Even for a writer it’s sometimes difficult to find the words. That’s what editors are for. The good ones point you in a general direction and, if you’re lucky, cut your ego back down to size when you’re overindulging in your word count.
Then, there’s Annie Briard. A multi-media artist herself, she made it her holy mission as editor to bring equal attention to all the various players in Montreal’s diverse arts scene. Rather than let her ambitions turn her into an overzealous taskmaster, she’d always go above and beyond the call of duty to make life easy for everyone around her.
She dug up stories and events for her writers to cover that others might have overlooked.
Spending hours in layout, she devised a new aesthetic for every issue.
She would coach you through a first-time telephone interview or encourage you to start up a column. For someone who spent 2007 launching her own zine, managing a full course-load and working for the HTMlles festival for media art and networked practices, that’s plain impressive.
And what’s more, she did it all with a wry smile.
As Annie takes her leave of the Arts Editor position, she leaves behind a year’s worth of work that not only made The Concordian a better newspaper, but all of us better people for having worked with her.
Finding the right words may never be easy, but she’s certainly inspired us to keep trying.
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