Save The Capilano Review!

"When reading TCR, one knows that literature and art are alive." -- Nicole Brossard

For the past 43 years, The Capilano Review has been an energetic hub of Canadian culture, publishing experimental writing and art, full-colour art sections, interviews with writers and artists, and reviews and essays on contemporary arts. The magazine also programs readings, talks, panels, workshops and multimedia performances. Published three times a year, TCR was founded by Pierre Coupey in 1972 on a shoestring budget and has operated without a pause at Capilano University in North Vancouver.

However, due to budget cuts, TCR is soon to be cut adrift from the university and must face a loss of $85,000 to its annual operating budget. At the end of July 2015, the magazine will cease to exist at Capilano. The depth of the financial loss is severe, but rather than throw in the towel, TCR aims to do everything in its power to continue as an independent magazine. It's not easy to contemplate shutting down when our subscriber list is at an all-time high and when we have a host of exciting collaborations and special issues in the works.

TCR editors and editorial boards have worked for over four decades to help showcase and make space for innovative writing and art in Vancouver, throughout British Columbia and across Canada. We frequently collaborate with art galleries and collectives for co-produced special issues, performances and other events. A scroll through the magazine cover images on the TCR website reveals a roll-call of key Canadian artists -- Gathie Falk, Hadley+Maxwell, Antonia Hirsch, Marian Penner Bancroft and many more -- alongside the titles of works by a diverse and deep cross-section of Canadian poets, novelists and playwrights.

We make a point of publishing genre or cross-genre experiments when possible: scripts, film storyboards, librettos, songs, etc. And from the very first issue -- printed on the cheap in black and white -- TCR has been expressly committed to publishing both emerging and established writers and artists. The magazine has frequently featured writers early in their careers who are now some of Canada's most respected authors, such as excerpts from Michael Ondaatje's Running in the Family and Daphne Marlatt's In the Month of Hungry Ghosts, both in TCR 1.16-1.17 (1979). Recent special issues have focused on George Bowering's books, on translation and the multilingual, and on narrative. Recent open issues have featured dynamic interviews with Sheila Heti, Charles Bernstein and Roy Miki; artwork by Margaux Williamson, Geoffrey Farmer and Raymond Boisjoly, and much more.

TCR also contributes to Canadian literary and art culture through its content-rich website and community events, many of which are archived online. We are completely committed to the print magazine and are proud of the book-like style of TCR, a beautiful object to hold in one's hands or display on a surface -- but we have also thoroughly embraced digital technology. With the release of each new print issue, TCR offers a related and free electronic magazine called ti-TCR, as well as blog posts by writers and artists, featured excerpts from the current print issue and archived interviews, readings and performances. Right now on our website you will find material connected with our issue on George Bowering's books, such as Margaret Atwood reflecting on Bowering and 1960s Montreal, architect Sacha Milojevic's visual renderings of plans for an imagined George Bowering library on the Capilano campus, and audio and video of Bowering reading at Capilano in 1974 and 1990.

How to help

Four decades of editors, board members, interns, writers, artists and readers have worked hard to develop a strong present and future for the magazine and its programming in the community. Our arts events, our role as a staple in libraries across North America and as a common text in college and university classrooms, and our higher-than-ever subscriber list all point to TCR's key position as a go-to source for innovative Canadian writing. Along with upcoming print magazine issues -- a winter open issue and a spring special issue on Pacific poetries -- we're busy with all kinds of projects: a collaborative digital video project, a new app, upcoming readings and workshops, plans for a new multimedia reading series, and more material for our website.

The financial challenge we face due to the impending cut is huge, but so is our resolve and our commitment to the arts. Rather than close shop when we lose our funding from Capilano in 2015, we plan to move into Vancouver as an independent magazine with an unchanged commitment to the avant-garde in contemporary art. We are hard at work right now grant-writing and fundraising to re-build a financially-sustainable future for TCR.

Once we are out on our own and set up in a new office (a search is underway for a suitable space), we will be able to access new funding sources, but the six-month transition period is tough, and we're looking for immediate assistance to help launch our new site and our first independent issues. We're currently running a crowdfunding campaign and are grateful for the many people who have already supported us in small and large ways. Please help us spread the word about our "Save The Capilano Review" campaign! Consider subscribing to TCR! We have lots of energy to carry us forward, and we hope to publish the best of Canadian writing and art for many years to come. And stayed tuned to The Tyee this week for several great pieces by The Capilano Review.