A message from Art Saves Lives editor, Ben Weakley about our open submissions period.
We build community one story, one voice, at a time.
In February this year, my dear friend and colleague Seema Reza entrusted me to be the editor of an essay series that enacted a bold vision.
Art Saves Lives is a re-imagining of This I Believe, Edward Murrow’s classic collection of radio essays, gathering the beliefs of ordinary Americans in powerful, distilled form. Art Saves Lives begins with the premise that each of us has a creative spirit, a voice worthy of expression. Furthermore, it is this expression, in whatever form it takes, that frees us, that makes us whole, and that connects us with others in our shared humanity.
Here is something I’ve come to believe. In divided times, artists, poets, and storytellers become more important than ever. It is their capacity for truth-telling in harmony with tenderness that shows us the way to a better future, even when a future seems impossible to imagine.
Something else I know to be true: each one of us contains an artist, a poet, a storyteller. Put another way, you have a something to say, a truth that only your voice can express.
I’m hoping you’ll share your voice with us. Our first ever Art Saves Lives call for submissions begins today. We want your essay and visual art; until December 31st every submission we receive will be considered for future publication in the series, which goes out in this newsletter (read by over 4,000 subscribers), on our blog, and is distributed across our social media channels which have a combined reach of over 1.5 million.
Visit the Art Saves Lives submission page, read the guidelines, and send us your work. I can’t wait to see what you have to say.
Ben Weakley
Director of Development
Community Building Art Works
Editor, Art Saves Lives
Ben Weakley spent fourteen years in the U.S. Army, beginning with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and finishing at a desk inside the Pentagon. He writes poetry and prose about the enduring nature of war and the human experience for veterans, their families, and anyone who would help them bear witness to war and its aftermath.
A believer in the power of words to empower and heal, Ben leads writing workshops for Active Duty Military, Veterans, their families and caregivers, as well as Frontline Health Care Workers and other communities of ordinary people bearing witness to a difficult world.
Ben lives in the Tri-Cities of Northeast Tennessee with his wife, two children, and a well-meaning but poorly behaved hound-dog.
I’m a little confused because when directed to this page for submission information I cannot find any. I am curious about whether fiction is acceptable and also word count and any other requirements such as prohibitions on simultaneous submission to other publications. Any information you might share is welvcome.
Hi Tony, Thanks for reaching out. This blog post gives a little bit of an overview of the type of things we are looking for. The actual submissions form is linked to here:
For writing: https://bit.ly/artsaveslives_submitessay
For visual art: https://bit.ly/artsaveslives_artwork
As far as your other questions, we will check with our editor and get back to you within the next day or so!
Hi again Tony! Checked with Ben Weakley (our fearless editor 😊) and he said that we will consider submissions that are simultaneously send to other pubs, so feel free to submit that kind of thing here. Fiction is not something we will be accepting, as we want to stick to prose essay. Let us know if you have any other questions. You can reply to the comments, or email info@cbaw.org. We will also update this post to clarify all of this as soon as possible. Thanks for pointing out our clarity issue so we can fix it!