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Culture magazine theme
Manifesto
A loud, high-contrast Ghost theme for culture, arts and design magazines — huge uppercase headlines, a scrolling news ticker, and room for a podcast and a team of contributors.
In Ghost’s official marketplaceUS$149Single site · One-time · Tax may apply
Need more than one site? Choose the five-site agency licence — US$349. Or get Ghost All Access — every Ghost theme, now and in the future, for US$549.
14-day money-back guaranteeLifetime product updatesSupport from the builder
Version 1.0.0 · released 19 September 2026 · see the changelog
Needs a Ghost plan that allows custom themes — Ghost(Pro) Starter does not. Publisher or self-hosted is the right fit. More on plans · Compare all eleven themes
The theme, in full
Loud by design, in light or dark.
Every screen below is the real rendered theme on the live demo — no mockups. Select any one to view it full size.
The light and dark front pages above are the same theme: Manifesto follows each reader's system setting, with nothing to configure.
Ghost 6Current major version
GScan verifiedChecked before release
No frameworksNo jQuery or runtime libraries
Direct supportAim: two business days
Performance-minded by default
Loud on the page, light on the wire.
Manifesto keeps the front end deliberately small: one hand-written stylesheet, one short vanilla JavaScript file, native Ghost features and no framework between your stories and your readers.
Minimal JavaScript
Script is limited to the mobile menu, ticker controls, fit-to-width headlines and back links, and every one of them degrades cleanly without it.
Ghost-native features
Memberships, search, newsletters, comments and recommendations work with Ghost rather than extra plugin layers.
Built to be noticed
Big type, a working front page, and room for everything else.
Manifesto is designed around what a culture magazine actually runs: a lead story that stops the scroll, a steady stream of new work, a podcast, and the people who make it.
Newspaper-style masthead
Your title set as large as the page allows, with today's date and your site description beneath it — sized to the width on every screen.
Scrolling news ticker
Your latest headlines on a continuous loop. Readers can pause it, and it holds still for anyone who has asked their device to reduce motion.
A podcast, built in
Tag a post podcast and it gets a homepage row, its own archive and an episode layout. Not running one? Nothing podcast-related appears.
Authors, properly
A contributors row, an authors directory and profile pages with every social link Ghost supports, plus each writer's city and story count.
Members and paid posts
Members-only and paid stories are flagged in every listing, and the paywall at the end of a locked story is styled like the rest of the theme.
A designed dark mode
The whole theme follows the reader's system setting — including Ghost's editor cards, which are light-only by default.
Fit check
Is Manifesto right for your publication?
- Culture, arts, design and music magazines
- Publications with a podcast or a team of regular contributors
- Membership and newsletter-led editorial businesses
- Brands that want the front page to make a statement
Not the right fit: Ghost(Pro) Starter sites, publications that sell display advertising — Manifesto has no ad slots, so look at Society — or a quiet, text-first front page.
Technical details
| Ghost | Designed for Ghost 6.x; runs on Ghost 5.118 and later |
|---|---|
| Hosting | Ghost(Pro) Publisher or higher, or self-hosted Ghost |
| Licence | Single site: one live Ghost site (US$149). Agency: up to five live sites using this theme (US$349). Staging and local copies included for each licensed site. |
| Updates | Included for the lifetime of the product |
| Support | Email support from the builder; target response within two business days |
| Dependencies | No jQuery, page builder or frontend framework |
| Fonts | Bricolage Grotesque and Newsreader from Bunny Fonts by default, or your own from Ghost's font settings |
Ghost(Pro) Starter does not support custom themes. Read the compatibility FAQ.
Explore the working demo
Turn the volume up yourself.
These links open the real Ghost demo, populated with representative magazine content.
What you receive
A theme licence, not a mystery ZIP.
- Production-ready Manifesto theme download
- Perpetual usage licence for one or five live sites, according to the option purchased
- A ready-made routes file for magazine, podcast and author URLs
- Public setup and update documentation
- All future Manifesto compatibility updates
- Email support for installation and documented settings
After purchase
Gumroad sends the theme straight away.
After checkout, Gumroad emails your download link. You receive the production theme ZIP, setup documentation, lifetime product updates and support from the person who built it. If Manifesto is not a fit, the 14-day refund policy applies.
Buyer questions
A few things worth knowing before you choose Manifesto.
Quick answers to the questions that usually decide whether a Ghost theme is the right fit.
Will Manifesto work on my Ghost plan?
Manifesto is designed for Ghost 6.x and requires a Ghost plan that supports custom themes. Ghost(Pro) Starter does not support custom themes; Ghost(Pro) Publisher or a self-hosted Ghost install is the right fit.
Can I customise it without coding?
Yes. Manifesto takes its accent colour and fonts from Ghost's own brand settings, and ten documented theme settings cover the news ticker, homepage layout, podcast and authors sections, headings, social links and newsletter wording, without editing templates.
Do I need to run a podcast?
No. Podcast features only appear for posts tagged podcast. Without any, the homepage row hides itself, and one theme setting turns it off entirely.
What support do I get?
You get email support from the person who built the theme for installation questions and documented theme settings, with a target response within two business days.
What if I buy it and it is not right?
Your purchase is covered by the 14-day refund policy. If Manifesto is not a fit for your publication, read the refund terms or email before the refund window closes.
Manifesto · US$149
Make the front page impossible to ignore.
One-time purchase, lifetime product updates and a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Free Ghost launch checklist
Still planning your Ghost site?
Work through the free Ghost Publication Launch Checklist before you publish. You can also get three short emails about choosing a theme and launching your site, followed by occasional theme news.