Photo by Michael Andrade

It has never been uncommon to find musicians at the forefront of social and political commentary. Today marks the day another vibrant avenue for artists to create dialogue within the community has been created. Alongside the national political activist group Demand Progress, Victoria Ruiz and Joey La Neve DeFrancesco of the Providence-based punk band Downtown Boys launched a new webzine called Spark Mag this morning.

The webzine’s goal is to “highlight and financially support artists and musicians who are promoting progressive and radical ideals through their work”. Its first issue features artists like Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz tackling social issues such as gender in music. Definitely a worthwhile endeavor and an exciting new enterprise to say the least for those of the progressive mindset within the musical community. Maybe not so much for those not. (Sorry I’m not sorry Ted Nugent.)