Founded in 2024, Regional Art Publishers (RAP) is a collective of regional contemporary arts media platforms across the United States. Our organizations are uniquely embedded in distinct locales and are committed to telling the stories of our communities through accessible writing grounded by responsive, local, and personal perspectives. We uplift diverse voices by supporting networks of art writers through every stage of their careers, from emerging to established. Together, the RAP consortium represents the people and platforms that produce grassroots, independent, and rigorous writing about the most pressing issues and ideas in our cultural landscape. Our investment in local-first, community-driven dialogue forms the foundation for broader national conversations connecting the public to art and culture.
The People:
Brandon Sheats is a writer, strategist, and cultural producer. They currently serve as Executive Director of Burnaway, an experiment disguised as an art magazine focused on the American South, Caribbean, and their diasporas. At Burnaway, they champion emerging voices, audience development, and critical discourse in contemporary art. He also serves as consulting director at New York's Apollo Theater. Previously at Murmur, an Atlanta space for DIY and experimental art, Sheats has generated significant impact across sectors—from leading $22 million in digital revenue for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to consulting organizations ranging from grassroots art and food justice collectives, a major national collection of African American art, to the Canadian Olympic Committee and the former US Digital Service. He was also named an Arthur Blank Fellow at Emory University and currently sits on the Public Art Advisory Council for Art on the Atlanta Beltline. His practice centers on creating sustainable ecosystems where artists and cultural workers can thrive with deep commitment to experimental practices and community-enabled work.
Brandon Sheats
Executive Director, Burnaway
Jameson Johnson is a writer, curator, and community organizer based in Boston. She is the founder and executive director at Boston Art Review, an online and print publication founded in 2017 committed to facilitating discourse around contemporary art across New England. She has held positions at the MIT List Visual Arts Center and currently serves on the board of Catalyst Conversations and the Foundry Arts Consortium’s Advisory Committee as well as the MassArt Auction Committee. She has curated exhibitions at Boston Center for the Arts, Fountain Street Gallery, and Boston Cyberarts, as well as served on numerous juries across New England. Her writing has also appeared in Artsy, Artnet, Upstate Diary, and the Boston Globe among others
Jameson Johnson
Founder + Executive Director, Boston Art Review
Amelia Rina (she/they) is the founder and editor in chief of Variable West. Amelia has an MFA in Art Criticism & Writing from School of Visual Arts in New York, NY, and a BFA in Photography from California College of the Arts in Oakland, CA. Their writing has been published in BOMB Magazine, Artforum, Art in America, Hyperallergic, Aperture, New Archives, among others.
Originally from the Bay, Amelia now lives in Portland, OR, on the unceded territories of the Clackamas and Cowlitz nations.
Amelia Rina
Founder + Editor in Chief, Variable West
Brandon Zech is the Publisher of Glasstire, the nonprofit online publication for art in Texas. He joined Glasstire in 2015 as an Assistant Editor, and in 2018 he began overseeing the publication’s reporting as its first dedicated News Editor. He was selected to succeed the site’s founding Publisher in 2019. Throughout his time with Glasstire he has produced videos and podcasts about art and artists in Texas, and has also written exhibition reviews, essays, op-eds, and other articles. He speaks at venues and universities about Glasstire's work and Texas' art scene, regularly guest lectures about art criticism in college courses, and also hosts writing workshops for students interested in developing as art writers. He is a graduate of the University of Houston's art history program, where he was a Tier One Scholar. He lives and works in Houston, Texas.
Brandon Zech
Publisher, Glasstire
Lindsay Preston Zappas is an L.A.-based artist, writer, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles (Carla). She received her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art and attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2013. Zappas has recently exhibited at Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art (Buffalo), Wilding Cran (Los Angeles), Five Car Garage (Los Angeles), and Brea Gallery (Brea). Her writing has appeared in Track Changes: A Handbook for Art Criticism, Carla, ArtReview, Flash Art, SFAQ, Artsy, LACanvas, and Art21, and she has been an arts correspondent for KCRW. She has been a visiting writing mentor to Burnaway’s Art Writing Incubator program, Los Angeles Review of Book’s Publishing Workshop, the Cornelia publishing workshop, the Oklahoma Arts Writing and Curatorial Fellowship. She has been a visiting artist/critic to University of California Los Angeles, CalArts, ArtCenter, University of California Santa Barbara, Cal State Long Beach, Los Angeles Valley College, University of Southern California, Syracuse University, Colorado State University, Point Loma Nazarene University, and others. She has taught at Cal State Long Beach, Oregon College of Art & Craft, Fullerton College, California State University, Northridge, and Harvey Mudd College.
The Publications:
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Lindsay Preston Zappas
Founder + Editor in Chief, Contemporary Art Review
Los Angeles
Burnaway is a Southern-based, (inter)nationally-engaged experiment disguised as an art magazine, advancing contemporary art and visual culture from the South and Caribbean. With a dynamic, international roster of artists and writers, we publish online and in print, removing barriers between artists' lives, their work, and the world at large. Through our Art Writing Incubator, public programs, and exhibitions, we're building new frameworks for the public to experience, question, and engage with contemporary art and visual culture.
Boston Art Review is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization that facilitates discourse about contemporary art and culture through publishing, programming, and events in Boston and beyond. Boston Art Review elevates diverse perspectives while bridging gaps between criticism, coverage, and community engagement across New England.
Variable West supports and empowers the West Coast art world by nurturing regional communities and international conversations by publishing art writing and through a free community event listing feature.
Glasstire is the nonprofit publication covering visual art in Texas. Its mission is to expand the conversation about art happening in the state through reviews, essays, profiles, news reporting, podcasts, and videos. It is the oldest online-only art publication in the country, and has long been a leader in local arts journalism.
Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles (Carla) is a nonprofit organization that produces a quarterly magazine that is committed to being an active source of critical dialogue surrounding Los Angeles’ art community. Carla serves as a centralized space for art writing that is bold, honest, and approachable, and works to provide entry points into the art world for the broader Los Angeles community.