Magazines BC dealing with staff turnover and CPF funding disappointments

The Magazine Association of BC is undergoing some major changes in both its staff and programming. Recently, we reported that Rhona MacInnes was leaving as executive director; her interim replacement, program coordinator, Heidi Waechtler has stepped in to cover the job, but will herself be leaving at the end of July to enter the Master of Publishing program at Simon Fraser University.

The role of project coordinator will be vacant for some time, the association says in its newsletter, as the incoming executive director (to be named soon) sorts out how to respond to cuts in project funding from the Canada Periodical Fund. MagsBC had asked the CPF for a total of $246,389 and has been given permission to apply for only $151,695; this is $20,000 less than it received last year.

While full funding was granted for some new projects, including its direct mail campaign, research into introducing BC magazines into the school curriculum and market research to be conducted by the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing, funding it had hoped for was either cut in half (bursary program, internship) or denied altogether (Conference on the Coast, Magazine Writers's Craft Fair, transit shelter advertising, Main Street Magazine Tour).

"This news came around the time of a statement by Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty warning cultural institutions that they could no longer rely on federal funding. While MABC has always operated with this reality in mind, we are frequently placed in a position where we must begin (and in some cases complete) projects before learning the review committee’s decisions on our applications, making it extremely difficult to plan strategically for the organization's future."

The association's new board of directors has been elected:

• President: Steve Ceron, Publisher, Arrival
• Vice-President: Elizabeth Bachinsky, Editor, EVENT
• Treasurer: Alexandra Samur, Managing Editor, rabble.ca
• Secretary: April Cuffy, Editor, Visitors’ Choice

Directors at Large:

• Dave Allen, CEO, Just Business People 
• Jenn Farrell, Editorial Collective Member, subTerrain 
• Michele MacKenzie, Marketing Consultant, Business in Vancouver magazines

A farewell for the two key staffers and a meet 'n'greet with the board has been  scheduled for Thursday, July 28, at the Railway Club (579 Dunsmuir St., Vancouver), starting at 5:30 p.m.