An Edmonton literary and visual arts-focused magazine is shutting down, and is hosting a fundraiser this month to pay its closing expenses.

Other Voices, a twice-yearly publication, is calling it quits partly due to changes in federal arts funding, said managing editor Bobbi Beatty.



"I'm actually pleased to report that it was the government of Alberta that kept us going this long; we couldn't have done it without them," noted Beatty. "It was, however, changes and cutbacks to federal funding that resulted in us no longer qualifying for the grants we used to qualify for, and those grants were the largest chunk of our operating budget."

The federal government changed the rules in 2010 with its new Canadian Periodical Fund, introducing a "floor" of 5,000 annual paid circulation to qualify. Other Voices had about 560 subscribers at its end, and was published in spring and fall.

Fall 2011 (or issue 24.1) was the magazine's last printed issue, "and we had 24.2 ready to go, so the agreeable contributors will appear on our website until August 31, 2012, when it, too, will be shut down," noted Beatty.

The bulk of closing costs include paying recent contest winners, refunding current contest entrants, refunding current subscription holders, and distributing any remaining outstanding subscriptions, noted the editor, who added the magazine was volunteer-run.

The final gala, featuring musical acts, comedians, poets, and writers, will be held at The New Wunderbar Hofbrauhaus (8120 101 Street, Edmonton) from 4 p.m. until 11 p.m. on Sunday, May 27.