Art Notes
About Art Notes, launching in Spring 2025
Jointly overseen by The Prior Performing Arts Center and The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery, Art Notes features short, singular perspectives on multidisciplinary arts events at Holy Cross and in the region. Employing a variety of written formats and critical approaches, writers’ contributions are typically exploratory rather than evaluative, aiming to draw out art’s resonances for a general audience. A dynamic new element of the arts ecosystem at Holy Cross, Art Notes invites lively discourse on the arts of our day.
Advisory Board
Morris Collins, English
Kyle Frisina, Prior Performing Arts Center and English (co-editor)
David Karmon, Visual Art
Scott Malia, Theatre & Dance
Leila Phillip, English
Lauren Szumita, Cantor Art Gallery (co-editor)
Melissa Geisler Trafton, Visual Art
Editorial Guidelines
Art Notes is anchored by 1000-word pieces on arts events at Holy Cross and in the region. Other possible formats for publication include, but are not limited to: artist profiles and interviews, autocritical essays, ekphrastic essays, object-oriented essays, and process essays related to student capstone projects. Open submissions are considered by the journal’s Editorial Board, which is comprised of the journal’s two editors (The Prior and Cantor Directors) and the journal’s current Arts Writing Fellows.
Student writing selected for publication by the Editorial Board is sent to members of the Advisory Board for brief editorial commentary and/or suggestions for revision. Authors’ subsequent revisions receive a final review by the journal’s Editors before publication.
Arts Writing Fellows
The Art Notes Arts Writing Fellowship is a stipended program that introduces students to different forms of art writing, helps them hone their craft as writers, and offers experiential learning in the field of arts journalism. Over the course of the year-long fellowship, Fellows typically write several pieces each semester for the journal. Fellows receive mentoring and editorial feedback during the writing and editing process from Prior Interim Director Kyle Frisina and Cantor Director Lauren Szumita as well as opportunities for professional development and external networking.
Note: While Fellowships are limited to students from the College’s academic arts units (Creative Writing, Music, Theatre & Dance, and Visual Arts), students from all majors are welcome and encouraged to submit to the journal, as are Holy Cross faculty and staff.