Isthmus is seeking an arts and culture editor to help us pursue our mission of informing, engaging and connecting our readers to Madison, Wisconsin, through our reporting of local news and culture. Isthmus is a small, nonprofit, mission-driven news organization that publishes a free monthly newspaper, constantly updated website and three weekly email newsletters.
Throughout our 50-year history, readers have turned to Isthmus for informed writing and reporting about the rich (and continually getting richer) arts and entertainment scene in the greater Madison area. That means music, theater, dance, visual arts, books, and more.
As the editor leading our culture coverage, you would direct reporting on the arts and entertainment scene in the greater Madison area and happenings in the food and restaurant world. You would collaborate with the editor and other members of the staff to plan, assign, direct, edit and write stories for our monthly print issues, daily website and weekly email newsletters.
The ideal candidate will have:
An understanding of and appreciation for arts and culture, defined broadly, including food and drink.
A knack for developing and maintaining relationships with sources, including arts administrators, curators, performers, artists, chefs, restaurant owners and others.
The ability to stay organized and on task through rolling deadlines.
A nose for finding and reporting untold stories that exist off the beaten path.
A zeal for creating fun, surprising, and format-busting story forms, while advancing the rock solid, authoritative, informed voice Isthmus has developed over many decades.
Key responsibilities:
Communicating and collaborating with the editor, as well as the art director and calendar editor to execute exceptional culture coverage that competes with, and often tops, other outlets in Madison.
Recruiting, developing and retaining a crew of freelance contributors who require varying degrees of supervision.
Working with young writers, including interns, to help establish a new generation of arts and features journalists.
Organizing a workload that includes writing and editing three-sentence critics picks, 3,000-word in-depth cover stories, and everything in between.
Networking that engages with our audience, donors, and others in the community to advance our mission, recruit collaborators and uncover story ideas.
Curating two weekly email newsletters
How to apply:
Please send a cover letter, resume, and links to three samples of your work and/or projects you’ve supervised or edited to editor Judith Davidoff at [email protected].
Deadline: Sept. 24, 2026
Isthmus is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
