Newfoundland and Labrador arts and culture journal Riddle Fence just released its milestone 50th issue, but its executive director says without financial help, it might not make it to No. 51.

Riddle Fence has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise $50,000. The magazine’s executive director, Elisabeth de Mariaffi, says the reaction has been positive.

“The level of traction we got right away — the number of shares we got and the kind of people who are sharing the post — just, I think, really shows the importance of Riddle Fence, you know,” she told CBC News.

De Mariaffi blamed the sudden budget shortfall on inflation.

“Printing and shipping costs are just skyrocketing, and we’re in a situation where literally every issue costs more than the last,” she said.

The magazine has sought out ways to raise money and cut costs, she said, including changing printers to get a better deal.

The magazine gets funding from municipal, provincial and federal levels of government but it doesn’t cover operating costs, she said.

De Mariaffi says Riddle Fence, founded in 2007 as a literary magazine, is the only independent arts and culture journal in the province.

Magazines like Riddle Fence can act as a “career launcher” for many early stage artists, she said, because they help them get published, which artists can add to their resumés and use in applications for funding or agents.

As the newly appointed executive director, she said, part of her job is to get the magazine onto stronger footing. They’re looking to raise funds to survive the winter and get to the spring when the new operating year starts. After that, de Mariaffi said, they’ll need a more stable, consistent fundraising model.

“What a shame it would be to see Riddle Fence disappear at this stage,” she said. “I’m sure nobody wants that. Nobody wants to bring in Year of the Arts with the closure of the only independent arts and culture journal in the province.”

Plans for future

Newfoundland and Labrador has a great pool of talented artists, she said, and it’s important for them to connect with contemporaries outside the province.

“How important it is for us, as writers and artists, to get to participate and to and in the wider discussion with the rest of Canada and, indeed, the rest of the world. And one thing that Riddle Fence can do is extend that reach, right?” said de Mariaffi.

The magazine helps bring noted writers into the province, she said — naming Griffin Poetry Prize winner Liz Howard, Giller-nominated Alexander MacLeod and writer and activist Desmond Cole as examples — who then host public talks and workshops for local writers.

As she drums up support for the magazine’s fundraising efforts, de Mariaffi is actively planning for its future and has projects in the works.

This past summer Riddle Fence hosted its first pop-up store on Duckworth Street in downtown St. John’s, and de Mariaffi says three more are planned for next year.

In 2022, the magazine announced it was launching an imprint. De Mariaffi says four books will be released in the spring, explaining the imprint’s funding has already been secured.

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