Michael Redhill Steps Down

Michael Redhill will step down as proprietor and publisher of Brick effective with the publication of the current issue (87). In his introduction to the issue, Redhill explains that he will still be with the magazine as part of an editorial/ownership collective which also includes Michael Helm, Michael Ondaatje, Esta Spalding, Linda Spalding, and Rebecca Silver Slayter.

Redhill imparts some of what he has learned from his having “been involved with Brick, in one form or another, for much of [his] adult life.” He writes:

This is the eighty-seventh issue of Brick, a small Canadian literary journal that has existed for thirty-three years and, at any given time, has never had more than 2.5 employees. As a business model, Brick could be in MBA textbooks as an example of what not to do. A small cultural concern is about the worst kind of business you could have: humans may begin to die from the moment they’re born, but arts businesses need daily resuscitation from the moment of inception. Innovation, legwork, networking, enthusiasm, and a refusal to be surprised by disaster are just a few things you need to make a go of it. And success is not expressed in profit, or even survival. Success for something like Brick is simply being able to play a meaningful role in a time and place, be part of a conversation, and stick around at least long enough to be taken seriously. In that regard, Brick has been a smashing success and all signs point to it continuing to succeed for many years to come.