Leigh and Graeme would like to give a huge thanks to everyone who has contributed to the GoFundMe campaign to get OUTinPerth back up to full strength.
In the last two weeks over $8,000 has been raised. This has allowed us to set up a new company to house OUTinPerth, and enough to pay the upfront printing costs of creating our next edition.
We’re hoping to have the magazine back on the streets this week.
Along the way we’ve been asked lots of questions about our plans for the future, here’s some answers to some of the most frequently asked.
Have you considered creating OUTinPerth as a non-profit organisation?
We did consider this option, it’s something that some other community focused LGBTIQ publications have done.
To be able to rescue the magazine from a company that had been liquidated, we had to move very quickly. We only had a few days to put together our offer for the intellectual property and archive materials from OUTinPerth. Creating a not-for-profit takes some time to put together, so it wasn’t an option given the timeframes we had to work to.
We view OUTinPerth as a social enterprise, a company that is focused on making a difference in the community and our financial goal is sustainability not profitability. We hope we’ll be able to contribute to the success of all LGBTIQ+ community groups in Western Australia.
Can you do more stories for people who live in the country?
We love writing stories about LGBTIQ people outside the metropolitan area. We’ve ventured down to Bunbury a few times for events and we’d love to travel further too.
We’re particularly interested in hearing from people in rural and remote areas who’d be interested in sharing their stories or working with us contributing writers and photographers.
Would it be possible for more young writers to be involved in the creation of OUTinPerth?
Whether you’re young or old, or somewhere in between we’re into collaboration. If you scroll down to the very bottom of the front page of our website you can sign up for our contributors’ mailing list.
Can journalism students get involved in creating OUTinPerth?
Absolutely, we host work placements, internships and volunteer placements. Some of our work placements have gone on to join our fulltime staff – including new co-owner Leigh Hill.
You don’t have to wait until you’ve finished your degree to work with us.
Will OUTinPerth still be a print publication or will it only be online in the future?
OUTinPerth will be remaining as both a print publication and a busy and informative website. Over the last few years our print publication has been very popular, we always print 10,000 copies and the pick-up rate is very high.
You can now find the magazine at over 300 locations and we hope to expand this into new areas too.
When will the new season of ‘So Loquacious’ be online?
We love that so many people have told us that they liked our first foray into podcasting. We’ll definitely be doing more episodes in the future. If anyone businesses would like to sponsor our podcast – give us a call!
We had a lot of fun recording the show and having great guests in each week to chat about the big issues.
Head to GoFundMe to share or contribute to OUTinPerth’s relaunch.
In order to provide the best service to local community groups and the LGBTIQ community we need to resupply OUTinPerth with the essential equipment needed for a magazine, this includes telephones, computers, cameras, software and office space.
Currently the team are largely working from home using our own laptops and mobile phones (which are doubling as cameras) and we’re not drawing wages.
All assistance to get OUTinPerth back up to full strength is greatly appreciated, and we thank everyone who has contributed so far for their generous support.
So glad to see you back in action so soon, all the vert best to you and the crew.
So so proud of you both!Miss OIP times- we had fun, we worked bloody hard and we were a great team.