We are delighted to formally announce the re-launch of The ACT Writers Centre as MARION

MARION (formerly The ACT Writers Centre) has a proud history of serving writers across the ACT region, and beyond. Over a quarter-century, this physical ‘centre’ for writers of all levels and backgrounds experienced huge evolution, not without periods of significant challenge. 

On Friday 18 November 2022 we held a special member only event to celebrate and launch the future of this organisation. We have seen great change in the needs of writers as artists. Our region and our writers are not static. In representing ourselves anew we turn toward language that reflects our liberated vision for the next quarter-century. 

MARION now differs from other state and territory Writers‘ Centres in its strategic ambitions and development opportunities. Our organisation acknowledges that we have embraced a changed mindset that differs from some of these once comparable organisations. Chiefly, while honouring our origins, we value new strategic aims that reflect the current environment writers and associated industries operate in. 

The name MARION connects us to a tradition of uniquely, memorably named arts organisations that have carved out powerful roles in the ACT region. Changing the name and branding of our organisation is an important step in this transformation. It marks our independence and commitment to quality in our field beyond any customary comparison with other state and territory Writers Centres. Implementing a name change is one of several actions which redefine and assert the organisation’s integrity into the future. 

MARION celebrates and supports literary expression and creativity across the ACT Region and surrounds. MARION is a carefully considered name that transcends former expectation that we must plainly name ourselves as our regional base, or for the act of writing. 

“I am highly supportive of Marion/ in the organisation’s efforts to better focus its support for local writers. This is a critical organisation for the support, coordination, collaboration, promotion and advancement of authors and poets in the Canberra region. I am encouraged by the plan developed by the executive and board to professionalise its services, with a greater emphasis on taking writers who have begun to establish themselves to the next level. I support the name change to Marion to better reflect this change in emphasis.” - CHRIS HAMMER 

“Undertaking a corporate refresh is a clear statement of new directions and new energies for supporting writers in Canberra.” - DR. CRAIG CORMICK OAM 

While not specifically named after any one person, MARION is a tipped hat to two creative forces that have influenced our region and demonstrated particular fortitude, creativity and determination, Marion Halligan and Marion Mahony Griffin. 

This decision has not been made lightly, the team and board have been in consultations about a name change for the last 18 months. The change in organisational name will:

• support and enhance our strategic direction

• cement a higher standard of professionalism and assert greater recognition of writing as an artform

• distance us from common, recurring confusion around the delivery of literary events

We’ve used the shutdown periods and COVID challenges to challenge ourselves and evaluate the role that we play in the literary landscape of our region and beyond. to contemplate and then actuate a transformation that would offer more to the city, our region, to writers and readers. To challenge ourselves to push past the traditional model that we have been playing. The name MARION, we feel fits in so many ways. The connection it brings to the powerful creatives the ACT region has seen while acknowledging the name is bigger than any one specific person – it is our ambition that MARION will transcend as a name and match our organisational strategic vision and mission: elevating writers and their art.