The NSW Writers Centre is an essential part of Sydney’s literary life for many writers and fans of the written word. Here’s more about it …
The NSW Writers Centre was formed as an incorporated association on 13 May 1991 after representations to the NSW Ministry for the Arts by a founding committee led by Angelo Loukakis as Chairman. The then Minister for the Arts was Peter Collins, whose name adorns the plaque on the building that dates the inauguration at 21 September 1991. The first Executive Officer Adele Moy ran the organisation for about 12 months until December 1992, when Irina Dunn was appointed and commenced as Executive Director.
Under its foundation the Constitution, the NSW Writers Centre was established to:
• manage a centre for the promotion of writing in New South Wales by hosting “… workshops, seminars, festivals …”
• promote writing-based culture and the rights and interests of writers,
• act as an information and liaison centre for writers, “… publishers, [and] writing organisations …”.
In the first few years, a variety of programs and events was trialled to test what worked best for the fledgling centre. An early management proposed establishing the centre mainly as a resource office fitted with photocopiers, computers, printers and so on, but it was realised that the requirements of the constitution, not to mention the capital investment required, militated against such a suggestion.
The NSW Writers Centre courses and workshops have grown in number each year to reach a maximum offering of about 100. They now form a major part of the centre’s professional development program, with general writing, editing and publishing workshops held on most weekends between late January to early December, and school students’ and teachers’ workshops held in school holidays during the year.
The centre has always been highly visible in its core activities – running the highest quality series of workshops, seminars and masterclasses for writers as well as hosting the largest community of writers in Sydney. For 21 years it’s been known for this as this was in the main what they did – but not so any more.
In the last few years the Centre has become a little iceberg-like with visible activities being only the tip of what they do. In 2011 it is easy to be overwhelmed at how much they did behind the scenes – enabling writers and writing organisation to grow and thrive.
They lobbied for, advocated, supported, developed and, most importantly, were huge fans of the writers and writing organisations who are working to make Sydney a city of letters and NSW a state where writing is the number one activity be it recreational or creatively.
There are many examples of how they did this but their proudest is the Aboriginal Writers symposium they held as part of Guwayni early in 2011. They opened their doors for a on- day talkfest for Aboriginal writers and the publishing industry to get together and vision a future. From asking the question “what can be done” they’re now in discussion with the new Aboriginal Writers network, a triennially funded initiative, on how they can continue asking questions which will lead to such great answers.
“The tip of the iceberg is a very important thing and we pride ourselves on the continued high quality work we do but we are especially proud that in 2011 we expanded our support and found joy and success in the support we could give,” said director David Ryding.
“This is the role we see for ourselves as we go forward building a robust writing community arts sector in NSW.”
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