For some people, the value of art is best counted numerically, in the sales figures of a painting.

Melbourne is blessed with a fascinatingly diverse and successful arts sector.

Given that our feature artist in this issue of Canvas is the queer Melbourne writer, Christos Tsiolkas, I though it fitting to open my editorial with a quote by Mayakovsky, the Russian poet and playwright who wrote about love, revolution, religion and art in the language of the streets, rather than the formal language of 19th century poetry.

Welcome to Canvas, a new arts, entertainment and lifestyle publication for Melbourne’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.