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artsVest in Waterloo Region

The New Quarterly Literary Society & emerge2digital inc.

“We went looking for silver and struck gold,” Kim Jernigan, editor of The New Quarterly, sums up the magazine's artsVest adventure.

Small arts organizations tend to doubt that a hero with deep pockets will suddenly appear out of nowhere. Then artsVest came to town – perfect timing for a magazine poised to celebrate 25 years of award-winning publishing with a stellar 100^th issue – and the challenge was on. The question was, how do you find that supportive local business partner who's just as excited about your project as you are?

With the artsVest deadline looming, our first potential partner declined. Undaunted, board chair Bruce Johnstone shared the magazine's story with former neighbours at a Christmas party. Dan and Monica Reid, co-founders of emerge2digital, a Waterloo-based web marketing company, were intrigued.

So intrigued, in fact, the Reids opened their office Boxing Day to help the magazine's board members draft a plan. Forty-eight hours later, The New Quarterly submitted its artsVest application, and the rest is history. In the following months, emerge2 more than matched the artsVest grant by donating professional services that began with branding exercises and ended in a new web design.

The New Quarterly's website, www.tnq.ca, is now powered by emerge2's user friendly “bongo4u” program.

What else did the literati learn along the way? “It's relationships that count,” Johnstone reflects. “The Reids helped to move us forward in ways we hadn't dared imagine.” What role did artsVest play in all this? “The program encouraged us to get out there and tell our story,” Jernigan adds. “The great thing is, you never know who might be listening.”