Astro Artz was an American publishing company founded by Susanna Dakin in the early 1980s.

History

The company was most notable for its partnership with '' High Performance'', an art magazine founded by

Linda Frye Burnham Linda Frye Burnham (born 1940) is an American writer whose work and research focuses on performance art, community art, education and activism. In 1978 she was the founding editor of High Performance Magazine and later served as co-editor wit ...

. In 1980, Dakin met Burnham—who was struggling to keep ''High Performance'' afloat at the time—and offered to fund the magazine. Dakin and Burnham then established a publishing partnership, Astro Artz/High Performance, and maintained it for many years. Apart from ''High Performance,'' Astro Artz published many other works such as ''Art in Everyday Life'' by

Linda Montano Linda Mary Montano (born January 18, 1942, Saugerties (town), New York, Saugerties, New York (state), New York) is an American performance artist. Early life Montano was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic household, partly Irish and partly Itali ...

, ''Initiation Dream'' by

Pauline Oliveros Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center ...

and Becky Cohen, ''The Amazing Decade: Women and Performance Art 1970-1980'' edited by Moira Roth, and ''Dressing Our Wounds in Warm Clothes'' by Donna Henes."Astro Artz." Printed Matter Inc. https://www.printedmatter.org/catalog/publisher/184 Astro Artz gained its non-profit, tax-exempt status in 1984 and became eligible to receive grants. In 1988, Dakin purchased a property in Santa Monica that would eventually become the

18th Street Arts Center 18th Street Arts Center is a nonprofit arts center in Santa Monica, California. It was founded in 1988 and is the longest running artist residency center in Southern California. 18th Street Arts Center’s residency program hosts 60 or more Ameri ...

. Major changes began with the content and direction of ''High Performance'' and soon tense relationships developed between the editors and the new Santa Monica board members. ''High Performance'' eventually became independent and assets were transferred to Linda Burnham and Steve Durland. By 1992, Astro Artz had reinstated itself as 18th Street Arts Complex.

References

Publishing companies established in the 1980s {{Publish-company-stub