Welcome to Billie: Visual ∙ Culture ∙ Atlantic. Billie won’t be wholly new to most of you, but we are making some changes beyond the website/magazine’s name.

Billie, of course, is a known quantity. Under the name Billie: Undercurrents in Atlantic Canadian Culture the magazine was issued five times since its initial publication in 2016. While it has been on hiatus since late 2017, we have reimagined the publication as a vehicle to support, debate and document the exciting and diverse activity in Atlantic Canada’s visual culture.

Billie, supported by the philanthropy of the family of the late Marion “Billie” McCain, exists to serve Atlantic Canada’s artists and arts communities. And while we definitely believe that a physical magazine has a big part to play in that support, we also feel that an dynamic website, featuring timely and responsive reviews, as well as other forms of content, such as interviews and feature articles, are important ways to keep the conversations going. We will record what has happened, but also, as things roll out, Billie will provide a venue to discuss what is happening.

This site will feature new content every month. Articles, interviews, and reviews from the original issues of Billie will also become available here. This initial iteration features three new reviews from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and New Brunswick. The familiar critical voices of Virgil Hammock and Craig Francis Power are here joined by a relatively new one in Julia MacMillan. I am sure you will enjoy their takes on the exhibitions they examine.

Billie has been, and will remain, a platform for the best arts writing about the culture of our region. I’m excited about working with established writers, and in being part of developing new voices from across our communities.

I hope that you share Billie widely, and that you return to the site regularly. There will be new content often, including sections we are developing on news and issues in the region, an events calendar, and longer articles and interviews. Billie will also feature book reviews and other writing that continues to explore the notion of a “Visual Culture Atlantic.”

And what about the physical magazine? Well, I invite you to stay tuned about that.

Ray Cronin

Editor, Billie: Visual ∙ Culture ∙ Atlantic