No. Many of our online features remain freely accessible. At the same time, Arts of the Working Class (AWC) is not costless to produce. Every issue depends on a network of labor, care, and financial contributions that make its circulation possible.

All memberships contribute to the conditions under which AWC exists: printing, distribution, vendor income, contributor fees, editorial work, translation, website maintenance, and the circulation of voices across art, society, wealth, and poverty.

Membership is not a paywall. Some articles remain freely available, while others are reserved for members. If you are not a member, you can still unlock individual articles for as little as €1, with no subscription required. Membership simply offers ongoing access while helping sustain the work behind the publication. It is less about purchasing content than contributing to the conditions that allow it to exist.

A "Supporter" membership contributes approximately the value of the newspaper sold on the street. It acknowledges that every issue has already been written, edited, printed, carried, and distributed by people whose labor makes its circulation possible. It helps stabilize circulation.

Unlike many cultural publications, AWC receives limited structural funding and relies heavily on memberships, donations, subscriptions, partnerships, collaborations, and advertising to sustain its activities. The publication’s model depends on the circulation of tens of thousands of printed copies through vendors who retain 100% of their sales revenues.Support contributes to printing and production costs, contributor fees, editorial labor, translation and copyediting, distribution logistics, storage and shipping, website maintenance, public programs and events, the development of new partnerships and circulation networks.Infrastructure is often invisible. This support helps keep it functioning.

The "Partner" membership is designed for institutions that make knowledge publicly accessible. It does not offer sponsorship in the promotional sense. It is a distribution agreement that extends access through public and collective infrastructures.

A "Redistributor" membership contributes according to capacity rather than consumption. It strengthens the publication’s economic resilience while contributing experience, networks, and strategic advice.

Rather than standard commercial advertising, tailored campaigns are developed collaboratively with "Redistributors". Campaigns may include visibility across print and digital publications, newsletters, and institutional formats developed with AWC. Every collaboration is developed individually rather than through a standardized marketing model.

The AWC co-working space provides temporary access to workspace, meetings, and collaborative environments within the publication’s network. Availability varies throughout the year and is coordinated directly with the editorial team. The space is understood as infrastructure rather than as a private benefit.

AWC is held by a fragile infrastructure of labor, printing, distribution, editorial work, storage, administration, fundraising, translation, and care. Stewardship means helping maintain those conditions without seeking ownership over them. Some contributors provide financial support. Others provide space, expertise, networks, institutional access, equipment, or logistical support. The goal is not to direct the publication, but to help ensure that it remains independent, accessible, and able to take risks.

A subscription is a transaction via Shopify through which you receive the publication. A membership is participation in the infrastructure that makes the publication possible. Subscriptions provide issues. Memberships sustain circulation. Members can choose to do both.

Membership contributions support the material chain that allows the publication to circulate: printing, distribution, contributor fees, editorial work, and the maintenance of the infrastructure behind the newspaper. Although vendors retain 100% of their sales revenues, the publication indirectly supports many vendors and distributors who face structural economic precarity, marginalization, and/or dependence on social support systems.

We collect only what is necessary for the publication to function: email address (for membership and communication), membership status, basic interaction data (such as newsletter opens and clicks), and payment processing information (handled by Stripe).We do not collect biographies, construct user profiles, or engage in behavioral advertising.

Because circulation requires infrastructure. If the publication is to move between readers, vendors, institutions, and collaborators, it requires at least minimal technical record-keeping: an address to communicate with, a status to designate membership level, and a record of contribution. Data is collected for logistical purposes only.

Only the editorial and administrative team responsible for operating the publication, along with the service providers necessary to process memberships and payments (Ghost and Stripe). No third-party advertising networks are involved.

No. Arts of the Working Class does not operate through targeted advertising, behavioral profiling, or data-extraction business models.