Annual Reports

Message from Michael Campbell: Executive Director, WestWords

The past three years has been difficult for all of us in the Arts as we negotiated the unpredictable effects of the pandemic. Each year was characterised by multiple pivots as we responded to the changing impacts of new COVID variants, lengthy lockdowns, rapidly changing health guidelines, levels of risk for the writers, partners, staff, audiences and collaborators, and artists getting COVID.  We found the understanding and collaboration of all of our writers, collaborators and partners sustaining. In the face of the tenuousness, the Arts sector and those who support it revealed their generosity. It was particularly gratifying that our navigation of these times was recognised in the Western Sydney Awards for Business Excellence (WSABE). WestWords won both the 2020 and 2021 Commonwealth Bank Excellence in Arts & Culture award and I personally was awarded the 2021 Outstanding Business Leader Award.

2022 continued to be challenging as we all re-emerged. WestWords re-opened its Centre for Writing in the heart of Parramatta, offering a diverse range of in-person and digital programming to support writers, writing, audiences and the sector – and we enjoyed significant success. In 2022 we ran:

• 298 activities, facilitated by 216 writers and allied artists.
• 37,639 people directly participated in our programs either in-person or digitally, with a reach both nationally and internationally.

As WestWords runs to a calendar financial year, the 2022 report will be available shortly. In the meantime please enjoy reading about the work we have been undertaking in recent years.