IONTAS Magazine is an Irish-led collective of art for the curious and creative. Issued quarterly.

WHY ‘IONTAS’?

IONTAS, like many words in Irish, speaks to the feeling as opposed to the action. It means a sense of wonder or amazement, and that’s what we hope to ignite in our readership.

Whether you are familiar with Irish language or not, we can all agree that Ireland is well renowned as one of the most-loved places. Ireland’s history, however, is not so gentle. Ireland has faced many hardships in it’s history from colonisation to famine.

Despite this, the Irish language has lived on. Ireland has shown that they refuse to let the native tongue be erased. There is a mass resurrection of the Irish language due to pop-culture shifts (KNEECAP, film features in Irish, tourism trends) and a rising general interest towards learning about Ireland.

Art, as a parallel, is suffering due to the rise in generative AI, particularly in a society that values instantaneous results as opposed to curated, intentional artistic choice. IONTAS endeavours to ensure that real art stays alive, just like the Irish language.

Close-up of three women standing on a checkered black, white, and green floor, holding small handbags, wearing fashionable clothing and high boots.

What is included?

All creative work is welcome, except AI-generated content. Our themes are rooted in Irish culture, landscape, and identity, though we also welcome international submissions that reflect, respond to, or converse with Ireland in thoughtful ways. IONTAS features include an Irish Artist Feature, Editor Picks Feature, an Irish Mini-Glossary, small-business spotlights, and multidisciplinary work spanning words, visuals, and textiles. IONTAS is more than a magazine. It’s a pocket dimension between covers. We build worlds, rethink familiar ideas, and deliberately break publishing rules. We commit fully to each theme, from immersive launch events to experimental design and editorial formats. Every issue is its own distinct, carefully crafted experience.

Here at IONTAS, we practice a community-first business model, meaning it is always free to submit to our issues and if our digital download cost is inaccessible to you for whatever reason, we will send you a copy free of charge. No questions asked. We never want cost to be a barrier for emerging artists and curious creatives, however we currently do not pay contributors for their work in IONTAS Magazine

We are self-funded, and practice radical transparency when it comes to our finance. We know it is important for people to know where their money goes. Magazines are tremendously expensive to produce, especially at the level of care and detail that goes into IONTAS, meaning we pay for professional design and printing that adds up very quickly. This is why we do not pay contributors currently, but we are actively working towards attaining funding and grants that will enable us to pay contributions. We know that this does not suit everyone, and often, artists do not have the capacity to take on unpaid work and that is completely understandable. There are plenty of wonderful magazines that offer contributor payment, but IONTAS Magazine is simply not at a stage where that is viable. Introducing contributor payment is at the very top of our priority list. With the combination of launch ticket sales, The Fánaithe and magazine sales, we hope to achieve this very soon and will provide ongoing updates via our Instagram and mailing list.