Hail fellow dilettantes,

About this time of year we would normally be releasing a new issue, but instead we are writing to you to announce a BRIEF PAUSE before Dilettante Army’s next act. Like the backstage rustling that broadcasts a change of scenery, or the low intake of breath between stanzas, for the next several months DA will be working behind the scenes on a transition.

This project has worn several hats already. We started as a running blog in 2013, and over the last dozen years we have started a Tumblr, held many events, cooked public dinners, and opened a conceptual online store. Since 2018, we have published quasi-quarterly themed magazine issues, but that part of our project has now come to an end.

We, your team of volunteer editors, are quite proud of the work we’ve done as a little magazine. We’ve been able to foster newer voices and give emerging writers the experience of an edited publication, and we’ve also been able to work with veteran writers and thinkers, including some that (to us, at least) are famous. We’re grateful to have learned so much from all these brilliant contributors. DA has given a home to things that we can’t find elsewhere, and through that we have developed a wry critical sensibility that isn’t quite like anything else.

We are interested in carrying this sensibility forward and seeing how we can grow it in new ways, and we will be on hiatus while we figure out what that next phase looks like. There are a lot of closings in the news these days—publications, educational institutions, ethical horizons—and we want to be clear that this is not one of those closings. This is a thoughtful transition to a new kind of publication. 

For now, the website will remain as it is, and we will be back in touch later this year, when we have something new to report. We’re so thankful for the community of smart, kind, fascinating people that has sprung up around this project and we’re eager to bring you our next idea. With our gratitude for your support and patience: please stay tuned during this BRIEF PAUSE. 

Yours,

The DA editors

(Sara Clugage, Christine Elliott, Rebecca Ariel Porte)

Image: Franck Bohbot, Le Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique de Paris, France, 2011