There follows an overview of CVNC‘s establishment with an action item and instructions at the end.
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The recent announcement that “Charlotte’s Creative Loafing, an alternative weekly founded in 1987, was sold [10/10] to SouthComm Inc., a Nashville, Tenn.-based publisher,” may presage changes in arts coverage in the Queen City – or maybe not. And now, in a new venture, the Charlotte Observer proposes to increase its arts coverage, thanks to commercial underwriting from a health-care provider – such a deal!
All this is a reminder, if one were needed, of the dog-eat-dog racket that is the newspaper business. It’s also a reminder that, but for Creative Loafing‘s corporate attitude, CVNC might never have been launched. It’s a story worth repeating for the benefit of folks who have joined us since 2001. In brief, soon after Spectator Magazine, the Triangle’s acknowledged a&e leader, was sold to CL, the new bosses sacked the classical music staff (Bill Walker & me) and hired a sports writer, thinking this would improve readership. Meanwhile, Independent Weekly abandoned classical music criticism soon after Spectator – and thus lost Elizabeth and Joe Kahn, who then joined in launching CVNC. Within just a few years, Spectator turned turtle, and the assets that remained – a name, basically, and some online archives – were sold to Independent, which some of us then encouraged to resume classical coverage – but to no avail.
CVNC was based on SFCV.org. The business plan has inspired others, including CVNewEngland and Classical Voice America. Our collective approach to the challenge of arts coverage encompasses key principles: all of these are non-profits, all are edited arts journals, as opposed to “everyone’s a critic” blogs, and all deliver quality services at minimal costs.
By and large, commercial papers serving important cities – papers that still have critics on staff – tend to promote only a handful of “major” arts groups -the ballet, the symphony, the opera, the big theatre, the museum of art. These outfits advertise in the daily, and for their investment they generally get the best coverage money can buy – regular previews & reviews. The other arts groups are lucky to get a mention in the daily once a year. On the other hand, we treat groups equally in both calendar listings and scheduling of reviews.
We also know the importance of training the next generation of critics – even if there’s little hope that they will work on the commercial side. We are running small internship programs at two colleges. We are committed to this because it grows a new generation of arts critics, it is in the long-term best interest of our profession, it helps our interns – all of whom are young performers – diversify their professional capabilities as they enter the job market, and it attracts younger audiences to performances while building CVNC‘s community – both readers and donors.
So, to recap, we have established CVNC as a thoroughly professional undertaking, with paid writers, paid editors, and paid staff. It is a journal, as opposed to an un-moderated blog. We involve the presenters in a professional way. We ask them to provide us listings – we could do data-mining but we want them to know what we are doing for them. We ask them to permit our critics access to performances – because if, like the NY Times, we purchased tickets for everything, we would need to halve the number of reviews we do to stay within budget constraints.
We expect our writers to avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest, to eschew perceptions of closeness to presenters, to honor the spirit of what we are attempting to do, and to advocate for CVNC – but with no overt effort to assist in marketing or fundraising. In exchange we provide as many engagements as we can afford, and we support our writers and back their right to state their opinions, even if those opinions do not please the presenters.
Having had a magazine publisher sell my contracted CD reviews to commercial sites and keep the revenue for himself, I made sure CVNC‘s approach to ownership of the reviews would be different. We commission the reviews, publish them, establish copyright in the compilations (and in the individual reviews, on behalf of the authors), and administer all further publication of the reviews, but the ownership rests with the authors, following our publication. We do not authorize publication elsewhere without the approval of the authors. Because we fund the reviews, edit them, and see them into publication, we require first publication rights, ample time after publication to notify the presenters that reviews have been published, and a waiting period – negotiable, but generally 30 days – following CVNC‘s publication prior to re-use of the material elsewhere.
I recap all this because we have so many writers who have joined us since Elizabeth, Joe, Bill, and I started this “little website,” as we once called it. We can’t do what we do without you. Thanks for helping us move it forward, and please help us sustain what we, together, have built.
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Since some of you may not have seen the Memorandum of Understanding, created by CVNC‘s Board of Directors, which articulates some of these concepts, I am attaching a recent revision of it here. It is meant to formalize our working arrangements and eliminate any possible misunderstandings as we move forward with new leadership starting next year.
We expect to make this agreement effective at the start of CY 2012.
Please acknowledge your understanding and agreement by emailing Carolyn Kohring at info@cvnc.org OR sending a signed copy back to her. She will maintain these files.
The directors are working on revisions of the mission statement, bylaws, and other documents, in the interest of promoting fuller understanding and a platform for growth in the years to come. We’ll share these with you as they are approved.
Thanks again for your ongoing support.
John Lambert, Executive Editor, CVNC
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Classical Voice of North Carolina, Inc., Memorandum of Understanding
Policy Statement: Relationships between CVNC and Its Freelance Writers
Classical Voice of North Carolina, Inc., a non-profit, online performing arts journal based in central North Carolina, engages various freelance writers to create the material it publishes.
Prerequisites for a CVNC freelance writer include 1) in-depth knowledge of the art discipline(s) for which engaged; 2) strong writing skills; 3) willingness to cooperate with editors and administrators as a “team player” in the sense of collegial give-and-take, compliance with deadlines, and timely response to inquiries related to material intended for publication; and 4) enthusiasm for CVNC and its approach to providing superior arts coverage in a non-profit, online setting.
A freelance writer thus engaged by CVNC is considered to be an independent contractor operating without benefit of an employment contract. CVNC’s engagement of a freelance writer to create this material does not create an employment relationship between CVNC and the freelance writer: CVNC is not the writer’s employer, and the writer is not an employee of CVNC.
Freelance writers serve at the pleasure of CVNC. There are no obligations, expressed or implied, pertaining to the freelance writer’s service, commitment, seniority, tenure, or any other aspect of the relationship of a freelance writer with CVNC.
CVNC requests services from freelance writers on a monthly basis or as-needed, generally in the form of calls for inputs. Freelance writers may also propose work for CVNC‘s consideration; the assignment editor is free to accept or reject such proposals. Upon assignment by CVNC, the freelance writer shall submit original work in accordance with the established deadlines, style guidelines, and formats. Because CVNC is an online journal using contemporary electronic media, freelance writers are expected to use personal equipment and software that meets or exceeds prevailing requirements for file transfer and posting.
Conflict-of-Interest Issues: If a freelance writer has any personal or professional involvement with an organization or group or artist under review by that writer, the writer should inform the editor at the time the assignment is made so it can be determined if the involvement or relationship would cause potential conflict-of-interest problems or if that relationship needs to be noted when the review is published.
Reviews of assigned performances are expected promptly. Our goal is to post reviews for continuing performances on the day following the assigned date and, for one-time performances, within 2 days. These expectations should be taken into consideration when responding to calls for inputs. If these goals cannot be met, please discuss alternatives with the assignment editor.
Freelance writers will be assigned one or more editors to serve as points-of-contact for submission of materials. The editor(s) are charged with performing conventional editorial functions to prepare copy for publication and other formatting functions specific to the online medium of CVNC. The active cooperation of freelance writers in the editing process is expected.
Within a reasonable time following publication of the work, CVNC will remit payment to the freelance writer. No taxes are withheld; CVNC will report income to the IRS on form 1099 MISC as required by law (currently applicable when fees are $600 or more in a calendar year). Writers are responsible for making any tax arrangements that may be required, including but not limited to the payment of estimated taxes due to the IRS or the applicable state department of revenue.
CVNC normally expects to publish the material its editors request as part of its assignment process. In the event CVNC is, for whatever reason, unable or unwilling to use material already submitted, a kill fee equal to 1/2 the then-current article or review fee will be remitted to the freelance writer during the next payment cycle. Otherwise, CVNC may as needed and without financial obligation cancel assignments that have not yet been undertaken.
Copyright exists in CVNC‘s compilation of the publication itself; CVNC administers copyright on behalf of the freelance writer, but ownership of material funded by CVNC remains that of the author. Material created for and funded by CVNC thus remains the intellectual property of the freelance writer, who may request that CVNC release the material on his/her behalf provided that no reuse is authorized within 30 days following CVNC‘s publication.
As part of its administration of copyright on behalf of the freelance writer, CVNC will discuss any requests for re-use (other than short quotes), whether commercial or not, with the freelance writer.
We do not authorize publication elsewhere without the approval of the authors. Because we fund the reviews, edit them, and see them into publication, we require first publication rights, ample time after publication to notify the presenters that reviews have been published, and a waiting period – negotiable, but generally 30 days – following CVNC‘s publication prior to re-use of the material elsewhere.
This policy may be updated at the discretion of the CVNC Board of Directors.
Please acknowledge your understanding and agreement by emailing Carolyn Kohring at info@CVNC OR sending a signed copy back to her. She will maintain these files.
(Revised November 2011.)
