Flare Magazine: accepting inspiration now

If you're a young creative, Flare Magazine wants you on board.

The mag’s brand spanking new website (www.flareflareflare.com) is up and running, and the eagerly awaited third edition is set for release in October.

All that’s needed now is your involvement.

To coincide with the launch of Flare #3, the mag crew are running an art exhibition on October 14, with an "Analogue to Digital"  theme, which artists can chose to interpret any way they see fit.

“We want people to think outside the square and really voice their opinions through their chosen art form,” Flare Mag project manager Reece Hendy says. 

“We encourage almost any medium of art and will be as accommodating as possible with any weird and wacky suggestions.”

The cut off date is August 26, so get cracking. 

The story of Flare Magazine has become well known around Bendigo, but here’s a refresher.

It began with a poorly attended meeting (four at a pinch) ran by Lead On at the Bendigo Bank headquarters.

However, one face in that very small crowd was 21-year-old Hendy – a young man with a vision, and importantly, a lot of creative mates.

With a fair bit of coin available for something big, Hendy gathered up his team and formed an initial plan to construct something online, targeting the youth demographic of 16 to 24. 

But without any web designers within Hendy’s growing support structure, they opted for a magazine instead.

With anything major and public release, there were inevitable problems, but those have been carefully ironed about and today Flare has built a “massive pool” of contributors and collaborators– today the mag is overseen by eight executives and an overall team of almost 40.

While providing opportunities for young creatives and visionaries, Flare also want to push a few buttons.

“We’re trying to push boundaries, to try things that haven’t been done in Bendigo before,” he says.

“If we do mistakes, they’re deliberate mistakes.”

It’s mission is to tap into a creative youth culture that Hendy believes remains underground in Bendigo.

“At Flare we are trying to bring this to the surface and really showcase some of the great creative people coming out of Bendigo,” he says. 

“Our blog is aiming to break into the Victoria wide market and put Bendigo on the map as a great creative hub.” 

Flare has an almost open door policy when it comes to contribution. The only proviso is that they’re inspired, passionate and will get the job done.

“Anybody who has a special skill they can bring to the table, we are open to expand in that direction,” he says.

“As long as we know we’ve got the people who will get it done.”

Flare, out every four months, is also a statement about the misconceptions of Bendigo’s youth.

“There is a generalisation that Gen Y is lazy and can’t do this kind of stuff,” he says.

“The people involved really feel the power of it

“We’re pretty open to people to express their passions.”

For the exhibition, Flare will accept low resolution images no bigger than 5 MB. Work can be sent to a2dexhibition@gmail.com or A2D Exhibition Attention Bianka Loria 21 Havelock Street, Bendigo.

Entry forms can be downloaded at flareflareflare.com