Tahney

Hey! My name is Tahney. I am an editor, arts writer & content specialist based between France & Australia.

  • Grew up in Country South Australia
  • Worked & studied in Melbourne, Victoria
  • Currently living in France
“I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see, and what it means." - Joan Didion
The art world squeezes us like lemons.

You have so much to do without also needing to tick off website updates, an artist statement, and social media campaigns. Words that land with audiences (collectors, media, donors, et el.) require time and attention. 

As an arts writer, I collaborate with you to...

  • lift your art practice or creative organisation with industry appropriate but accessible language
  • produce content that aligns with your identity, connects with audiences, and improves your visibility
  • ease your communications workload so you can focus on other creative or operational tasks 

Who do I work with? I support creative organisations and individuals including artists, writers, musicians, museums, galleries, studios, agencies and media/publishing groups. With a decade in the arts and heritage industries, I am adaptive to understanding, capturing and promoting the nuances of your niche project. 

About me
Published by
ArtExplored, Archer Magazine, Art Almanac, Artling, Arts Review Australia, Artshub, Australian Book Review, Beat Magazine, Betches, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Jewish Telegraph Agency, Little White Lies, Mamamia, Metro Magazine, Peril Magazine, Plinth, Thailand Tatler and Zee Feed, among others.
Worked with
ArtEx, Radio France Internationale, Illuminate Adelaide, Melbourne Holocaust Museum, Arts Project Australia, Gorman, History Trust of South Australia, Chandralaya School of Dance, ANZAAB Melbourne Rare Book Fair, the Wandering Room, Leonard Joel Auctions, Melbourne Art Fair, 45 DownStairs, Spring1883, the Environmental Film Festival Australia, the Jewish International Film Festival & Art Aviso.
Education
Master in Arts Curatorship
University of Melbourne, First Class Honours
Diploma of Marketing
Swinburne University of Technology
Bachelors of Arts (history & anthropology)
The University of Adelaide & the University of Bristol
I am an arts writer, copywriter and editor.
I grew up by the Murray River near Pomberuk and baptised my arts career while living in Naarm/Melbourne, building up a background in curating, programming and arts communication.
 
These days, I engage with the arts on a global scale from my tiny Paris apartment. I go between: 
  • Content and copywriting - I produce communications for artists and cultural organisations, as well as non-profit and social impact orgs. This typically includes websites, social media, Wikipedia, EDMs, press packages and (my bread and butter) artist statements and bios <3 
  • Editorial and audiovisual production - I write criticism and non-fiction pieces focussed on the arts and beyond, with a loose focus on class and environment. Currently, I am Art Editor over at the Suburban Review and a journalist with Radio France Internationale. I also vlog my life and travels in Europe.

As an arts writer, I find words that fill the space between you, your creative project, and your audience. I can help you with:

Email marketing
Artist statements & bios
Press releases
Social media
Blogs
Scripts
UX/UI
Essays & articles
Proofreading
Alt-text
Wikipedia
Transcripts

Let's write the words behind your artistic ideas.
Talk to me about your project

PS, If you don’t think we’d be a good match, let me know, and I can recommend another arts writer from my contacts in Australia, UK and France.

drop a line.
hello@tahney.com
Contact form
pricing

Writing is like sex. First you do it for love, then you do it for your friends, and then you do it for money." -Virginia Woolf

My fee is based on your project's scope, complexity and frequency with a fair adjustment for the creative industry (I don't charge corporate rates!). First off, we can chat to define your project and needs before finalising a brief and fee. 

If it’s your first time engaging an arts writer or freelancer, let me know, so I can walk you through the process. 

Tell me about your project
subscribe to sticky teeth for arts reading lists.

Let's stay in touch (intellectually). 

some recent writing

selection of articles, interviews, blogs et al.

March 18, 2024

Liv Collins has an infectious energy rare in an industry of pretension. I’m really excited to feature her in this sticky teeth micro-interview for her truths about writing education at art school and some hot insider arts reading suggestions.

March 18, 2024

I really fancy a winter getaway to warm up the body and stimulate the eyeballs etc.
Very rudely, I’ve discounted Germany since bordering the country for the last year and a half. But whyyy? It’s super cosy and fun. I drove from Paris to Bavaria for a cheap little cabin in the woods, and spent a cold Feb weekend at palaces and beer halls. Ate a lot, a lot. But all super wholesome meals. And ran into the Carnival by absolute accident (so, all my memories of Germans are them dressed in crappy $2 costumes).

February 20, 2024

Anna Kate Blair speaks on the intersection of art, writing, and time. She explains her major concerns for lack of enough resources for the writing process itself, and also touches on history, capitalism and imagining alternative futures for creativity.

February 20, 2024

I moved to France mid-2022, but finally gave into living in Paris to properly connect with communities for both work and pleasure. In these first weeks, so much happened everyday. Life can be so poetic, then bam. A number. A bad government website. Something you didn’t know you needed to look up. But also, these shapeless days between Christmas and New Year’s can be so quaint and expectant of nothing. I’m feeling good now, in my new home, looking forward to rhythms, new relationships, and Spring around the corner.

January 22, 2024

Brussels-based journalist Sarah Schug discusses the challenges of language in the art world, the need for accessibility, the diminishing value of art writing and her proud accomplishment—a self-published book on Iceland’s contemporary art scene.

January 3, 2024

Collingwood Yards hails itself as a response to Australia’s crisis of affordable arts space. But is it as simple as taking some idle buildings, polishing them up and calling it an arts district – or is there a muddier question of sincerity?

January 3, 2024

Over summer, I stayed in the south of France between living in Lille and Paris. In my final month – October – I lived in Sanary-sur-Mer, a small town near Toulon on the French Riviera.

December 17, 2023

Writer and editor Erin McFayden reflects on framing artistic activities as labour and advocating exploring the good it creates rather than its economic value – as well as her reccs for some artistic endeavours.