About Us

There’s a lot going on in the world of arts and culture. Must-see exhibitions, the latest band’s intimate gig; clever poetry slams, exilerating dance -  must-see exhibitions with a band, a poet and dancing. We’re spoilt for choice.

So how do we navigate our way around this smorgasbord of culture? How to decide where to go, who to read about, which opinion stands out, the event that we’ll be talking about for months. We almost need a cultural compass. Hang on….

This was our lightbulb moment, and we liked it so much that we’ve been developing Culture Compass. As well as being our up-dated and refreshed online arts and culture magazine ( formerly Open Magazine ) it’s a new application for  internet and mobile devices allowing users to fully engage and inter-act with the cultural landscape. And, here’s the good bit, to help create it. For more information on our new app and how to get involved, click here.

And for those of you who know us as Open Magazine, our ethos hasn’t changed. We’re still all about bringing you a blend of the high arts and popular culture, with no judgement on whether it’s ‘ the right thing’ to like. Soaps, Reality TV and pop all rub along with performance art, classical music and literature here. This has always been the case on Open Magazine, and it’s even more relevant now that the arts genres mash up and cross-over more than ever.

We’ve added new sections too: Trends, News, Lifestyle and IMHO. Trends, because we like to see the theme in what’s going on, and as well as report on the ‘what’ the ‘when’ and the ‘who’ we love to ask ‘why?’
And IMHO is, literally, just that. In My Humble Opinion is the writer’s view, place to rant, Editor’s musings. It’s the blog, if you will, whereas everywhere else we try to remain objective and balanced.

Everything is, as always, original. All our own work. If we get our information from another source we’ll say so. Sometimes we’ll run Sponsored Posts, but these are always clearly marked as such. Please read our Editorial Policy for more information.

As you can see, we’re still in beta, so please bear with us whilst we tweak certain bits and bobs, get to know our way around.  And please give us feedback. We’d love to know your views on the new site, and also what you’d like to see. We are, as ever, open….