We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sienna Benton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Sienna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
How did you come up with the name of your company?
The magazine’s name stemmed from these two big questions.
What is life, and what is art?
To me, life is Art, and art is a feeling.
So the question then becomes, when do you feel most alive? For me, I feel most alive when I’m creating, and when I’m in love.
Life is Art Magazine embraces the concept that any skill can be creative, and when that skill is mastered, it becomes a form of art. There’s your standard drawing, painting, sculpting, etc arts, but then there comes the less acknowledged genres. The art of conversation, culinary art, architecture, design, fashion, even math and science are unique forms of art. The chair you’re sitting in, the cup you drink out of, the font used on business logos, all of those things required someone to think creatively about comfort, esthetic, and feeling. Drinking out of mug is a different feeling then drinking out of a glass of wine. Isn’t it fascinating how something as simple as drinking vessel can evoke feelings of coziness and or sophistication? Every day we experience feeling, and those feelings are heavily influenced by the art we have surrounded ourselves with, and expose ourselves to daily. Thus, life is art.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Life is Art is magazine that publishes talent who are growing in their craft, or have already mastered their craft. It is a Kavyar represented publication that artists, writers, models, actors, healers, etc.. can submit their stories/portfolios to. Because Kavyar is community ran and funded, we don’t operate the same as corporate magazines. The biggest misconception about publishing is the pay to play business side of things. Many artists feel they should be paid to be published, when Kavyar has been very clear that every publication reserves the right to either publish contributors for free, or contributors must pay a fee if they want to be published.
This is because running a Kavyar magazine is no different than being a photographer who’s getting constantly asked to collaborate with influencers in exchange for social media tags. In this economy, that method is become less appealing to publishers like myself. I’ve published cover stories with celebrities and influencers with huge followings for free, and barely get any followers from it, let alone business from it.
I think contributors need to understand that Kavyar magazines are meant to be a stepping stone to develop their resumes and public image.
Unlike corporate magazines like Vogue, Elle, Vanity Fair, etc.. who can afford to pay crew members because of how much money they make off ad space and what they charge for a cover issue, Kavyar is community funded. To be on a cover of a Hearst publication, or a Conde Nast magazine, it’s best to a look at they charge in their media kits. Visit https://www.condenast.com/advertising
You will quickly see that a cover spot ranges between $163,478.51 – $258,743.47. I don’t know one Kavyar publication that charges anywhere near that much.
I think contributors also need to look into this article, and specifically focus on how much these wealthier magazines pay their models. $225.00 for a day is virtually nothing. https://wwd.com/feature/anatomy-of-a-magazine-cover-576066-1960646/
The purpose of Kavyar magazines is to elevate contributors by making their work more visible to the public, so talent can have a strong portfolio and resume to submit to top agencies. Many people don’t realize that even photographers and stylists, directors, etc. need agents who to book them paid work. However, to get represented you need to have a strong portfolio/resume. That’s where Kavyar publications help.
Where Kavyar publications can (and should) do better, is be less editorial driven, and more article driven. There are some Kavyar magazines that do publish articles, but are a little harder to find. Life is Art is one of those few. Before submitting to just any Kavyar publication, I recommend looking at their social media. If it’s filled with just photographs, you can be assured the magazine publishes only photographs. If it’s showing articles, interviews, and interesting layouts, then they might be worth looking into if you want your portfolio to stand out.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I think because we are one of the few Kavyar magazines that publishes articles, our following (although smaller) is more loyal. We have a more respectable reputation because we don’t just publish anyone who submits their work.
Where a-lot of Kavyar publications go wrong is they lose the respect of the creative community, because they just publish anyone who pays to play. This method sometimes that actually damages the other contributors portfolios. When I was submitting, I refused to purchase any copy of a Kavyar publication that had ammeter work placed in the same issue as mine. (Granted at one point, my work was also ammeter), but at least I knew which magazines required a higher skill level to get featured in. I didn’t want a participation trophy, I wanted to know my work had real skill, which is more rewarding.
Life is Art sort of went through a similar evolution where as the brand was building, I got more intentional with quality over quantity. I stopped publishing vanity pieces, and now I require contributors who have quality work, an intriguing story, or be someone who’s using their platform to positively influence others.
I admit our following is smaller because it takes longer for us to put together an issue, whereas these editorial magazines are just slapping photo after photo because more publishing=higher chance of making sales and building following.
Our sales are shit, I’m not even going to lie about that, but at least our product has integrity, which I think with the right investor/partner could do better for the brand in the long run.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Yes, I actually took a break from publishing Life is Art during Covid. It gave me time to reflect on what is most important. Pre covid the Life is Art brand was featured some talent that seemed to just care about their vanity, but now it’s rebranded into the healing space where I promote people who are trying to help society and our world.
I still publish actors, musicians, and models etc… but I really want to feature more celebrities in different fields like scientists, healers, astronomers, humanitarians, etc…
Contact Info:
- Website: https://siennaevebenton.com
- Instagram: @siennaevebenton
- Other: https://kavyar.com/life-is-art
Image Credits
Ryan Hartford
https://eclipticmediaphoto.net/
Sho Oakland
https://www.shotbysho.com/
Micahel Roud
Magazine Cover/Tear-sheet Features
Melora Hardin
Matty Cardarople
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1781213/
Sharlene Taule
https://www.instagram.com/sharlene/?hl=en