See Hear

A new model for arts journalism

in Western North Carolina

Artists and presenters supporting the journalism supporting artists and presenters

MATT PEIKEN • Founding Editor & Publisher

Membership Levels

  • You aren’t seeing press coverage in advance of your events.

    Press coverage of the arts has virtually vanished in Western North Carolina. I know this first-hand: When I left Blue Ridge Public Radio in 2023, after more than five years there, arts journalism at BPR left along with me. It’s been a decade since the Citizen-Times devoted a reporter to the arts. Mountain Xpress no longer has an arts editor. Asheville Made has stopped printing. 

    The result: You aren't seeing advance coverage for your events. Your artists aren’t being interviewed. Your stories aren’t being told. And residents and visitors to our community are missing out on the great art and performances you’re producing, largely because they didn’t know about them.

    Why has all this coverage dried up? Through the early 2000s, newspaper publishers evolved from treating arts coverage as part of their civic and cultural DNA to regarding it an albatross that doesn’t drive subscriptions or ad revenue. Today, only the largest daily newspapers in the U.S. and only a handful of public radio outlets devote full-time staff reporting positions to the arts.

  • See Hear is a dynamic, nonprofit, online media platform supported by the arts organizations at the heart of our coverage.

    Our mission is engaging the public about the performances, exhibitions, recordings, literary readings—and the artistic voices behind them—coloring life in Western North Carolina.

    Here’s what’s groundbreaking about our model: Our base funding will come from annual memberships paid for by the arts organizations our journalism supports. Advertising and foundation/government grants will also play important roles in our revenue.

    This is a new model of community-supported arts coverage. See Hear content will always be free to read, watch, hear—and share—though I will initiate a Patreon-styled program for audience members wanting benefits of their own.

  • I moved to Asheville in 2017 when I became Blue Ridge Public Radio’s first and only staff arts reporter. I left in 2023 to launch and host The Overlook, a current affairs podcast about Asheville, and now host the daily newscast podcast Wake Up, Asheville! 

    Before that, I spent a decade as a staff arts and features writer with the St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press and later created documentary video and long-form features as an arts reporter with WCPO-TV in Cincinnati. I also served as managing editor of the Walker Art Center’s magazine, founded and produced 3-Minute Egg, an online video program in Minnesota’s Twin Cities that evolved into a public television series; and was a longtime contributing writer with Modern Drummer Magazine.

    You can browse more than five years of stories I produced for Blue Ridge Public Radio, along with video and feature stories going further back, to get a deep sense of my work.

Your Questions, Answered

  • Sept. 1, 2026.

    • At least four weeks in advance of when you want a story, video or podcast episode to post, you’ll fill out an online form with event details, press materials and artist contact information. I’ll take care of the rest—setting up the interviews and producing/scheduling the content.

    • Depending on other story commitments, I could turn around your content in as little as one week’s time, but with anything less than four weeks' notice, I can’t guarantee posting before the date you request. 

    • For the first year, yes. This is a new publication with a new funding model, so I understand the impulse to test the waters before diving in.

    • But if you anticipate wanting a higher number of pieces produced about your programming, it will make far better sense to join See Hear at a higher level than joining at a lower level and purchasing a la carte content after you’ve exhausted your benefits.

    • Recommended membership levels on the chart are based on a few factors: 

      • 1) Larger organizations tend to have more programming and events to build press coverage around. 

      • 2) The See Hear content devoted to members is more economical than purchasing this content a la carte. I want organizations to get the most out of your memberships. 

      • 3) Your membership makes it possible to sustain See Hear as a thriving home for arts journalism in Western North Carolina. And that helps our entire community.

      • 4) For-profit arts organizations and those that operate as nonprofits but don’t have their own 501(c)3 designations are invited to join at the “small organization” level, or higher if they so choose. 

    • There are a few angles to this. Before I address those, I want to lay out the landscape for how people come to news media stories today. By and large, audiences find stories through newsletter and social media links rather than by visiting the homepages of any given source.

      • Roughly 21% to 26% of U.S. adults prefer to get news directly from news websites or apps, but direct, loyal traffic to specific homepages is declining as users increasingly favor social media (54%) and search engines. Direct access is often eclipsed by side-door traffic (social/search) which drives higher engagement for specific articles over homepages. 

      • Preferred Pathway: While 68% of Americans get news from websites/apps, only about 1-in-4 prefer the direct, homepage-first method (Pew Research Center).

    • Whether it’s through See Hear’s channels or yours, we expect the bulk of our audience to come through various side doors:

      • I have an email database from The Overlook, my previous podcast, and an audience with Wake Up, Asheville, a daily newscast podcast that will regularly tip to See Hear stories.

      • Local news media are regularly posting content from one another, something that didn’t occur all that long ago. The landscape is ripe for See Hear content to appear on Mountain Xpress’ website and BPR’s airwaves.

      • Our free weekly newsletter will be a must-subscribe resource to the arts.

      • Partnerships with area tourism bureaus to embed our content onto their websites.

      • See Hear marketing will include geo-targeted brand-awareness campaigns through Instagram and an in-podcast advertising platform called AudioGo.

      • Your core audience will want to read, watch and listen to the stories we post about your organization. Sharing our stories with your audience, through your own social channels and newsletters, will deepen their engagement and commitment to experiencing your new work.

    The cross-currents of community: Audiences coming to See Hear from other arts organizations’ posts will, inevitably, learn about your work. These are people you aren’t otherwise reaching.

    • Memberships begin on the day your organization joins and are due to renew a year from that date. 

    • Organizations joining between now and our formal launch will have their first-year memberships extend until See Hear’s anniversary in 2027.

    • While there’s no prototype yet, this is the home page of The Charlotte Ledger, an independent news outlet using the same platform as See Hear.

    • Our home page will look largely like this, though we will also have audio and video content accessible directly from our site.

    • Yes! As examples, you might experience a leadership change or key organizational milestone, or launch an educational program I believe is newsworthy for a broad public. I will want to cover those outside the scope of stories you commission through membership.

    • I might also want to include someone from your company in a story about a larger issue or trend in the arts or as a guest on a podcast episode that isn’t specifically about your organization. Those, too, are at my editorial discretion and outside the scope of our membership agreement.

    • No. Just as with other news media outlets, you won’t see or vet my work before it posts. While members commission me to preview events and interview specific artists as part of their benefits, members aren’t dictating how I write or produce See Hear stories. 

    • When you’re using your member benefits to have me preview a specific production, exhibition or concert, be assured the content I produce will inform, engage and, hopefully, inspire people to go. But it’s vital for everyone in our community—including audiences—that my journalism remains credible through its independence. 

    • See Hear won’t write features or previews about fundraisers. However, members can post short “Bulletins” in advance of their fundraisers.

    • We also won’t write reviews/criticism of performances, exhibitions, recordings or events.

    • On occasion, yes. I want See Hear to be a comprehensive platform for arts journalism in Western NC. Many local artists or small collectives aren’t in a position to pay for memberships, and it’s important the site be accessible to noteworthy creators in our community.

    • Still, content commissioned by members will always be my priority.

    • A preview article is a written piece only, accompanied by either photo(s) that you provide or photos I shoot. The podcast interviews are more long-form conversations that will be produced in both audio and video.

    • While you could use your membership credits for both an article and podcast interview serving the same event preview, you’ll get more mileage by spreading those out over separate productions. When commissioning content, you and I will talk in advance about which format/medium will work best for that particular preview.

      • For example, at the tier for large organizations, you’re eligible for up to 9 pieces of content with your plan (4 written articles, 3 podcast episodes and 2 produced videos).  

    • These involve me coming to a location, shooting footage from a rehearsal, performance, reading, reception for an exhibition, conducting a short interview, then putting together a video story running around 3-4 minutes. 

    • For examples of these, please explore some of the videos I produced for my Twin Cities arts program 3-Minute Egg. 

    • Members will have editorial access on our platform to author their own news briefs (under 100 words) about virtually anything they like, such as fundraisers, audition or job notices, public workshops or classes or studio rentals. These bulletins will appear in chronological order in their own section of See Hear.  

  • One of the reasons I’m asking members to request coverage at least one month in advance is to help me plan. I’m also prepared to hire local freelance journalists to produce work I can’t personally fulfill.

  • See Hear will offer members-only opportunities and pricing for a la carte content for organizations that have already reached their limit for the year.

    • Perhaps, but not at the beginning. There are already a few calendars in the regional ether and I have no ambition to compete with them. 

    • Still, if enough members request a calendar they can post events to, I’ll eventually adopt a platform for anyone to post events in our calendar. Member posts would be highlighted. 

  • No, but we will feature prominent links in our content to your own ticketing platforms.

    • See Hear will offer a range of business advertising options for on-site and newsletter display, along with in-podcast and in-video placement.

    • Though non-member businesses can purchase ads, members receive discounted ad rates.