While the Â鶹´«Ã½ presses may have been silent over the Christmas period, that didn't stop activists from getting out and winning new supporters to the project.
Between December 28 and January 1, a team of activists from Brisbane, Sydney and other cities, staffed a Â鶹´«Ã½ stall at the Maleny Folk Festival at Woodford in Queensland. Over the five days around 1500 back issues of the paper were distributed as samples and 300 of the current issue were sold. In addition, 130 people decided to become subscribers of the paper.
This is a great start to 1995. Subscribers are the backbone of the Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly project. Building Â鶹´«Ã½'s subscription base over the break gives the project a great foundation to start 1995 in full swing.
From all accounts, the festival was a huge success, one that Â鶹´«Ã½ was pleased to have been involved in. In its own way the festival made a significant contribution to cultural diversity. At Maleny people challenged widely held beliefs through the media of music and performance art. It relied on the dedication and commitment of volunteers, rather than the slick promoters and profiteers who compromise art for profit.
Â鶹´«Ã½ is committed to the same thing in the print medium. It is no surprise that we found quite a number of new participants in the project at the festival. Many of the performers regularly lend their talents to help raise money for Â鶹´«Ã½.
This year Â鶹´«Ã½ will be raising $115,000 to keep the project going. Like the Maleny festival we rely on volunteers, money raised and generous donations. You can be a part of this project. You can read, write, subscribe and distribute the paper. Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly — it's your newspaper. n