New look, same values

The technology which powers our journalism and your experience has been struggling for some years. This new site runs on a brand new platform bringing improvements beyond a new look.

• The site, and the accompanying newsletters, now work more intuitively on mobile meaning you should always see the freshest content first.
• Opinion has its own section. In a period of great change for the arts, we want to elevate conversation pieces that help shape our sector.
• News and features contain clearly tagged editorial topics. If you want to read all content on devolved governments, the latest on digital & data, or to deep dive into place-making, you’ll find them and more.
• Content, particularly data journalism, has more space to breathe – for example the recent article on RAAC closures. The site now also supports audio and video content.
• Whatever the subject of the day, you will find collated topical content using the hashtag in the top menu. At launch, perhaps inevitably, it’s #ArtsFunding.

Newsletters

• News, features and opinion are now delivered together on both Wednesdays and Fridays, with the ever-popular Changing Faces section also included in the Tuesday jobs mailing. Events, courses and other opportunities will now land in your inbox on Thursdays.
• Reading newsletters, signing up and subscribing will be a smoother experience on mobile and you have greater control.
• We will also be introducing breaking news email alerts – with readers able to control whether or not to receive them.

A more flexible paywall

The paywall – essential to funding our independent journalism – was previously activated on all news stories and locked down features after a period of time. Instead, from later this week it will allow readers two free articles a month from anywhere on the site.

UK-based subscribers can choose to pay their subscription by card or direct debit from their bank account. We are investigating flexible payment options for the future.

Organisations now have more visibility of who is using their shared subscription via the My Account section. The lead subscriber can add or remove colleagues, and there’s a self-service link which can be shared on your intranet.

Editorial partners

Articles by our editorial partners, who do so much to support the future of AP, will continue to sit outside the paywall. You’ll find their logos at the bottom of each page linking to their latest articles. These pages are packed with sector insights and expertise so do take a look.

Jobs and events

We have upgraded the presentation of jobs and events listings and, as part of our commitment to supporting freelancers, we plan to introduce a freelance services directory.

We continue to offer some of the most affordable listings services in the sector, reaching a highly engaged readership. Advertisers can now choose to pay online by card or by invoice.

More social media channels

Social media platforms can be ethical minefields. Arts Professional wants to be where its readers are so, for now, we are staying on the main social platforms.

To help readers connect with us wherever they are, we have recently started posting to both Threads and Bluesky.

Continues…

Support Arts Professional

If you value Arts Professional, there are some things you can do to support us:

• Subscribe to Arts Pro. We have thousands of actively subscribed readers – thank you. We ask organisations with the biggest budgets to contribute the most, please respect that. Subscription prices have either been frozen or risen below inflation for many years, we will continue to try to hold those costs down.
• Write for Arts Professional. Contact the editorial team about what’s on your mind – we aim to reflect a broad range of voices.
• If you apply for a job or attend an event based on a listing on Arts Pro, please tell the organisation where you saw the listing to give them confidence to advertise with us again.
• Advertise with us to reach this large and highly-engaged readership.
• Share your perspective. Comment on any news story or feature.

Finally, thank you for reading and for your feedback. The Arts Professional team is always keen to hear from you.

A new site is a new start and a new look but our values remain the same – independence, integrity, collaboration, curiosity and topicality. These founding principles continue to guide our work.

Our thanks go to Ryan, Danny and all the team at the County Durham-based web agency Creator who worked with us to create this new site.