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InspireCreativity for all. By Rebecca, Editor of Inspire Everyone has a creative side, which is the founding principle of INSPIRE. It’s a zine currently available on the web at http://www.inspire.melb.net or in a black and white printed version which is posted to you and caters to creative people with disabilities. It was started five years ago when I got fed up with the lack of mainstream sites to show off a persons creativity without having to detail the artists ‘overcoming’ a seemingly insurmountable physical/mental hardship, you know, the ‘Writer Produces Entire 6 Volume Work Despite Being Comatose’ kind of story. Of course, every person who makes some contribution to the artistic world while under adverse circumstances should receive and does deserve full credit for doing so. My point being that there weren’t a whole lot of magazines that basically put the end result in the spotlight while not mentioning disability unless the artist wanted to. Or even one that mentions the individuals disability but in passing, e.g. ‘I have MS, but look at what I’ve done!’ So Inspire was born. It started in early 1995 as Inspire Magazine and was only available in a printed format. The first issue was only five pages long, but a few people saw it and were interested enough to help out. My job is still basically the same as it was, involving producing the finished products, editing, spellchecking, marketing and promoting Inspire. Some of the early contributors still help out today, not the least of which are Domenica, who organises paperwork and writes her own regular column called ‘Mim’s Whims’, Patricia, who organises the books, runs the ‘Links’ and ‘Archives’ pages and writes her own column, ‘Dishy Trish’s Page’ and Michelle, who writes her own column, ‘Michelle’s Say’ and contributes to many of the other columns. Most of the contributors and all of the staff members have a disability themselves, so we’re on your wavelength. We have changed over the years but essentially we work the same way. There have always been many different ways you can be involved with Inspire. We have some regular contributors who provide us with their columns/poetry/cartoons etc by a certain date. In return for their efforts, we try and send them a free copy of the printed zine when it’s available. They also have guaranteed space set aside for them. Other contributors prefer not to be so regulated and send their work in when they want. Other people don’t contribute at all, they are happy to just see the zine. Whatever works for you is ok with us. Having our website has opened up a lot of possibilities. We’re learning as we go, so please check the site regularly or join our email list on the ‘Current Issue’ page so we can let you know what’s happening. In 1998 we changed our name to ’Inspire Fanzine’ which we felt was a more accurate description of what we were - not glossy or colour like people imagine when they think of a mag. We expanded onto the net at the end of last year and we’re reaching a lot more people so we hope to stick around. We’re still running on voluntary contributions, but because the internet operates in colour, we can reproduce artwork in their full glory. The website is totally free to access and we accept almost any article, review, recipe, poem, photo of artwork, cartoon, classified ad etc that you care to send. If you don’t feel that any of our existing columns suit you, we don’t have any objections to creating one for you or running your article as a stand alone piece. We’re trying to be diverse and interesting so the more contributions the better. The only stuff we won’t post are: really offensive stuff, medical articles and personal attacks on people. We’re in the process of changing our focus from printed matter to the website, so changes are expected. Nothing out of the blue though. If you’re a little curious or have an original poem, story or some artwork lying around, consider sending it to us so we can show it off for you. We have a scanner, so any photos or pictures can be posted. Our postal address is Inspire Fanzine, PO Box 209, Kingsbury VIC 3083, AUSTRALIA. Return postage is appreciated. You don’t have to be a professional writer/artist to contribute. Our email address is contactus@inspire.melb.net so get in touch and help us stay interesting. |
