Big news! We're publishing a print magazine!

Pre-order ‘Playground’, a fresh, new bi-annual magazine for imaginative minds

Playground friends,

I started this year promising myself to serve quality over quantity when creating content (hence, this newsletter’s schedule sometimes fails). I also started the year with the goal of launching a publication built on the same values I’ve dreamt about for so long. I am very very very happy to share the news today — we (studio playground) are publishing a print magazine!

Playground is a fresh, new bi-annual magazine for imaginative minds. Featuring thought-provoking essays, engaging conversations and an assortment of “creative quickies”, it’s an honest, and at times, opinionated exploration of the creative mind and process. Packed full of smart insights and egoless advice, Playground is a must-read for those working in, or curious about, Europe’s vibrant culture and creative industries. 

About Issue 1

For its inaugural 112-page issue, more than 30 creatives from around Europe, including writers, illustrators, photographers and makers from Georgia, Ukraine, Lithuania, to Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK, contributed to bring the magazine to life. You can read more about the issue vie the pre-order link below.

While the magazine is at the printing house (so scary!) I wanted to share more about why and what, and I believe I best captured my thoughts and feelings about it in my Editor-in-Chief letter. So here’s an extract from it:

“You might be asking, "Why a magazine? Do you believe in print these days?" I get asked this a lot. I always reply that I think the role of print media, be it a magazine or a book, has changed. A print publication, for me, is a manifesto of an individual, a team, or many collaborators. I believe a print magazine acts as both - a way to nurture a community of like-minded people, as well as a piece of art or even a time capsule around which many creatives — writers, photographers, designers, editors, and producers — collaborate to capture the essence of the now.

Playground is one such manifesto for the creative industries. If, these days, social media is a lot about ego — this publication aims to be the soul. Talking to many of my friends and collaborators within the creative and communication industries, most agree and often share untold ideas I wanted to pack in Playground; that there is a lot of prestige, gatekeeping, and even silly competitiveness. While creativity is one of the most powerful tools to innovate and create for good, many of us still fall into the trap of using it for only our own good. I wanted to create Playground to go beyond that exclusiveness and get behind the scenes of many creative peoples’ and communities' minds and ideas. It's a magazine with honesty, curiosity and playfulness at the heart.”

Playground newsletter won't go behind the paywall in any near future, so if you ever felt like supporting my work and what I am trying to build with a team at studio playground, who work so hard on this magazine, your support towards purchasing the issue would be the biggest win. It’s the biggest independent project I have ever worked on, and it’s been quite an experience. Uncomfortable, yet life-changing.

I am so proud and thankful to the team, contributors, mentors, those who proofread, agreed to give interviews, say yes to stock it, and to all who believed in this idea before even seeing it in life. <3

Pre-orders should reach you before the Winter Holidays, making it a perfect end-of-the-year, the beginning of the next read, despite its timeless ideas. We are going to fully launch the magazine early December, so you can sneak peak inside, and maybe join a launch party.

It's a big Friday. I could call this magazine my Friday project, and I hope, and I wish, it has this fresh Friday feeling when you meet a friend after work and honestly share the ins and outs of your experiences.

I will resume to a regular schedule soon. As for now, thanks for reading, supporting, and engaging.

Happy Friday,

Austė & the team

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Playground Magazine Team

Creative Director & Editor-in-Chief Austė Skrupskytė Cullbrand

Art Direction & Design Deimantė Saulytė & Mykolas Saulytis

Editor Sophie Miskiw

Business Development & Distribution Nino Katcheishvili 

Publisher studio playground

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P.S. You can follow us on Instagram while we slowly release more of what you can find in the magazine before its launch in the first week of December.