The Brooklyn Rail
The Brooklyn Rail is an independent Brooklyn-based arts, culture, humanities, and politics publication and multidisciplinary cultural platform.
Last updated August 25, 2026
AI crawler reads
No AI crawler has read this profile since Oct 28, 2026.
Overview
The Brooklyn Rail is an American independent publication and cultural platform based in Brooklyn, New York. It is best known for a free print journal and companion website devoted to contemporary art, literature, music, dance, film, theater, books, politics, and the broader humanities. Rather than functioning solely as an arts magazine, the Rail presents itself as an open forum in which criticism, interviews, creative writing, political discussion, and cultural reporting can coexist. Its editorial approach has historically emphasized extended conversations and essays, often giving artists, writers, curators, and thinkers space for sustained reflection rather than brief promotional coverage. The publication began in 1998 as a small broadsheet circulated to commuters on the L train between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Its earliest form was a weekly, double-sided sheet containing opinions arranged in four columns. The founding group included Joe Maggio, Christian Viveros-Fauné, Theodore Hamm, and Patrick Walsh, with the logo designed by Smith. By 2000, the paper had expanded into a full-format publication. Theodore Hamm and Phong Bui played important editorial roles during this early period, while support from the local arts community and philanthropic foundations helped the Rail preserve editorial independence and continue distributing the print edition without charge. The print journal is published ten times per year and is distributed through universities, galleries, museums, bookstores, and other cultural organizations in the United States and abroad. Its readership is consequently broader than a conventional neighborhood newspaper: the Rail operates as a New York-rooted publication with international reach across the visual-art, literary, and academic worlds. Its website extends the publication’s access and provides a home for articles, interviews, reviews, projects, and digital programming. The Rail’s activities also extend beyond journalism. Rail Editions, its small-press imprint, publishes poetry, fiction, literary translations, artists’ writings, art criticism, and related books. The organization has produced readings, screenings, panel discussions, and performances, and it established Rail Curatorial Projects in 2013 to bring its editorial interests into exhibition-making. That program has organized or co-organized exhibitions in New York, Miami, and Venice, including projects responding to Hurricane Sandy, migration, social ecology, art criticism, and the relationship between artistic creation and social destruction. The organization has also developed public-facing initiatives. We the Immigrants is an ongoing online project highlighting immigrant artists and innovators in the United States. During the COVID-19 shutdowns in New York in 2020, the Rail moved much of its public activity online and launched The New Social Environment, a series of digital conversations involving artists, writers, poets, filmmakers, dancers, musicians, and other cultural figures. These initiatives reflect the Rail’s broader positioning as both a publication and a civic cultural forum. The Rail has published interviews with hundreds of artists and, in 2017, its interview tradition was collected in Tell Me Something Good: Artist Interviews from The Brooklyn Rail. The publication has received recognition from the United States section of the International Association of Art Critics, and it has been praised by figures including Robert Storr, Victor Navasky, Nancy Spero, John Ashbery, and Alex Katz. A related editorially independent expansion, The Miami Rail, was established with participation from Brooklyn Rail editor Phong Bui, Nina Johnson Milewski, and support from the Knight Foundation.
History
The Brooklyn Rail originated in 1998 as a modest broadsheet intended for commuters traveling between Brooklyn and Manhattan on the L train. Joe Maggio, Christian Viveros-Fauné, Theodore Hamm, and Patrick Walsh were among the founding editors. The first version was a weekly double-sided sheet, with opinion writing arranged in four columns. Its design identity included a logo created by Smith. The project initially resembled a small, locally distributed newspaper, but its cultural ambitions quickly expanded. By 2000, the Rail had developed into a full-format publication. Theodore Hamm and Phong Bui shared important editorial oversight during this formative period. The publication’s growth was supported by artists, writers, arts organizations, foundations, and private donors. This funding structure allowed the journal to retain a degree of creative and editorial autonomy while continuing to distribute its print edition free of charge. The Rail’s stated mission has been to provide an independent forum for arts, culture, and politics in New York and beyond, while supporting artists and emphasizing the social importance of the arts and humanities. The publication gradually became known for in-depth criticism and interviews as well as fiction, poetry, and reviews of art, music, dance, film, books, and theater. Its contributors and editors have included Williams Cole, Christian Parenti, Heather Rogers, Daniel Baird, Emily DeVoti, Alan Lockwood, Ellen Pearlman, Donald Breckenridge, and Monica de la Torre, among others. By 2017, the Rail had interviewed more than four hundred artists. That body of work was represented by Tell Me Something Good: Artist Interviews from The Brooklyn Rail, a book edited by Jarrett Earnest and Lucas Zwirner and published by David Zwirner Books. The Rail’s institutional identity expanded substantially in the 2010s. Rail Editions became the publication’s small-press imprint, issuing books in art criticism, poetry, fiction, translation, and artists’ writing. Its catalogue has included collections associated with Ron Gorchov, Brooklyn Rail nonfiction, Joseph Masheck, Irving Sandler, Jonas Mekas, Florbela Espanca, and other literary and artistic subjects. The imprint enabled the organization to develop longer-form projects that could not be contained within a periodic journal. In 2013, the organization established Rail Curatorial Projects. Its first major undertaking was Come Together: Surviving Sandy, Year One, an exhibition organized with the Dedalus Foundation after Hurricane Sandy. The show brought together hundreds of New York and Brooklyn artists and was later documented in a hardcover catalogue. Subsequent projects addressed modernist art, migration, social ecology, art criticism, intimacy, public space, and the relationship between artistic practice and political crisis. Among these were exhibitions involving Ad Reinhardt, Patricia Cronin, Occupy Mana, and related projects at venues in New York, Miami, and elsewhere. In 2019, Rail Curatorial Projects was invited to organize Artists Need to Create on the Same Scale that Society Has the Capacity to Destroy: Mare Nostrum for the Venice Biennale. Curated by Phong Bui and Francesca Pietropaolo, the exhibition included works by 73 artists and operated as an official collateral event. Its themes connected artistic production with social and ecological emergency. The Rail also developed OCCUPY COLBY at the Colby Museum of Art in 2019, continuing a sequence of exhibition projects concerned with social environment and collective cultural response. The organization has maintained a digital and civic dimension alongside its print and exhibition work. We the Immigrants highlights immigrants who have contributed to American arts, sciences, and humanities. In 2020, when the pandemic forced New York cultural institutions to close, the Rail shifted public programming online and launched The New Social Environment, a recurring conversation series with international participants. This move reinforced the organization’s identity as a platform rather than only a magazine. The Rail’s continuing model combines a free periodical, online publishing, small-press books, exhibitions, and public discussion.
- 2020
The New Social Environment launches online
[1]The Rail begins recurring digital conversations after pandemic restrictions close cultural venues in New York.
- 2019
Mare Nostrum is presented at the Venice Biennale
[1]Rail Curatorial Projects presents a 73-artist collateral exhibition addressing social and ecological conditions.
- 2017
Tell Me Something Good is published
[1]A selection of the Rail’s artist interviews is collected in a book edited by Jarrett Earnest and Lucas Zwirner.
- 2013
Rail Curatorial Projects is established
[1]The organization creates an exhibition and curatorial program intended to carry its editorial mission into physical cultural projects.
- 2013
Come Together: Surviving Sandy, Year One
[1]The Rail curates a major post-Hurricane Sandy exhibition featuring hundreds of New York and Brooklyn artists.
- 2000
The publication expands into a full-format journal
[1]The Rail develops from its original broadsheet into a larger publication with broader arts and cultural coverage.
- 1998
The Brooklyn Rail begins as an L-train broadsheet
[1]The publication starts as a small weekly sheet distributed to commuters traveling between Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Products and positioning
An independent, nonprofit-oriented cultural publication and platform that combines arts criticism, literature, politics, interviews, public programming, publishing, and exhibition-making. The brand is positioned as an accessible alternative to establishment cultural media while remaining intellectually serious and closely connected to artists and cultural institutions.
Arts and culture periodical · 1998
The Brooklyn Rail print journal
The Rail’s flagship print publication appears ten times per year and is distributed free through universities, galleries, museums, bookstores, and other cultural organizations. It combines criticism, interviews, fiction, poetry, political writing, and reviews covering visual art, music, dance, film, books, and theater.
Small-press publishing
Rail Editions
Rail Editions publishes books of art criticism, poetry, fiction, literary translation, artists’ writings, and related cultural material. Its list extends the Rail’s editorial interests into durable book-length projects.
Exhibitions and curatorial programming · 2013
Rail Curatorial Projects
Established in 2013, Rail Curatorial Projects organizes exhibitions and related cultural programs. Projects have explored disaster recovery, migration, social ecology, art criticism, public space, and the relationship between artistic creation and collective crisis.
Digital cultural programming · 2020
The New Social Environment
This online conversation series brings together artists, writers, poets, filmmakers, dancers, musicians, and other thinkers. It was created during the COVID-19 shutdowns as a digital continuation of the Rail’s public cultural forum.
Online editorial project
We the Immigrants
We the Immigrants is an ongoing online project recognizing immigrant artists, scientists, and innovators whose work has influenced American cultural and intellectual life.
Marketing campaigns
- 2019Mare Nostrum
Venice · International art community
The Rail presented an official collateral event of the 2019 Venice Biennale focused on social and ecological conditions, with works by 73 artists.
Outcome. The exhibition ran at Chiesa delle Penitenti in Venice from May through November 2019.
- 2013Come Together: Surviving Sandy, Year One
New York City · Brooklyn
A large exhibition organized after Hurricane Sandy brought together hundreds of artists from New York and Brooklyn. The project used exhibition-making as a form of collective cultural response and community recovery.
Outcome. The exhibition received strong critical recognition and was later documented in a hardcover catalogue.
Brand decisions
2020
Move public programming online during the pandemicStrategyBackground
COVID-19 restrictions in New York forced museums, galleries, and arts organizations to close or suspend in-person events.
Action taken
The Rail shifted operations online and launched The New Social Environment, a recurring series of digital conversations.
Aftermath
The initiative connected the publication with artists and cultural figures internationally and created an archive of public conversations.
2013
Expand from publication into curatorial productionStrategyBackground
The Rail sought to express its editorial commitments through exhibitions and public-facing art projects.
Action taken
It established Rail Curatorial Projects and began organizing exhibitions in collaboration with artists, foundations, museums, galleries, and other venues.
Aftermath
The program produced projects in New York, Miami, Venice, and other cultural settings, including major group exhibitions addressing social and ecological themes.
Recent events
- 2020
The New Social Environment moves programming online during the COVID-19 shutdowns[1]
Other
The Rail responded to the closure of cultural venues by hosting recurring online conversations with participants from the international arts and humanities communities.
- 2019
The Brooklyn Rail curates a collateral exhibition for the 2019 Venice Biennale[1]
Other
Rail Curatorial Projects presented Mare Nostrum, a large group exhibition addressing social and ecological conditions, as an official collateral event of the Venice Biennale.
- 2013
The Brooklyn Rail establishes Rail Curatorial Projects[1]
Other
The publication created a curatorial initiative to extend its editorial and cultural mission into exhibitions and public art programming.
Sources2 sources
Cite this profile: Cite the canonical profile. /brand-wiki/the-brooklyn-rail · Editorial policy · How profiles are compiled