Introducing Brandon Sheats, Burnaway’s Executive Director (@sheatsb).

Brandon Sheats is a strategist and cultural producer who has worked across media and technology, with roots in literature and the arts. Most of his work has been about access and audience: making more room for emerging voices and building up the infrastructure that arts media runs on. He co-founded Regional Art Publishers, a coalition of nonprofit art publications across the United States, and has worked as a Technology Director at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, where he was part of the team that launched the theater’s first digital-first original programming and helped expand its digital archive. Earlier, Brandon directed Murmur, an Atlanta space for DIY and experimental art that was also home to the Atlanta Zine Fest, and led digital strategy and operations at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. His career started in copywriting and creative technology, working with organizations such as the Canadian Olympic Committee, Art on the Atlanta Beltline and the National Black Arts Festival. Before any of that, he coached debate. He serves on the Atlanta Mayor’s Advisory Task Force for the Arts and advises a regional food justice coalition. Today, Brandon is the Executive Director of Burnaway, an art magazine covering the American South, the Caribbean and their diasporas. Since taking the role, he has brought the magazine’s coverage into the Caribbean and developed new partnerships with organizations including Art21. — Image credit @phyllis.iller