Yahoo News Dazed Media Expands Membership Offering With Central London Event Space
LONDON — Dazed Media has doubled down on its membership and experience offering with the launch of Dazed Space, a 4,000-square-foot home for its Dazed Club community that offers cultural events created through the lens of the fashion publication.
Located right under the Dazed Media’s central London headquarters in 180 Studios, the space can be tailored to various needs of attendees and partners to provide physical experiences, such as long-term programs, biannual spectacles and bespoke activations.
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Coinciding with the launch, the space will host a series of talks and workshops with photographer Rankin, to coincide with his new exhibition “Back in the Dazed: Rankin 1991 – 2001” at 180 Studios.
It will also be the home of an Another Man exhibition during Photo London from May 16 to 23, featuring works from Lucas Blalock, Trinity Ellis, Nan Goldin and others.
Recurring events include magazine drops, where readers and Dazed Club members can come to pick up a free copy on the launch day; the monthly talk series “Making it Up as We Go Along,” where Dazed editors and contributors share tips and tricks on breaking into the creative industry, as well as intimate breakfasts for members every two months, and portfolio review sessions with the editorial teams at Dazed Media.
During its prelaunch trial last year, Dazed said it had connected over 20,000 members to each other, and to brands including Gucci, Chanel, Sony and Converse in the space.
Jefferson Hack, cofounder of Dazed Media, said having a permanent space to “explore new creative expressions and keep inventing the future” has been a dream of his.
“Dazed has always put community first since the beginning. On the cover of Issue 1, in the manifesto it said something like ‘this is not a magazine’… because we were always doing events, parties, club nights, performances, exhibitions and gigs. The idea was from the beginning to be ‘a living magazine,'” added Hack.
He said the space will be curated with “an editorial or media thinking,” and provide a way to give voice to the new generation who are defining cultural change.
“It’s a sandbox for our Dazed Club community, our contributors and our partners to play in. It’s also for me an R&D lab for future talent and formats,” he added.
Dazed Media has aimed to diversify its revenue streams amid the challenging media landscape with the launch of Dazed Club in early 2022. Earlier this year it rolled out a dedicated social networking application tied to this membership offering.
“Dazed has always been about adding value to its audience as most media is built around a model of value extraction,” Hack said. “Our mission has been from Day One to ’empower youth through creativity’ and now as we expand with Dazed Club and Space, it’s about that, and with the Dazed Club app we have built what I believe to be the most powerful tool for Gen Z to access, participate in the creative industries and start earning money following their dreams.
“It’s only active in the U.K. now but will be launching in other markets soon. We’ve never been challenged by social media, only emboldened by it. We don’t think like other publishers. For us, publishing is about community, and the more ways we have to bring the community together with purpose and passion the better,” he added.
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