The New Territory Magazine Receives Missouri Arts Council Grant to Support Regional Literary Journalism

JEFFERSON CITY – The New Territory Magazine was awarded a $24,831 reimbursement grant from the Missouri Arts Council, which will cover costs for producing its flagship publication, The New Territory. The grant renews in 2026.

The New Territory is an independent, longform literary magazine created by and for people living in the Lower Midwest, a region that includes Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, Northwest Arkansas, and Southern Illinois.

The Missouri Arts Council provides funding for artistic projects that demonstrate alignment with the council’s strategic goals of engaging people in meaningful arts experiences, growing Missouri’s economy using the arts, and strengthening Missouri education through the arts.

“The New Territory blends literary journalism with visual art that creates a showcase for the lower Midwest,” said Missouri Arts Council Executive Director Michael Donovan. “You feel its beating heart and it makes you glad to wake up in this vibrant region, sown with imagination and ideas.”

The magazine’s eligibility for this funding comes at the heels of a recent restructure. The New Territory incorporated as a 501(c)3 in 2023, which has allowed it to diversify its revenue streams to include philanthropic support rather than relying solely on advertising and subscriptions. The organization takes its nonprofit status seriously. The New Territory’s mission statement calls upon its contributors, editors, and board of directors “to advocate and foster love and protection of the Great Plains, Ozarks, and Lower Midwest through publishing art and narrative journalism focused on personal, natural, and societal stories.”

“Although The New Territory is celebrating its 10th anniversary next year, we are relatively new as a nonprofit organization,” says The New Territory founder and publisher Tina Casagrand Foss. “To receive this Missouri Arts Council grant is an honor and vote of confidence from the literary arts community of our creative state.”

The New Territory strives to expand the portfolio of American creative writing by publishing essential new voices from Missouri and the Lower Midwest. The magazine’s editorial team has a tradition of connecting new feature writers with contributing editors who have previously published with The New Territory or whose body of work lends expertise in the topic at hand. 

The New Territory publishes two full-color, 128-page issues per year, each featuring works from 25 to 35 contributors including writers of creative nonfiction, literary journalism, poetry, and short story as well as visual creatives such as documentary photographers, painters, illustrators, and multimedia artists. Since its founding in 2016, The New Territory has worked with more than 450 regional writers and artists.

“We believe strongly that supporting Missouri with the arts creates vital communities, effective education, and a better state to live, work, and visit,” Donovan said.

Direct all media inquiries to Tina Casagrand Foss. 

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About The New Territory Magazine

The New Territory Magazine is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization on a mission to advocate and foster love and protection of the Great Plains, Ozarks, and Lower Midwest through publishing art and narrative journalism focused on personal, natural and societal stories. Visit newterritorymag.com.

About the Missouri Arts Council

The Missouri Arts Council, a division of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, is the state agency dedicated to broadening the growth, availability and appreciation of the arts in Missouri and fostering the diversity, vitality and excellence of Misosuri’s communities, economy and cultural heritage. The council is funded by the Missouri General Assembly, Missouri Cultural Trust, and the National Endowment for the Arts.