Cinnamon Stephens

The Moontimes Collection project

I created the Moontimes newsletter from March 1996 - July 2007.

It was a hand drawn, monthly cultural guide to the region. 

Pre digital era! 

I started creating them as a response to the frustration many local creatives were sharing in the limited platforms

available to promote exhibitions, gigs, creative events, small festivals and other grass roots

experiences.

It was created with passionate enthusiasm, a pencil and eraser, felt tip pen, paper, (edited with cut

paper and sticky tape) on A4 sheets, which were then photocopied onto a colourful full ream of

paper. The format quickly grew from a single A4 sheet to a double A4 (or A3) format.

The front side artwork that would visually reflect what was going on that month was created to be

stuck on a wall to be enjoyed all month so you could keep up to date with what was happening.

The reverse sides were allocated to monthly sponsors. These were often creative people,

businesses or venues that supported creativity.

The Moontimes Collection project will preserve this collection of grassroots cultural documentation that captured

our region’s creative culture during the late 1990’s to the mid 2010’s.

This era was a significantly fertile period across the region that shaped much of the cultural

landscape we now enjoy. The Moontimes collection will be significant for future researchers,

historians and community leaders in the arts.

The goal is to:

1.  digitise the 137 hardcopy issues of The Moontimes,

2.  write a brief history of how The Moontimes was born, grew and survived its 11 years and 4

months

3. print a short run of books to be sold and donated to archival resource centres ie

heritage collections and regional libraries

Inclusivity and supporting diversity were simply part of The Moontimes ethos long before they

were council strategies. Indigenous creatives were included alongside the gender and neuro

diverse, alongside community leaders, inspired change makers, environmentalists, artists,

musicians, performers and more.

It is with this same passion and drive that I now run my Art Consultancy business. The roots of

this side of my artistic life can definitely be found in the Moontimes pages.

This year 2026 in March will mark 30 years since the first issue was created, the time is right!

BUDGET

Digitising process of 137 issues - around 500 scans                              in kind  1,000

Writing The Moontimes story                                                                     in kind

Graphic Designer (partial in kind)                                                                       plus 500

Printing up to 20 copies, card board cover and coiled spine                                 1,400

Shipping 20 copies                                                                                                        500

TOTAL                                                                                                                         $3,400 plus in kind support