Help us raise $52,000 for 52 years of Arkansas Times.
If we hit the goal, our publisher will get a catfish tattoo.

For 52 years, the Arkansas Times has been many things: a newspaper, a magazine, a website, a watchdog and occasionally a pain in the ass for those that probably needed one. Through it all, there has been the catfish. This year, for our 52nd anniversary, we’re giving the ol’ fish its moment in the sun.

Project Catfishis a celebration of the Times and the ugly little bottom-feeder that has graced our publication as mascot for decades. Project Catfish has two parts …

First, we’ve set a fundraising goal of $52,000 in honor of our 52nd anniversary. If we reach the goal by Dec. 31, Arkansas Times publisher Alan Leveritt has agreed to go under the needle and get a catfish tattooed on his forearm. 

Alan has spent over five decades publishing the Times. Now, for the right price, we finally have an opportunity to make him permanently brand himself with the beast. We consider this a major advancement in Arkansas journalism. Great fun, yes, but the fun is only part of the story.

Second, we’re releasing a school of toy catfish into the wild. We’ve hidden catfish figurines at participating local businesses around Little Rock, and if you reel one in, we’ve got some prizes for you. We’ll be releasing clues and more information throughout the hunt, so keep an eye out on the Times social media channels (Instagram and Facebook) for drops and information. The real centerpiece of Project Catfish, however, is a little more permanent.

For more than half a century, the Arkansas Times has covered Arkansas with an independence that is increasingly rare in local journalism. Nobody is safe from our reporting including governors and legislators, elections and corruption, restaurants and music, arts and culture, and the countless oddities that make the place we call home so unique. Doing that work takes reporters and resources. As the business model for local journalism has changed in recent years with tech powerhouses like Google and Meta sucking up the majority of local advertising dollars, so too has our approach to fundraising. Support from readers is critical to making our work possible. 

Every contribution to Project Catfish helps support independent Arkansas journalism and gives us the resources to dig deeper and ask harder questions to tell the stories that otherwise won’t be told. And, perhaps more importantly, every dollar gets Alan a little closer to the tattoo chair.

So whether you’ve been reading the Times for decades or just discovered us last week, we hope you’ll help us celebrate 52 years.

Find a catfish, make a donation, tell your friends and get Alan inked.

Donate today!