Today the SRB learned of the outcome for our application for Four Year Funding for 2021-204 from the Australia Council. To our great disappointment we weren’t successful in our bid for this crucial funding – although we have been provided with additional support for 2021 to ease the transition. There’s no denying that this is a substantial blow to our plans for the coming years. We’ll regroup in the months ahead to plot a new path for the journal. It’s a challenging time to be engaged in a rethink like this but we’re fortunate in that we have several multi-year programs underway and plenty of projects in development. Along with so many other organisations that have lost funding, or failed in their efforts to secure it, we’ll be hoping for announcements of a lifeline to the Australia Council to support small to medium cultural organisations and the fragile, vital ecology of writers who rely on them.
This isn’t the news we wanted to be sharing with our readers today. The application process for this funding began in early 2019 and we’ve been waiting for notification of the outcome for several months. We know that scores of other cultural organisations across the country have been on tenterhooks too. We’re cheering for all the organisations that were successful, and commiserating with those who, like us, are dismayed by the outcomes they received today. We’ll have plenty more to say about our plans going forward, but for now, we’ll sign off to reflect on finally reaching the conclusion of a long and exhausting process.