hope, entertainment) to locals and passers-through.

How will you use the grant to make your idea happen?
If awarded a grant, we would use the money to print the inaugural issue of Freak Flag. We are also planning a benefit show to supplement cost of printing. Though we are not opposed to traditional advertising, we feel it will be easier to get local businesses on board once our idea is a tangible piece of media and hope to run our first issue ad-free. We are working with a local printer in Saugus, Massachusetts. The total cost of printing the first issue would be $698.

Why and to whom is your project important?
We grew up here, we love it here, but we’ve always felt like something was missing. The various (and often incredible) scenes are scattered at best, and transient at worst. Merging DIY ethics with our interests in the craft of traditional publishing, we hope to make the Boston scene relevant in a national dialogue, and give the talent in this city the respect it has always deserved.

We hope to add to the voices of existing publications in Boston: we feel that the heavy-hitters (like the Weekly Dig and the Phoenix) don’t always represent the scenes that we experience in this city. When they do report on what’s going on underground, it can feel like secondhand news. At the same time, we are to work with fellow small publications: we are collaborating on content with Counter Cultural Compass, Primordial Sounds, the Dreamhouse Collective, Boston Hassle, alongside original contributions from local artists and writers.

If you win, what is the expected status of your project by the time the next Feast Mass rolls around in 3–4 months?
Over the last six months we have been collecting and commissioning artwork and writing for our first issue. We expect to have printed and distributed the first issue by the time the next Feast Mass meets.