MagsBC extends call for subsidized internships

The Magazine Association of BC has extended the deadline for application for the program subsidizing internships. Visit here to find out about applying and to download the guide and the form.

Although the initial deadline has passed, member magazines may continue to submit an application up to early fall for subsidies of up to 80% for half-time internships of 16-22 weeks for 2017-2018. These subsidies are subject to federal funding.

Non-member magazines who are interested in hosting an intern are invited to submit a member application form. If accepted, new members may immediately apply for the subsidy. Information on membership eligibility, types and forms may be found here.

MagsBC panel on inclusivity in magazine publishing to be part of WORD festival

The Magazine Association of BC will be hosting a panel called during the forthcoming WORD Vancouver festival about inclusiveness in magazine publishing. It is part of a larger initiative being spearheaded by MagsBC board member Natasha Sanders-Kay, the managing editor of subTerrain magazine.

The initiative aims to encourage public discourse surrounding marginalized communities and to provide real working strategies  for(magazine publishers to support, engage with,and include these communities [said a release]. This panel is the first of a  series of public engagements that will be(continued at MagsBC’s annual professional development conference MagsWest, November 3-4,2016 at UBC RobsonSquare.  

“Inclusive Magazine Publishing: Barriers and Strategies for Writers and Publishers” will be held at 3:40 p.m. on Sunday, September 25,2016, in The Lions tent outside the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch.

Broadcaster and(novelist Jen Sookfong Lee will moderate the panel, including

• Jónína Kirton, writer and editor at Room magazine, coordinator of the first National Indigenous Writers Conference, and member of the Aboriginal Writers Collective,West Coast chapter;  

• Chelene Knight,writer and managing editor at Room magazine;and 

•  Elee Kraljii Gardiner, writer and editor at Poetry Is Dead magazine, director of Thursdays Writing Collective,and founding member of the Canadian Women in the Literary Arts.

Mags BC looking for a new executive director as Rhona MacInnes resigns

Rhona MacInnes

[This post has been updated] "It was just time," said Rhona MacInnes, the executive director of the Magazine Association of BC, who has tendered her resignation. She was quick to say it was no indication of crisis in the organization and that there will be an orderly transition. She says that the rigours of a long commute played a part in her decision, though she hopes to remain involved and to assist MagsBC on specific projects. [The posting for the job.]

Founded in 1993, the Magazine Association of BC (MABC) is a non-profit organization based in Vancouver that represents more than 80 magazine publishers across B.C. 

MacInnes has been the E.D. for three years. The MABC hiring committee says it will accept applications until June 29.

Clélie Rich named Mags BC volunteer of the year

The Magazines Association of BC has announced that Clélie Rich, senior member of the volunteer collective that runs ROOM magazine, is the MABC 2010 volunteer of the year. The award recognizes volunteer achievement by those who provide inspiration for bright up-and-comers and better the magazine industry through their involvement.

ROOM is Canada's oldest journal of writing and art by, for, and about women and Rich spent several years with the magazine in the 1990s and returned in 2004 when the collective needed her institutional memory and organizational skills, according to an item in the MABC newsletter.

Fellow ROOM collective member Melissa Edwards says the recognition is well deserved: “Clélie dedicates hundreds of hours each year to the education of young editors and the stabilization of ROOM, including making herself available to all collective members on Skype every Saturday morning to answer questions. The women she mentors go on to edit issues of ROOM themselves, and then to contribute their growing skills at paying jobs at other publishers in BC and across Canada.”

A past volunteer chair of the Federation of BC Writers, Rich also volunteers much of her time as a working board member of the Western Magazine Awards. Corey Van’t Haaff, WMA executive director, says, “There are few volunteers I am aware of who can match Clélie Rich’s dedication to task, perseverance and skill. Throughout it all, she remains professional, affable, engaged, thorough and delightfully available.”

Rich is also a published poet and freelance editor. She will be honoured at Magazines Canada’s Cross-Canada Volunteer Appreciation Reception in Toronto on June 9, during MagNet.