We need your help to build an Accessible Writers' Studio at Varuna, the National Writers' House.

At Varuna, our mission is to inspire the creation of Australian writing that enriches and shapes our culture. The residency program at Varuna is the only national residency dedicated to literature. It provides an invaluable combination of mentoring, community and the elusive time and space to write. While our writers adore Varuna house, heritage planning constraints mean that we are unable to modify it to make it accessible for writers with mobility issues.

We are currently forced to deny applications for residencies from writers with mobility issues.

One of our core values is inclusivity, and we believe that every Australian story is important. Access to our unique national program will contribute to the empowerment and representation of writers with disability, and enable writers with a lived experience of disability to tell their stories. These stories are essential. As writing tutor Carly Findlay puts it, "There needs to be more people with disability telling our stories across all types of media. Telling our own stories educates, reduces stigma, pity, exploitation and sensationalism, and raises the level of expectation that society has about people with disability”.

We've applied for grants and scraped together almost 90% of the budget, but we need your help to reach our goal.

What is a 'Writers' House' anyway?

Varuna’s mission is to inspire the creation of Australian writing that enriches and shapes our culture and to facilitate writing that is celebrated nationally and internationally. We aim to be a catalyst for artistic excellence through our unique residency programs and professional development opportunities, empowering the literary imagination at every stage of a writer’s career. 

We run masterclasses, workshops and major events like the Blue Mountains Writers Festival, but most valuable are our residencies. The residency program at Varuna is the only national residency dedicated to literature and provides an invaluable combination of mentoring, community and the elusive time and space to write. When writers come for a residency, they can check out of the interruptions of daily life and focus on developing their work. 

Residencies take place at the beautiful heritage Varuna house. Situated in two and a half acres of beautiful gardens in Katoomba, Varuna is a friendly and relaxed residential retreat for writers. The house has five separate bedrooms, each with a writing space attached or nearby. Writers help themselves to breakfast and lunch while dinner is cooked each evening by Varuna's wonderful cook Sheila Atkinson, who has now become legendary among Australia's writing community for meals for our guests. Writers tend to gather by the fire in the comfortable living room in the evenings. 

Award-winning writer Emily Bitto writes that: 

“Varuna provides such a carefully considered and perfectly realised environment for writing that it is virtually impossible not to be productive here.”

Building the Accessible Writers' Studio will allow us to increase the weeks of residency that we can offer from 240 to 290. As well as making us truly inclusive and able to offer residencies to all writers, if the studio is not fully booked by writers with mobility needs, the additional space will allow us to increase the number of residencies available across the board.

What are we actually going to build?

Here's the plan. We will build a simple but private writers’ studio that will be a single-level dwelling of 35 square metres with a bedroom, living area/study, bathroom and kitchenette, connected to the main house of Varuna via a pathway and ramp, enabling writers to access the ground floor of Varuna to meet with other writers and share evening meals and fireside sessions.

The building will enable mobility-impaired writers to access Varuna’s valuable skills development programs, including the experience of an intensive residency fellowship, in-house workshops,  networking with other writers during their stay, manuscript consultations, membership of our alumni and the ability to participate in events held at Varuna.

How will the money be used?

Our aim is $18,000 (AUD).

The cost to construct and fit-out this building is $152,000 (before GST). We have already received the generous funding of $100,000 from Create NSW’s Creative Capital Fund, and we are able to draw down $34,000 from Varuna’s reserves.

This leaves a shortfall of $18,000.

We've made it! What next?

Thanks to your support, we've reached our fundraising target and our Accessible Writers' Studio will become a reality in 2020!

We've been blown away by your generosity and, as we have sailed past our target with two weeks to go, we have set a 'stretch' target. 

If we are able to $5,000 raise of this, we will put these funds towards solar panels for the roof of the studio. This will make our new building more sustainable and help to manage ongoing costs. 

Any further funds raised will provide a much needed contingency for the building project. As with all new buildings, we're already encountering a few unexpected expenses along the way, such as additional council fees, and the need to further modify the surface of the pathway between the house and the new studio to improve access for non-motorised wheelchairs. 

Any funds raised that aren't required for the building will be used to fund residencies for writers with disabilities.