| Frequency | Quarterly |
|---|---|
| Circulation | 2,500 |
| First issue | Spring 2008 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Website | http://orgs.sa.ucsb.edu/wordmagazine/ |
WORD Magazine is an Isla Vista, California quarterly arts and culture magazine published by students through an Isla Vista Arts course at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Partnered with the university's Office of Student Life, the student-run magazine highlights Isla Vista music, arts, and local interests and includes a daily Isla Vista events calendar. WORD is a free publication, distributed in newsstands in front of local businesses in Isla Vista, as well as at the WORD Bench located on Pardall Road.
WORD was started in Fall 2007 when UCSB art professor, Kim Yasuda, discovered a copy of Isla Vista magazine I.V. Lifestyle, which depicted local life with sexist images and as a culture preoccupied with alcohol binging. Spurred by what she found to be an inaccurate representation of Isla Vista living, Yasuda established WORD with the help of Isla Vista Arts' Acting Director, Ellen Anderson, and Santa Barbara Independent longtime contributor D.J. Palladino as a way to redefine misconceptions of Isla Vista culture. By its second issue in Winter 2008, the magazine had earned the title of “Most Creative UCSB Organization” by the UCSB Office of Student Life. Since its start, WORD has published 12 issues and amassed a circulation of 2500.