project leader
Lindsey M
location
201 East Markham
(not applicable)
latest update rss
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the project

The Arkansas Times has been reporting on issues important to the LGBTQ community since our first year of publication in 1974, starting with a story on a gay couple in Little Rock. We’ve written about the difficulties people have had coming out to their families and their employers. About the fight by same-sex couples to foster and adopt children. About churches that welcome the LGBTQ community to worship, the need for anti-discrimination laws, the rights of people to marry whom they wish so that they may enjoy all the rights that heterosexual couples enjoy — these and all other topics of concern to those who suffer discrimination because of who they are and who they love.

The need to cover LGBTQ news has only increased after the massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando and as state legislatures, including our own, have turned their attention to denying LGBTQ people of their rights and equal protections. For many in the LGBTQ community, the fight isn’t over who to love — it’s how to simply exist.

That’s why, last year, the Arkansas Times announced plans to expand that coverage with the launch of Out in Arkansas, a series of LGBTQ-focused stories with the aim of ultimately building a separate publication. It’s now time to increase our commitment to Out in Arkansas with a stand-alone website that will publish content every day, some of which will also appear on the Arkansas Times website and weekly print edition. We also will produce Out in Arkansas as a print magazine twice a year.

Out in Arkansas will be both a safe place and an act of protest. It will be a crossroads of the complex and ongoing stories that lace our statewide community and also an act of defiance to those who would have us shrink back from their view. It will be a space in which all are welcome, and it will my job to make sure that all are reflected in its pages. By embracing the incredible racial, generational, political, geographic, gender and socioeconomic diversity of our community, both in terms of contributors and in content, Out in Arkansas will be able to strengthen not only our own community, but be able to prove that diversity is key to creating a better society for all. We’ll cover stories that relate to all facets of life in the LGBTQ community — political, social, cultural. It’ll be a forum for celebration and will highlight those of us who are in need of support. It will be crucial to focus on all corners of our state, finding the stories of communities that are both rural and urban, and uniting them through their stories. The lives of LGBTQ Arkansans in all corners of our state are worth sharing and celebrating. 

the steps

To launch Out in Arkansas, we will need to raise enough money to pay an editor a salary, build a modern website and cultivate a broad network of freelancers. 

why we're doing it

To get to the finish line, we need your help. Like most small publishers, the Arkansas Times survives on a slim margin. We can’t afford to bear costs for a new internal startup on our own, but the need for Out in Arkansas is great, and that’s why we’re reaching out to you. We are optimistic that, once established, this effort could be supported largely, or maybe even entirely, through advertising sales, but for our startup year, we’re seeking funding to pay an editor a salary, cover overhead costs, pay for web development and support a network of freelance writers, photographers and videographers. We’re looking to raise $125,000, which will buy us time to establish, grow and sell our effort.

Because we’re raising money through the nonprofit crowdfunding platform ioby.com, all donations are tax deductible. 

Out in Arkansas’ mission is to provide a base of information for the LGBTQ community, not only in Little Rock and Fayetteville and Eureka Springs, but throughout our state, including the rural areas that traditionally receive little coverage. In a world where knowledge is both power and saving grace, we have a responsibility to our neighbors.

With this in mind, Out in Arkansas and Arkansas Times will provide the stage — then to get out of the way and let our LGBTQ community sing. Sometimes the songs will make us smile and sometimes they’ll make us cry, but trust us: We’ve heard them, and they deserve to be heard by a broader audience. With your help, we’re going to find the people with stories that need to be heard and we’re going to say, “Here’s the microphone. Take it. It’s yours.’”

budget

DISBURSED BUDGET 1.18.23

 



TOTAL RAISED = $19,075.00
ioby Fiscal Sponsorship Fee (5%)  
ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $572.25
ioby Administration Fee (10%) $1,907.50
TOTAL TO DISBURSE= $16,595.25

 

ORIGINAL BUDGET

Like most small publishers, the Arkansas Times survives on a slim margin. We can’t afford to bear costs for a new internal startup on our own. But we are optimistic that, once established, this effort could be supported largely, or maybe even entirely, through advertising sales. We’re seeking funding to support the project for our startup year. That timeline should give us plenty of time to sell and grow the effort. To hire a rising star as editor, cover overhead costs, pay for web development and support a network of freelance writers and videographers, we’re looking to raise $125,000. 



SUBTOTAL = $125,000
ioby Platform Fee  $35
3rd Party Payment Processing Fee (3%) $3,750
TOTAL TO RAISE = $128,785

 

updates

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photos

This is where photos will go once we build flickr integration

donors

  • Britt S.
  • Bob R.
  • V.L. Cox
  • Elizabeth H.
  • Ted H.
  • Melissa M.
  • Regan G.
  • Anonymous
  • Suzanne Overgaard
  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous
  • Larissa Barry
  • Ronnie C.
  • Dave L.
  • Sam Eifling
  • Jim Gaylord Wright
  • Jackie F.
  • G. Allen
  • Anonymous
  • StefieG
  • Rickey Medlock / Scott Heffington
  • Scott A. Childress
  • mellis s.
  • Kathleen C.
  • Suzanne Overgaard
  • Brenda
  • Bruce & Carol Thomasson
  • Trasa H.
  • Brian Turner
  • Perlman/Fuscoe
  • BG Woody
  • Caitlin
  • Steve Davison
  • Bob R.
  • Jo Ann B.
  • Chad Rodgers & Eric McDaniel
  • Anonymous
  • YellerKitty
  • Jerry C.
  • Susan Hestir
  • Cory & Travis
  • Jan D
  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous
  • heather miles
  • Sheila and Richard Bronfman
  • Michael Walsh
  • Chuck Cliett
  • Anonymous
  • Jay B.
  • Ted Holder & Joe van den Heuvel
  • Julian Williams
  • Brett Edwards
  • Angela & Rebecca Frazier
  • Kyle Boswell and Dr. Jon Mourot
  • Rob N.
  • Kathy W.
  • Harold T.
  • John Gaudin and Corky Patton
  • Catherine Crisp
  • Anonymous