Prying Sense from Our Strange Present

Ten Commandments

1. Prying Sense from Our Strange Present ~ Soft Punk interrogates our tumultuous contemporary moment, however our contributors choose to interpret it. We publish work that is authentic in tone, boundary-pushing in form, and original in questions or conclusions.

2. Consistency ~ Soft Punk is triannual, publishing three times a year. We believe this is the best model for our content — frequent enough to reflect the constant change we exist in, delayed enough to produce novel and insightful features.

3. Radical Inclusion ~ There are few limits to the work that Soft Punk is willing to consider. While we may not agree with everything that we publish, we do agree with its right to be said. We aim to foster the free expression of ideas and welcome a broad range of ideologies to our pages. Understanding emerges from earnest dialogue.

4. Beat ~ Soft Punk does not have a specific avenue of interest. Considering our increasingly multidisciplinary world, we refuse to limit ourselves to false delineations of genre, medium, or subject.

5. Curation ~ When possible, we will seek to provide consistent and meaningful sources of income to artists we work with. Whether this takes the form of an exhibit, a screening, or a collaboration, we remain aware that our publication is but a singular means of exposure amongst the multiple needed to create sustainable artistic practices.

6. Community ~ Soft Punk contributors are much like ourselves: those occupying the liminal space between formal education and established careers. Understanding this position to be a precarious one, we strive to champion those fresh voices too often overlooked by the media machine.

7. Representation ~ Soft Punk is dedicated to identity and gender equity amongst our contributors. We stand proudly as an ally to women, the LGBTQIA+ community, BIPOC individuals, as well as those disenfranchised anywhere in the world. We believe in cultivating the world we hope to exist in, and diversity is a core tenet of that world.

8. Giving Back ~ The Soft Punk Mutual Aid Program is committed to supporting the tireless work of nonprofits and NGOs in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, London, and Berlin. Each quarter, we donate a percentage of our revenue to grassroots, communal initiatives in our communities. Additionally, we will maintain communal resources to both provide our patrons with information on businesses worth supporting and communal services available on a bartered basis. Our our most recent gift was given to the Mermaids Foundation in the UK.

9. Stewardship ~ At every opportunity, Soft Punk prints our work in the most environmentally sustainable way within our means. A good magazine means very little with no planet to read it on.

10. Aesthetics ~ Soft Punk is resolved to making each print issue a beautiful object unto itself. While no book should be judged by its cover, we strongly believe that part of showing respect to our contributors is to put their work in a product that reflects the value of their effort, as well as the sincerity with which we take our mission. As such, we hope you keep our issues on your shelves for years to come.