New ownership for Dance Magazine and other DanceMedia titles

[Dale]

The release:

 

Publisher of Dance Magazine Announces New Ownership

 

 

September 19, 2016 New York, NY – Frederic M. Seegal has acquired DanceMedia, a suite of five respected publications (both print and digital) written for and by dancers, including the renowned Dance Magazine, which marks its 90^th year of publication in 2017.

Seegal, Vice Chairman of Peter J. Solomon Company, has made his career advising major media, telecom and internet clients. He brings to DanceMedia a seasoned knowledge of and passion for the performing arts, having served as President of American Ballet Theatre’s Board of Trustees, and as trustee for New York City Center, San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Opera. Currently, he is a trustee for Gallim Dance, based in New York.

“I’m very excited about the potential for growth represented by these highly respected publications and the tremendous content they’ve created over the years,” says Seegal. “These magazines have enjoyed exceptional stability during a time when there has been sweeping change in the publishing industry, as they have continued to be the authoritative voice for the entire dance world.”

“The DanceMedia publications deliver the most effective and highly targeted opportunities for the industry—in both print and online,” says Amy Cogan, Senior Vice President & Group Publisher. “Our reach is unsurpassed. This vote of confidence in our properties can only boost their effectiveness as we move into the future.”

In addition to Dance Magazine, which is regarded as the most trusted content in the field of dance, the DanceMedia titles, with a combined reach of more than 2 million, include: Dance Spirit, written for dancers who aspire to “So You Think You Can Dance,” Pointefor students training pre-professionally for careers in ballet, Dance Teacher for studio owners and educators in conservatories, k–12 schools, and on faculty with colleges and universities. Dance Retailer News is the only monthly b2b publication connecting dance manufacturers with storeowners who serve the buying public.

Macfadden Communications Group, which has owned Dance Magazine since 2001 and DanceMedia since its formation in 2006, will continue to provide publishing services for the brand, including digital services, print management, circulation and accounting, according to Carolyn Callahan, President and Chief Operating Officer. “The opportunities presented by this new affiliation assure a solid future for these titles,” Callahan says. “We look forward to a lasting partnership.” No changes in staffing are anticipated.

[sandik]

Golly.

[balletforme]

Just a thought..... but I hope that this owner can clean up the Teen-Themed Dance Spirit.  My daughter took it for years and it was so light in content that it was almost silly.  It's mostly a PR tool for every competition kid with a publicist, momager, and Instagram account.  The content appears to be informed by a network of people in NYC and  competition owners. It's mostly an ad-rag. If what they are trying to be is a magazine for people who want to be on SYTYCD, then they have accomplished their goal but somehow I thought it was for a wider audience of teen dancers in local studios. In my opinion Dance Spirit is not an all authoritative.

[sandik]

Right now I'm not sure that the editorial team for Dance Spirit see much of a studio system outside the competition system.  But I don't read the magazine frequently enough to have a good handle on their target audience.

 

This comment intrigues me "I’m very excited about the potential for growth represented by these highly respected publications and the tremendous content they’ve created over the years"  When I first started working in dance, back in the early 1970s, I read a complete press run of Dance Magazine (back to their original American Dancer period), and learned an incredible amount.  Many libraries, from local outlets to university collections, have incomplete runs of the magazine -- it's almost impossible to do what I did.  I'm hoping that they will look back through that collection and excerpt some of that content for anthologizing.  It would be fascinating to read back through their coverage of the NY dance scene, or to look at their regional reports (which ran for a number of years and gave a pre-internet readership some feeling for what might be happening in other parts of the US, and the world.)