Insider: Intern magazine

We delivered Intern magazine to Stack subscribers in summer 2014, and we’re very excited to see this year’s issue hitting the shelves. As its name suggests, the magazine is themed around internships, highlighting the work of young creatives while providing an approachable way to debate the rights and wrongs of working for free.

Issue four launches today, so we caught up with editor Alec Dudson to hear about the ideas and influences that went into making it. If you’re in London you can see Alec speaking at the magCulture store on Thursday night this week, and if you’re elsewhere look out for copies coming to a magazine shop near you, or order one in the Intern online shop.

In the making of this issue I:

Explored… Career paths in the creative industries. Having looked at education last time around, this seemed a logical next step and was a popular subject during our call for submissions. All too often, it’s a stage in people’s lives that can be daunting, but the message in this issue is that the choice should be empowering.

Listened to… I exchange playlists with a handful of friends and they all end up influencing one another, this one from a couple of months ago has probably been my favourite.

Used… Self Control, an app for Mac that effectively blocks you from sites that you have a proclivity to pratting around on when you should be working. All the social media was the first to go, and now I only use it when I have a spectacular relapse and end up deep in a YouTube hole.

Went to… Berlin for the month of August to work alongside our friends at Freunde von Freunden. They are a great bunch and showed us some wonderful parts of the city. A personal highlight was the James Turrell installation at the Dorotheenstadt chapel (below) which was recommended to me by Tal and Andie.

Worked from… Manchester Central Library. It’s a beautiful building and a great place to freshen up the surroundings in a bid to stay focused.

Was excited about… commissioning the brilliant Aistė Stancikaitė to create an image (below) of the equally brilliant Liv Siddall. Aistė’s work is top class, perfect for editorial and will bring her a lot of success in the future. It’s a real pleasure to be working with her at the beginning of what I’ve no doubt will be a glittering career. If you’re a magazine editor, look her up right now.

Lost sleep over… the usual, from minute and last minute copy edits, to the business that one of our features was based on closing down seemingly out of the blue. It’s been the toughest issue to get out so far, but the obstacles have given us some valuable perspective and even greater determination to build on what we’ve achieved to date. 2017 is going to be a big year for us, so I’m sure there’ll be many more sleepless nights, but the same will apply to any indie publisher. We don’t do this because it’s easy or stress free, we do it because we wholeheartedly believe in what we’re doing and trying to do.

Was amazed by… the awesome photo feature ‘We Could Be Heroes’ by Kelia Anne MacCluskey. We’d featured Kelia online beforehand and had her in mind for a piece in the mag, but when she came back to us with this concept, we were blown away. Major props (no pun intended) to set designer Lexy Pazul who made everything from a cello to a bra out of card. Kelia is going to be joining us at our magCulture meets… event on December 1st, all the way from Denver, so we’ll be talking more about that series and the cover shoot then.

Was obsessed with… Gimlet Media, they produce some absolutely fantastic podcasts. Startup is a real eye-opener for anyone thinking of starting their own business. ReplyAll claims to be “a show about the internet”, but like so many great magazines and podcasts, it is really about the human condition.

Learned… lots and lots from my two brilliant mentors Abraham and Steve. There are some big changes around the corner for Intern and these two guys are key to that. They’ve dragged me up when the chips have been down and helped me look at the business in a new way. There’s plenty still to do, but I feel far better having them in my corner.

And everyone should buy a copy because… young people are the future, and diversity in the creative industries is of great importance to society. Our entire project is based on those beliefs and each copy purchased helps us to commission and mentor more emerging creatives. We pay all our contributors and they’re brilliant, so if you’re going to support one mag, why not make it one that values its people instead of one that undermines them by offering “exposure” in lieu of payment?

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