filling Station at Read Alberta Magazines Month (RAMM) Calgary  Launch Party at Art Central, Thursday October 1, 5:00 pm  

filling Station isn't manning a table at this Calgary launch party, though our issues will be available at the Alberta Magazines table. Instead, we are providing musical entertainment from The Ogden Owls, a band that is practically the filling Station band!  Longtime filling Station Collective member ryan fitzpatrick (formerly Poetry Editor, recent flywheel series Coordinator) is frontman of this indie folk outfit, with Non-Fiction Editors James Dangerous and Jocelyn Grosse on guitar and drums respectively, and Managing Editor Laurie Fuhr on bass.  

The event includes a myriad of mind blowing presentations from Alberta magazines of all genres (including show dogs!) a wine tasting, plus as usual on a First Thursday, the shops and galleries will be open.  

Come see if the ribbon sporting poodles eat the coy fish and other potential mayhem to a filling Station soundtrack!

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The Government of Canada may change how it funds magazines.
The arts and literary magazines you love could lose essential support.
Is our readership really too small?
With culture, does size matter?

We say “No” Help us fight!

Express your opposition by writing:

Hon. James Moore
Minister of Canadian Heritage
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
moorej@parl.gc.ca

And write your MP! No stamp required.

Coalition to Keep Canadian Heritage Funding for Literary and Arts Magazines

For more information about what’s at stake, check out and join the Coalition’s Facebook group.

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Small magazines. Opinion varies about the circulation numbers that constitute a small magazine,but with an annual circulation of less than 5,000, filling Station is definitely a small magazine. Due to both proposed changes to the criteria for providing funding to small magazines through Canadian Heritage, and the danger that other funding bodies could follow suit, small magazines are nervous about the potential of losing their means to publish. For some of us, it’s the first time we’ve considered the possibility. But as worrisome as it is, it may just be a much needed wake-up call.

Since filling Station began publishing in 1994, we have prided ourselves on being truly non-profit. We have avoided the use of paid advertising and donors; instead, we have participated in ad swaps. We have never charged money at our would-be fundraisers; instead, we have provided free entry to our budding fellow writers and interested listeners. In short, aside from a small amount of sales revenue, all of our publishing money and events assistance has come from grants. All filling Station Collective members are volunteers. We’ve been very well-intentioned, and we certainly plan to stay that way. filling Station Magazine is a rare place to fill up on some of the most innovative and original poetry, fiction, non-fiction,and art being created in Canada. We believe these pages provide a vital alternative to the mainstream and the cliché, one that’s definitely worth protecting. We’re hoping our grantors will continue to feel the same, but we need to be prepared. It’s obvious now that we should have been prepared all along.

And so, we’re going to start doing things a little differently. We’re going to decide a little fundraising isn’t evil. We’re going to seek a few of only the most suitable, arts-related ads and donors, varying methods of subsidy so we can better manage our fate. We’re going to update our web presence (including online ordering), make better use of social media, and get some content online. We’re going to expand our annual Blow-Out festival, now in its fifth year. We’re going to sell subscriptions like mad. And,best of all, we’re going to redesign and improve our magazine inside and out so that everyone – including granting bodies and you, dear enlightened readers – can see we are not only determined to survive, but to thrive like never before. Like Al Purdy’s house (check out Jean Baird’s article about his house in this issue), we have the advantage of a strong foundation. With tenacity, hard work, and the support of those we have sheltered over 45 issues, our walls will stay standing no matter what our square footage. Barring that, we’ve got this nice heavy cardstock... who’s got some glue?

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On December 19 2008, filling Station launched the Collective Collection #1 chapbook at Broken City in Calgary.  The event was called Lit from Below and was meant to showcase both great writers of fiction & poetry and fantastic local songwriters.

See Photos by James Tworow: HERE

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