About us

Honest conversations about art, culture, and the people building it right now.

NewCrits is a media company that believes you learn what's changing culture by being close to those making it. We create spaces to explore the work and the stories that come with it.

Through The/Forum, our live artist talk series, and Spent, our podcast on the real costs of a creative life, we open up the realities of artistic practice and the messy conversations in between. Our mentorship extends that same commitment one-on-one: a small, selective space to question what success looks like for you, how art shapes the way we think and move through the world, and how to bring both to your practice.

Founded in 2023 by artist, writer, and educator Ajay Kurian, NewCrits brings together artists and creatives committed to developing work through critical care, rigorous inquiry, and artist-to-artist dialogue.

Our Mission

We believe you learn what's changing culture by being close to those making it.

Real, Honest Conversations

We treat critique and conversation as a practice of proximity. Whether it’s a live Forum talk, an episode of Spent, or a one-on-one mentorship session, our approach is built on honesty without cruelty and generosity without vagueness. These are not conversations that flatter or perform, but instead get close enough to the work, and the life around it, to shift how it’s understood.

A Community of Artists and Creatives

NewCrits is built by working artists and creatives. Every talk, podcast episode, newsletter, and mentorship moment is shaped by lived experience inside the conditions of making culture. This means that our community hears from, and is made up of, artists who have navigated the same things you have when trying to sustain their practices. We are committed to opening up what the process looks like.

Aesthetic Discernment

Aesthetic discernment is a way of reshaping how we see, question, and position creative practices within the world. Culture doesn’t change in the abstract—it changes through the specific, often unglamorous, realities of the people building it: money, time, ambition, doubt, and failure. Drawing from critical theory, pedagogy, and the lived experience, we focus on developing sharper questions, stronger judgment, and a more intentional relationship to participating in culture.