Prof Jeff Malpas Chair, TWC Committee of Management
The Tasmanian Writers Centre announced today that it faces closure if it cannot generate interim funding to maintain its operations over the next 8 months.
The Chair of the Centre’s Board, Professor Jeff Malpas, said today that although some support had been forthcoming from Arts Tasmania, additional funding is urgently required to cover the Centre’s operational costs for the immediate future. Prof Malpas added that the Centre’s Board is of the belief that the Centre can flourish in the longer term, and has already embarked on a plan to reshape and reorient the Centre to engage more effectively with the Tasmanian reading and writing community.
The Board has a vibrant new Director-in-waiting, and is actively working to build partnerships with a range of organisations. “Although the Centre’s future is in jeopardy” said Prof Malpas “this is also an opportunity for the Centre to open up a wider conversation with the Tasmanian community about the importance of literature and literacy in Tasmania and to articulate a new vision for the role of the Centre, and its biennial Tasmanian Writers and Readers Festival, in the creative and literary life of the island”.
The Centre is hoping to generate enough short-term support from the Tasmanian community through philanthropic donations, crowd funding, and other sources, to enable it to continue into the beginning of 2019, when it expects to be financially viable once again.
Further information will be available soon at https://www.taswriters.org/.
About the Tasmanian Writers Centre …
The Tasmanian Writers Centre (TWC) works as an advocacy, outreach and support service for Tasmania’s many aspiring, emerging and established writers. Its programs concentrate on the promotion of Tasmanian writers by engaging with a range of audiences, agents, publishers and projects.
The TWC is based year-round at the Salamanca Arts Centre in Hobart’s arts precinct. It is a small, but welcoming space for writers, readers, partners and visitors. Our program of events, workshops and the festival are held around the city and/or across the state – taking TWC services to regional Tasmania. Whether in its permanent home in the capital city or on the road, the TWC is the primary conduit in Tasmania that enables and supports writers, both in their efforts to connect with readers and establish their own artistic, professional and business development.
