We’ve had an exciting (and challenging) time seeing Arthur Newspaper through the last year, but we aren’t completely exhausted yet! We’ve learned a lot this past year and are seeking re-election to the editorship for Volume 56. 

If there was a theme for Volume 55, it would be innovation. We spent a lot of time this year re-imagining the newspaper in virtual space. A year later, we feel confident in Arthur’s ability to provide an accessible and reliable platform for various kinds of media across the internet and on social media. 

If we are entrusted with the editorship for Volume 56, we want to focus more on mentorship. There are a lot of ways that Arthur has been altered to adapt over the past year, and we want to spend the next year prioritizing mentorship so that there are resources available to whoever is going to take the reins after our time here is over! This will include revamping Arthur’s training resources for Staff, to include in-depth interview training, a journalistic ethics primer, how to write an article from pitch to publish, professional development and how to be a person on the internet.

Much has happened at Arthur since we took the helm last June! Here are a few of the highlights: 

• Increased our Facebook following by 406.
• From 92 profile visits in June 2020 to 6,200 visits in March 2021 on Twitter. 
• Top Instagram post of the year more than quintupled the likes of the top post from before. 
• Covered important topics in the Peterborough and Trent communities like online learning, the rise of Black Lives Matter Nogojiwanong, online learning, Indigenous issues, the Trent Lands and Nature Areas Plan, classism, transit, TCSA elections, food security, housing, and the local media landscape.
• Published 3 zines created by local organizations and 2 issues of Oatmeal, Arthur’s art zine.
• Hosted 3 podcast series 
• Wrote, recorded, edited and produced 12 episodes of our podcast What’s The Point?!
• Published 141 articles from 32 unique contributors
• Built a new, sleek, gorgeous website 
• Maintained financial sustainability (and a cushion) during a pandemic!

These successes are as a result of hard work and dedication of countless people who endeavoured not only to keep Arthur going during year one of a global pandemic, but sought to use this moment to bring about big changes for this small press. We want to maintain this momentum as we launch into Vol. 56!

Looking forward, there are a few areas of Arthur’s operations that we want to expand next year: 

• Enhance our audio journalistic capacities -- train interested staff writers to make audio journalism, produce more editorial audio content, and host more local podcasts on our website!
• Develop our donor and fundraising infrastructure so that future editorships have the framework for recurring donations as well as crowdfunding for special projects. 
• Bolster staff training and professional development offerings so that Arthur is a fun and educational place to work.  
• Continue to fund and support special projects, through commissions and partnerships with other levy groups and not-for-profit organizations in the community. 

Arthur is an organization fundamentally tied to the turnover in undergraduate students. With a focus on mentorship we’ll make sure that the next editor(s) are ready for the mammoth task of running this organization, and have the confidence to be creative and explore all that Arthur is capable of. 

We want to spend the next year investing our time and resources into teaching the next generation of student journalists how to tell the stories that matter most to their community. We know that Arthur plays an important role in Peterborough-Nogojiwanong’s media landscape, and we believe that mentorship is key to Arthur’s longevity.

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Nick Taylor and Brazil Gaffney-Knox