KCAC’s bi-monthly art magazine, invites artists and writers to submit work for publication through our Open Call.

We welcome photographic essays that communicate ideas visually, creative writing that explores storytelling and artistic expression, academic essays that contribute to critical discourse, and poetry that captures the depth and diversity of artistic voices.

Selected contributors will be awarded a published feature in Forum magazine and receive five copies for their archive.

Apply to the FORUM Open Call

More information about the open call below.

Forum’s content includes a mix of critical art reviews, essays, art, creative writing, poetry, artist profiles, and interviews.

Photographic Essays

Forum will include photographic essays that communicate a message primarily through image. These essays may include artworks, exhibitions, or curated images. Including photographic essays will allow readers of The Forum to interpret the images for themselves. 

Essays: Creative and Academic

Creative Writing Essays prioritize artistic expression, imagination, and narrative flair. Unlike academic essays, which focus on presenting arguments or analyzing information, creative writing essays are characterized by their emphasis on storytelling, vivid language, and emotional resonance.

Key elements:

1. Narrative Freedom: Creative writing essays offer writers the freedom to explore a wide range of topics, themes, and styles. Whether it's fiction, memoir, poetry, or hybrid forms, writers have the flexibility to experiment with different narrative structures and techniques to convey their ideas and experiences.

2. Imaginative Expression: Creative writing essays encourage writers to tap into their imagination and creativity to craft compelling narratives and vivid descriptions. Writers often use literary devices such as metaphor, simile, imagery, and symbolism to bring their stories to life and evoke emotion in their readers.

3. Personal Voice: Creative writing essays often reflect the unique voice and perspective of the writer. Whether writing in the first-person or third-person, writers infuse their essays with their own personality, experiences, and insights, creating a sense of intimacy and authenticity that resonates with readers.

4. Emotional Resonance: One of the primary goals of creative writing essays is to evoke emotion in the reader. Writers achieve this through the use of evocative language, compelling characters, and poignant storytelling that taps into universal themes of love, loss, identity, and belonging.

5. Exploration of Themes: Creative writing essays often explore complex themes and ideas in depth, allowing writers to delve into the nuances of human experience and societal issues. Whether exploring themes of justice, redemption, alienation, or the search for meaning, creative writing essays offer writers a platform to engage with important questions and ideas.

6. Aesthetic Beauty: Creative writing essays pay careful attention to the aesthetic quality of language and imagery. Writers use descriptive language, sensory details, and evocative imagery to create a vivid and immersive reading experience that transports readers to another world or invites them to see familiar experiences in a new light.

7. Artistic Experimentation: Creative writing essays encourage writers to experiment with different forms, styles, and techniques. From traditional narrative prose to experimental poetry to multimedia storytelling, writers have the opportunity to push the boundaries of conventional writing and explore innovative ways of expressing their ideas and stories.

Academic Essays are formal writings that present and defend a thesis or argument based on research and analysis. These essays explore complex ideas, advance knowledge, and contribute to intellectual discourse.

Key Elements:

1. Clear Thesis Statement: Academic essays typically begin with a clear and concise thesis statement that presents the main argument or central claim of the essay. This thesis statement guides the direction of the essay and provides a framework for the analysis and discussion that follows.

2. Evidence-Based Argumentation: Academic essays are grounded in evidence obtained through research, observation, or analysis. Writers support their arguments with credible sources, including academic articles, books, primary sources, and empirical data, and use logical reasoning to interpret and analyze this evidence.

3. Critical Analysis: Academic essays involve critical analysis and evaluation of the evidence presented. Writers examine the strengths and weaknesses of different perspectives, theories, or interpretations, and present a well-reasoned argument supported by careful analysis and synthesis of the available evidence.

4. Engagement with Existing Scholarship: Academic essays engage with existing scholarship within the field or discipline, demonstrating awareness of relevant theories, concepts, and debates. Writers situate their arguments within the broader scholarly conversation, acknowledging and building upon the work of others while also offering new insights or perspectives.

Poetry

Forum will include poetry as KCAC seeks to be inclusive of the many artists in our community that choose the written word and poetry as their medium. Poetry allows artists to express emotions and experiences, preserve cultural heritage, explore identity and diversity, reflect on social and political issues, celebrate language and creativity, and foster cultural exchange and understanding. 

Be Seen. Be Published.

Have your artwork featured on Forum’s cover and reach an engaged audience of collectors, artists, and arts enthusiasts.

Submit Here

Forum seeks writing that expands, interrogates, enlightens, and enriches the visual and literary arts community in our region. To contribute an article, interview, profile, or exhibition review to Forum, send a pitch to forum@kansascityartistscoalition.org with the subject line “Pitch.”

Please include a brief description of what you would like to write, a brief bio, and a writing sample that reflects your best work. We will do our best to respond to pitches within two weeks.

Forum pays contributors for assigned content such as Critical Art Reviews, Artist Profiles, and Conversations (i.e. Interviews).

Our standard rates are:

$100 for snap reviews (250-300 words)

$150 for short reviews, brief essays, articles (400-750 words)

$200 for long reviews, essays, reported stories (800+ words)

In every issue of Forum, we publish a Readers’ Forum. This is an opportunity for readers to respond and broaden the diverse perspectives offered in our pages.

If you have a response to something published in Forum, we ask that you submit it via this form.

Please note, Readers’ Forum submissions may be edited for clarity and brevity.

If you are a curator, artist, gallery representative, artist-run space, or a reading series organizer, we want to know what is on your calendar in the next few months! We publish a selection of upcoming exhibitions to feature in Forum. Please email your upcoming exhibitions and events to forum@kansascityartistscoalition.org with the subject line “Exhibitions and Events.”

Want to help us keep our magazine ad free and accessible to all? Become a sponsor today and support arts and humanities writing in our region!

Contact us at forum@kansascityartistscoalition.org