The mission of Bruna Press + Archive (BP+A) is to create and host uncommon cultural conversations. We especially are interested in conversations that take place on the corner, between things, in the middle. To this end, BP+A does the following:
-a public events program (artist talks, book launches, performances, workshops, classes, screenings)
-residencies and retreats for invited artists and writers, especially from the region
-a publications archive and community reading room
-college/university student internships
-a small store/holiday shop for printed matter and related merchandise
BP+A hopes to create unanticipated cultural conversations and cross pollinations between visual art and experimental writing, English and other languages, artists and their larger communities, as well as Bellingham and elsewhere. Through its activities, BP+A seeks to create a larger arena of understanding developed through intimately made connections between readers, writers, and artists.
The publishing program at Bruna Press is dedicated to developing artistic and literary projects that expand both genres. It especially seeks to be a home for minor histories, misfit questions, and perspectives that have been so far unsung and unclaimed, disregarded or omitted, glimpsed, yet still barely expressed. Presenting a vital voice and vision to all its publications, the press celebrates heterogeneity and is committed to exploring how fusion, inclusion, interrogation, and paradox can materialize as printed matter both visually and conceptually in the form of artist books, translated works, reprints, and ephemera, among other media for adults and young readers.
Each year Bruna Press invites a small number of artists and writers to participate in its retreat/residency program located in Bellingham, Washington. During their residencies, participating artists and writers may initiate new work, conclude an existing project, or begin the process of developing a future publication in collaboration with the press. Residencies may be taken for a duration of a few days or for a much longer period.
About each month, BP+A presents free events to the public including artist talks, performances, workshops, classes, and screenings, among other activities. Its publication archive and community reading room further extends itself to the public as a cultural resource by inviting idiosyncratic, one-on-one experiences with over one thousand titles ranging from rare, one-of-a-kind artist-made books to academic and philosophical volumes, poetry chapbooks, video art works, and vinyl LPs, among other formats. This reading room is open each Saturday (2 to 5 pm) and First Fridays (6 to 9 pm) to the public, and is available by appointment.
