When did you join the Mountain Xpress team?
I started freelancing for the paper last March and joined the team full-time this October. While it’s only been a few months, it’s been an honor to collaborate with so many talented, hard-working and thoughtful creatives! I’m really excited for what’s to come in 2020.
Your role at the paper is a bit different than most. What does it mean to be a development coordinator?
The majority of my work centers around deepening our relationship with our audience and securing new and sustainable sources of revenue so that Mountain Xpress can remain a fixture in the community for decades to come. For those who have been following the industry closely, the last decade or so has been a tough time for local news. The traditional advertising model that has kept publications like ours funded has been upended by the digital revolution and an increasing focus on national news. I’m coordinating special efforts to double down on our business model and help grassroots journalism thrive.
Well, that sounds challenging. What projects have you been working on so far?
In addition to developing a membership program for readers — more on that below — I’ve been focusing on how Xpress can better connect with readers beyond our flagship print product. In November, we launched our new weekly newsletter, “Local Matters,” which highlights news, opinion and other WNC happenings from our publication. It’s been fun and rewarding to collaborate with other team members on that project. We’re also looking to develop our website, specifically our events page, into a more dynamic space for all the happenings in WNC. Any other ideas regarding initiatives you’d like to see at Xpress? I’m an email away!
Most encouraging thing that has happened this year?
At the time of writing this, we’ve had around 40 individuals make a contribution to support Xpress’ newsroom. In addition to needed resources, those contributions have given us some much-appreciated moral support as we work to ensure Xpress’ sustainability over the long haul. It was a little scary to put ourselves out there and ask for help, but each time we gain a new supporter, I feel a flutter of excitement. It’s nice to know that the community we’ve served since 1994 has our back.
What can readers look forward to in 2020?
A project that I’m really excited to introduce to our readers at the start of 2020 is our membership program. Mountain Xpress has always been — and must remain — an independent, local and free publication, but that doesn’t mean that it’s free to produce. That’s why we’re calling on our readers to contribute — not just financially, but with skills, ideas and perspectives!
At a grassroots level, we want to invite our audience to join in our mission to build community, strengthen democracy and cultivate civic dialogue.
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