In 2017, when Are We Europe was founded to make border-breaking stories with the potential to bring Europeans closer together, we had no idea what shape our foundation would eventually take. An ad-free independent magazine supported by subscribers? A member-supported organisation that offers exclusive events, content, and more in exchange for loyal support? A foundation with strong ties to partners that offer institutional funding? We’ve tried it all! And we’re still not sure what that picture is going to look like in the future.
One of the things we tried in the last two years was to put our content behind a paywall. By offering most of our content only to our members, we sought to create value through exclusivity. We strongly believe that good journalism has the potential to bring people closer together, but only if people actually have access to those stories. In hindsight, when we tried to create exclusivity, what we actually ended up creating was exclusion. By charging for access to our reporting, we unintentionally excluded the same people we wanted to reach with it. With our renewed dedication to our mission, we want to actively correct this mistake by making sure that everyone who wants to, is able to access all our stories, regardless of economic status.
This is why, you’ll now find that all the articles, photo stories and digital magazines currently on our website are completely free to read and share with your friends, family and colleagues. We hope to add all yet-to-be-uploaded stories to our archive over the course of the coming year. Check out our stories here.
Thank you for reading, sharing and supporting Are We Europe. If you share our vision of a borderless Pan-European media space, you can help us by sending us a one-off donation, or setting up a monthly donation. By donating as little as 3 euros per month, you can help create security for Are We Europe’s core team.
Thank you for your ongoing support
Eddie Stok
—Creative director of Are We Europe