Storyboard
Storyboard was the award-winning online journal and forum for critical thinking and provocative conversations at Carnegie Museum of Art. From 2014 to 2021, Storyboard published articles, photo essays, interviews, and more, that spoke to a local, national, and international arts readership.
When I joined the museum as associate editor in 2014, one of my mandates was to take the institution’s blog—which had primarily been used to promote programming and upcoming exhibitions—and transform it into a viable publishing platform. In a year’s time, I established a regular editorial schedule, published dozens of articles, photo essays, and interviews, and campaigned for staff buy-in to the blog as an outlet for staff to discus their work. Included below is timeline that outlines the key developmental milestones for the journal.
The journal was created to broaden cultural discourse around artistic practice, the museum’s collection, and the community the institution serves. Though housed within a museum, Storyboard often looked beyond the walls of the institution, well aware that art does not exist in a vacuum—it is tethered to time, place, reality, and more. In response, the journal published stories that were personal and political, exploratory and provocative—never shying away from topics that challenged how we think. The maxim of the journal was simple: Stories that matter, artfully told.
A Chorus of Voices
Since its inception, Storyboard foregrounded the thinking of artists, curators, writers, critics, and activists, with an emphasis on bringing marginalized voices to the fore. Of the journal’s more than 100 contributors, 20% were writers of color and 55% were women. Included below is a sampling of the wide range of authors that I commissioned, edited, and published during my tenure at the museum.
Antwaun Sargent, "Decoding the Black Bodies and Black Spaces of the Hill District." Photo courtesy of the author
Njaimeh Njie, "Defying the Erasure and Misrepresentation of Black Womanhood." Photograph courtesy of the artist
Pico Iyer, "Why We Travel: My Latest Passage to India."
Photograph by Brigitte Lacombe
Melissa Ragona, "Materiality, Lecture, and Game in the Work of Carolee Schneemann." Photograph courtesy of the author
Maira Kalman, "An Illustrated Voyage to the Black and Caspian Seas." Photograph courtesy of the artist
Damon Young, "View from the Hill: A Tale of Black Pittsburgh's Complicated Legacy." Photograph by Kristian Thacker
Leigh Alexander, "Second Lives: Who are We in the Virtual World?" Photograph courtesy of the author
Emmanuel Iduma, "The Sum of Encounters."
Photograph courtesy of the author
Marcus Rediker, "Vodou Surrealism."
Photograph courtesy of the author
Greg Tate, "Those Marvelous Things: Black Poets and Their Complex of Visual Songs." Photograph courtesy of the author
Jay Brown, "Pittsburgh to Cleveland: Four Decades of Rock 'n' Roll Anarchy." Photograph courtesy of the author
Frank Santoro, "A Radical Act: A Black Superhero Emerges in the Museum World." Photograph by Bryan Conley
Teenie Harris Essay Series
Early on in the development of Storyboard,
I commissioned six writers—Tameka Cage Conley,
Yona Harvey, Kelli Stevens Kane, Yvonne McBride,
Mark Clayton Southers, and Damon Young—to write essays in response to the social, cultural, and political content of images from the archive of famed Pittsburgh Courier photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris.
New Life in a Time of Heartache and Protest
The Missing Made Visible
The Chronicle of Alma Speed Fox
Beyond Urban Renewal: Fighting for the Future of the Hill District
View from the Hill: A Tale of Black Pittsburgh’s Complicated Legacy
Teenie Harris: The Lens That Rescued the Legacy
Original Series
The success of the Teenie Harris Essay Series enabled me to develop a small but focused group of original series.
A Timeline of Milestones
July 14, 2014
Goal: Transform Carnegie Museum of Art’s blog into a viable publishing platform.
Fall 2014
Publishing schedule is created; Google Analytics installed to establish a baseline readership.
January 2015
Teenie Harris Essay Series launches. Its success paves the way for the development of more original series.
May 2015
CMOA Blog is redesigned; informally launches at Superscript: Arts Journalism and Criticism conference at Walker Art Center.
January 2017
CMOA Blog rebranded as Storyboard, positioning it as an authoritative arts journal. Weekly publishing begins.
January 17, 2019
In response to museum capacity, Storyboard is reimagined as a quarterly journal, a decision made to safeguard editorial standards while insuring long-term sustainability.
August 15, 2019
Storyboard is designated as a program of the museum and assigned an annual operating budget.
May 2015–2016
After a strong year of publishing, a readership is established. Four stories are shortlisted for Golden
Quill Awards.
Winter 2020
After more than five years of building a readership and refining its editorial model, Storyboard enters second year of publishing as a quarterly journal.
Top image: Noah and Harrison resting before the Clairton Bears’ game. Photograph by Stephanie Strasburg.