Independent arts in The Toe Rag magazine
Launched in 2023, The Toe Rag magazine covers independent arts in London and beyond. It’s distributed for free in a range of not-for-profit arts venues, and the magazine exists to support the activities of those same institutions.
In the podcast episode above, editor Sophie Barshall speaks about her decision to leap into magazine publishing, determined that she wouldn’t be put off by the things that she knew she didn’t know. Presenting arts listings alongside long-form writing and newspaper ephemera (think horoscopes, a crossword, and even a page three girl) she and the rest of the editorial team are creating a magazine that feels totally original.
And they’re doing it all for free, but don’t call The Toe Rag a passion project: “I really hate when people say that because I think it undermines the labour that goes into something like this,” she says. “The only way to make this sort of work right now is to be unpaid. So the choice is either, you do it unpaid, or you don’t do it at all.”
As you’ll hear from our conversation, she’s finding a way of making it work. The Toe Rag is distributed for free and funded via advertising, which is an incredibly difficult trick to pull off for a small independent. She speaks about the importance of understanding the value that print advertising can bring, particularly for big luxury brands, and she says they still appreciate the cultural capital that a small magazine can carry.
She’s been thrown out of Frieze London; she’s begged a pub to let her store her magazines there; and she’s pressed her parents into service, driving her around London to deliver thousands of copies. And all of that goes into defining The Toe Rag magazine’s particular insurgent energy.
I loved hearing Sophie talk about her mission to publish The Toe Rag and I hope you enjoy it too. We have hundreds more conversations with independent magazine makers in our podcast archive, and if you follow us on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts we’ll be able to deliver our new episodes to you as soon as they’re ready.
