Pop-Up Magazine, the critically acclaimed “live magazine” that showcases “stories, music, art and performance,” resumes its live stage shows this week following a pandemic hiatus.

Which isn’t to say the organization has been dormant all this time. To the contrary, the San Francisco-based Pop-Up Magazine team, led by Publisher/President Chas Edwards, used its time away from its usual quarterly tours to innovate wildly—not only releasing video and podcast series, but launching socially-distanced events, such as a special “Sidewalk Issue,” and even a mail-order “Issue in a Box” (more on all that below). The company also ramped up its Pop-Up Magazine Brand Studio division, creating custom experiential/virtual content for brands.

The past 18 or so months have also been notable for the Pop-Up Magazine organization’s rather dramatic restructuring. The California Sunday Magazine, a print/web division that Pop-Up Magazine launched in 2014, shut down late last year (and then, in June of this year, it was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing). Pop-Up Magazine also parted ways with Emerson Collective, the quasi-advocacy organization founded by Laurene Powell Jobs that went on a media-investing spree a few years back—acquiring a majority stake in The Atlantic in 2017 and outright acquiring Pop-Up Magazine Productions in 2018. 

Now, Pop-Up Magazine is getting back to its roots as the live-events company it was born as in 2009. On Friday, Nov. 12, a four-city tour kicks off in Oakland, California, at the historic Paramount Theatre, followed by shows in Los Angeles (Nov. 14, The Theatre at Ace Hotel), Brooklyn (Nov. 16, BAM Howard Gilman Opera House) and Washington, D.C. (Nov. 18, Lincoln Theatre). Tickets are available at popupmagazine.com/fall21.

Ad Age’s Simon Dumenco interviewed Pop-Up Magazine’s Chas Edwards as he and his team prepared to hit the road.

This interview has been lightly edited for space and flow.

What should potential attendees know about what you’re doing differently this time?

The safety of our fans, contributors and crew is absolutely our top priority. We developed a thorough COVID protocol for this tour, in partnership with the venues and in line with—or exceeding—the guidance of local health authorities. At all shows we will be checking proof of vaccination and requiring masks inside the theaters.

Did you rule out any venues or cities because they didn’t mandate specific minimum safety protocols that you wanted to maintain?

Since pandemics don’t end all at once, like turning off a light switch, we decided our fall 2021 tour would be smaller than usual, visiting only four of our top markets: New York, Los Angeles, D.C., and the San Francisco Bay Area. The venues we work with have been great partners, so there weren’t any situations where we wanted to perform a show but couldn’t because a particular theater was out of step with any of our safety requirements. We expect to return to more cities in 2022. 

What did you learn from the various non-stage-show things you did during the touring shutdown?

We were fortunate that our team is made up of multimedia storytellers. That made us nimble when the pandemic shut down live, indoor activities. Because our touring shows include documentary films and animation and audio assets and sometimes physical objects, we had the skills to produce stories for YouTube and the podcast platforms, a big outdoor installation, and even to create an “Issue in a Box” that people bought from us during the 2020 holiday season. 

The “Issue in a Box” was a limited-edition thing, right? How many did you sell?

We made 3,000 and they sold out in a week.

Cool.

And we facilitated unboxing parties, over Zoom and Google Meet, for people who bought it.

Over the past year and a half we had to figure out how to bring our fans together at a time when it wasn’t safe to gather in the same room. We also teamed up with Creative Mornings to organize virtual field trips where Pop-Up Magazine fans on multiple continents walked outdoors by themselves while simultaneously listening to an episode of “Field Guide,” getting to know each other across a giant video call. We even spotted one couple on a virtual first date—one touring the story installations at the “Sidewalk Issue” in San Francisco and the other touring the same stories at the Brooklyn edition.

These new skills also helped us build more engaging virtual events for corporate partners. We adapted the “Issue in a Box” idea for a streaming event we created for Zendesk, and in a few weeks we’re producing a live streaming event for the office-space management company Density with opportunities for real-time audience connection and participation.

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Tell us about the sponsors that have come on board for the “fall issue,” as you call it, of Pop-Up Magazine. And how will they be integrated into what you’re doing?

Our fall 2021 sponsors include Mailchimp, The Botanist Islay Dry Gin and Density. Through our partnership with The Botanist, Pop-Up Magazine fans who arrive a bit before showtime—provided they’re 21 or over—will get a complimentary Botanist Martini or Botanist and Tonic.

Density invited us to make a streaming show for their customers. The event’s theme is “better spaces.” Better spaces for getting work done, of course, and also better spaces for human connection, for environmental impact and for self-expression. The streaming show will include Pop-Up Magazine storytellers Albert Samaha, Brooke Jarvis and Nat Puff, the musician better known at Left at London. The show will stream live on Dec. 1, and like Pop-Up Magazine’s theater shows, after the stream it will disappear.

With Mailchimp, we teamed up with their Mailchimp Presents unit to produce a series of short films that bring viewers inside five beloved independent retailers around the country. Pop-Up Magazine attendees will get a sneak peek at these films, which launch on Mailchimp Presents in early 2022. The series uses playful sound and hypnotic cinematography to imitate the sensory experience you feel inside your favorite retail spots. Featured businesses such as Blk Girls Green House, in Oakland, and the Life Wellness Center, in Brooklyn, are near the respective Pop-Up Magazine venues. 

When The California Sunday Magazine shut down last fall, Emerson Collective issued a statement saying that it was ponying up a “substantial contribution ... to allow Pop-Up to operate independently.” You’re no longer a part of the Emerson Collective, right?

We are a fully independent company without any outside investors.

And how big is your team right now?

Currently 18 full-time employees.

Do you want to take this opportunity to mention a performer or contributor you’re particularly excited about seeing live?

Cord Jefferson’s story is an amazing blend of humor and emotion. Ben-Alex Dupris’s story brings you inside a very old tradition in a very modern way. I love stories that are narrated and illustrated by the same person, like Chanel Miller’s. Apparently I’m unable to pick a favorite!

I love chatting with groups of fans after Pop-Up Magazine shows, and asking them this same question. I do it at every show, and in ten years I’ve never once had a group agree on their favorite story. Some people like the intimate, beautiful stories, and other people like the funny ones, and other people are drawn to big performances.

Other media companies and marketers have, of course, been making tentative returns to live-event production. Any hard-won advice you want to share?

A great aspect of live anything is, your audience will tell you—even before you ask—how you’re doing. You know instantly if a funny story is really funny, or if you’ve made something really special because they got out of their seats to cheer.

We try our best to listen to our fans. They’ve been incredible guides to what we should do next.

Honestly, the audiences at every Pop-Up Magazine event I’ve been to have been rapturously appreciative.

We missed being with our audience. We can’t wait to be back. This show is going to feel like a group hug in many ways.

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