What's in a Name?

The Short Answer
Founder Adam Forest was inspired by (or stole it from, depending on your perspective) an Elvis Costello song called "Poor Fractured Atlas".

The Long Answer,
To tell the truth, it really doesn't have anything to do with Elvis Costello.

The name Fractured Atlas means different things to different people, and we like that. For some, a lot of the meaning is communicated by our logo, which depicts the Greek titan Atlas holding up a world (another "atlas") that is cracked (or fractured, as the case may be). This is one way of symbolically representing the artist's role in society. Humanity (the world) is injured (fractured), and the artist's (Atlas's) job is to hold it together. How does he/she do that? By telling stories, singing songs, drawing cave paintings - building and continually rebuilding the cultural backbone that supports all human endeavor by reminding us of our common humanity and helping us interpret our chaotic existence. With this task comes a profound responsibility, of course, which is why Atlas has such a monumental burden, and why he, too, is fractured.

Another way of looking at it relates to Fractured Atlas's mission in the context of global trends in media and entertainment. We're currently seeing a rapid consolidation of power and an accompanying homogenization of voices in American culture. Add to that the fact that American culture is increasingly dominent throughout the world, and there is the potential for a terrible dearth of diverse voices and influences in the global cultural landscape. By helping to empower independent artists and arts organizations, we hope to have some small role in increasing that diversity of voices. In this sense, the world (the atlas) is fractured, and our only hope is to fracture it even further.

Ultimately, though, you can make of it what you will. We just hope you remember the name "Fractured Atlas".