Happy Friday to you, my friend. Where are you? What have you been thinking about?

It’s sunny here but cold. This type of weather triggers a specific form of nostalgia for us. It’s hard to place, but it feels productive and inspiring.

We’re listening to Max flute variation by Michael Portal, discovered on a recent and very good show on NTS by Claire Milbrath. What have you been listening to?

There’s plenty to talk about, and so much to look forward to.

iOS app updates

Our iOS app continues to cook in the oven. The head chef, Yihui Hu, expects that it will be ready to devour before the end of the year. In the meantime, features continue to be added, flows continue to be smoothed, and performance continues to be improved.

Once again, if you’re just joining us, and you’d like to try this in-progress app, all it takes is a Premium subscription. If you’re already Premium, check your perks page.

And for those of you using Android, we haven’t forgotten about you. We have a new Android app, a vast improvement on the old one, complete with a share extension for easy saving to Are.na. We’d love if you gave it a try.

Are.na Annual launch party

On December 12, we’re hosting a launch party for the new Are.na Annual, which you’re cordially invited to. This volume — our seventh — is themed “pool,” and Maya Man, Sara Magenheimer, Peter Johnson, and Bryan Lehrer will be reading from their brilliant pieces to give you an idea of what’s in it. There will be drinks, books, a warm and convivial atmosphere, a chance to meet up.

Mark your calendars for Friday, December 12, 7-9pm at Index Space (120 Walker St. Floor 3, NYC).

Are.na Annual Sale

Speaking of, if you’ve been curious about the Are.na Annual and want to check out any of our past volumes before the new one comes out, now is the time.

From now until the end of the year, all past Annuals can be purchased for 20% off if you use the coupon code ANNUAL_ARCHIVE. Some past themes include “document”, “trace”, “service”, “portal” and “tend”. Supplies are extremely limited, get them while you can.

Are.na Editorial

This month, we started publishing a new interview series called Learning in Public. We’re talking to people running projects and spaces that set up the infrastructure for others to learn and participate within. So far we’ve interviewed:

Jisu Lee of Birdcall, a space in Seoul that hosts events and workshops on website building

Hugh Francis, Elie Andersen, and Sam Taylor of Index, a global network of communal workplaces with peer-led programming

Alison Beshai of Resource Library, a lending library in New York making design print more accessible

Community news

Coming up on Wednesday, November 26, Birdcall is hosting an Are.na tutorial, both in their space in Seoul and online. It’s from 8-9:30pm local time, and you can sign up for it here.

New work by Maya Man, StarQuest, was released through Feral File today. On Tuesday, Maya gave a performance lecture around the piece at the Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center, in collaboration with Triple Canopy.

Earlier in the month, Laurel Schwulst and Bradley Spudich facilitated an Are.na Meetup in St. Louis at the arts space The Luminary. They went on a walk down Cherokee St. and documented what they observed in an Are.na channel.

And two new books by/about Are.na friends: The Cory Arcangel Hack: Digital Culture and Aesthetic Practice by Eivind Røssaak and A Sexual History of the Internet by Mindy Seu and Laura Coombs. Mindy is also on tour with her performance lecture of the same name, so don’t miss that if it’s in your city.

Press

Are.na’s Charles Broskoski was interviewed by Itay Dreyfus for Itay’s new design magazine, Niche Design.

American Style’s Biz Sherbert said some nice things about Are.na in Byline, namely that she would marry us.

Roadmap

As always, you can check out our roadmap page which goes into the features we're building, our long-term goals, and our current numbers.

There are so many places you can spend your attention, and we’re touched that you spent it reading this letter.

once again,

The Are.na Team