Home
The Woodcock Fund
THE WOODCOCK FUND
As of June, 2009, the proceeds from the sale of the Woodcocks' home on McCleery Street in Vancouver have been donated to generate a $2.3 million endowment that provides financial aid to writers during times of unforeseen financial hardship.
The Woodcock Endowment Fund for Writers in Financial Distress was established by the Woodcocks in 1989. "Part of the reason they set up this fund,"; suggests Tony Phillips, "was the Shadbolts were setting up the Shadbolt Centre and their own trust fund. In essence, I think George and Inge probably said, 'Well, Jack and Doris are doing this, so we should really be thinking about what we're going to do. They're supporting artists. So we'll support writers.' They were idealists. Their idea was simple: If somebody has fallen on hard times you just give them a helping hand and everything will straighten out.";
The Writers' Trust of Canada, formerly known as the Writers Development Trust, subsequently received $1 million from the Woodcock estate in 2005, followed by $876,000 in 2006, and a final installment of $683 in 2009. "Writers are one of Canada's greatest exports,"; said Don Oravec, Executive Director of the Writers' Trust of Canada, in 2006, "yet many endure near poverty. This increased support of the Woodcock Fund will encourage and preserve our literary heritage by rescuing those works that might otherwise be abandoned."; These bequests, overseen by estate executor Sarah McAlpine, constitute one of the largest private donations to the literary arts in Canada, if not the largest.
Between 1989 (when it was activated) and 2009, the Woodcock Fund dispersed a total of $647,404 to 1489 writers who applied. "An endowment was built up from '89 to '05,"; says James Davies, senior program manager, "while at the same time the Fund dispersed between twenty and forty thousand dollars each year."; To be eligible for assistance, the writer must be working on a book that, without the grant, would be imperiled or abandoned, and the writer must have already published a minimum of two works, as well as face a financial crisis that exceeds the ongoing, chronic problem of making a living. The fund chiefly serves writers of fiction, poetry, plays and creative non-fiction.
"The Woodcock Fund is one of the many enduring legacies funded by the Woodcocks' generous, passionate and unflagging engagement with the world,"; says Ronald Wright, who knew the Woodcocks for twenty years prior to serving as Chair of the Writers' Trust Woodcock Committee. "Many authors received the Woodcocks' encouragement and friendship, which are rare gifts, and especially so from our heroes.";
In his remarks to celebrate the inauguration of the Woodcock Endowment Fund for Writers in Financial Distress on May 24, 2006, family friend and author Keath Fraser noted that George Woodcock "grew up in poverty and endured the costs of this, in one way or another, for more than half a lifetime. It's no wonder in remembering the value of a shilling he refused to forget that the worth of a dollar increased when it was shared.";
Fraser quoted from a letter written by George Woodcock to Sir Herbert Read that describes his impoverishment in Sooke and the importance of charity: "A few weeks later we were again out of paper money and down to nickels and pennies. This time we went over to the Englands to try and borrow a couple of dollars. They too were broke again.... Having told us this, Jean went without another word to her cupboard, took out her meager stores, and divided them, tin by tin and packet by packet. Then she took the children's money box, silently opened it, counted out the contents, wrote an IOU, and then divided the cash so that she and Inge had about $4 each. It was the most shining act of mutual aid I have ever experienced.";
George and Ingeborg Woodcock learned the importance of charity the hard way, and they would always remember, as Keath Fraser made clear at the closing of his remarks: "George never forgot 'the culture shock that often comes from the first encounter with deep poverty.' He was referring to his first trip to the less developed world, Mexico, in the summer of 1954. But his allusion might just as well apply to the culture shock of returning to Canada in 1949, where he encountered the deep poverty of having to buy his time as a writer by digging septic tanks and shoveling turkey shit.
"The Woodcock Fund is characteristic of George and Inge because it reflects their capacity and moral desire to remember others ... never to forget, as George put it, 'the less fortunate.' Having done their best for impoverished Tibetan refugees and tribal Indian villagers, their own tribe of writers is what they chose to remember in their will.
"In setting up this legacy, they were really remembering their anarchist roots. No red tape or state intervention, thank you, just mutual aid among writers. No hierarchy among applicants, but rather an evaluation by peers. And no publicity about the grants given; instead, anonymity guaranteed.";
George and Ingeborg Woodcock undoubtedly looked favourably on the Toronto-based Writers' Trust, registered as a non-profit organization in 1976, because it was conceived by writers Margaret Atwood, Graeme Gibson, Pierre Berton, David Young and Margaret Laurence. He was especially fond of Margaret Laurence, with whom he had corresponded, and Margaret Atwood, who he had taught at UBC in 1964-65 while writing the first draft of her novel, The Edible Woman. Atwood felt indebted to Woodcock for writing a highly favourable review of her work in the Toronto Star near the outset of her career.
Visit www.writerstrust.com
by Alan Twigg
As of June, 2009, the proceeds from the sale of the Woodcocks' home on McCleery Street in Vancouver have been donated to generate a $2.3 million endowment that provides financial aid to writers during times of unforeseen financial hardship.
The Woodcock Endowment Fund for Writers in Financial Distress was established by the Woodcocks in 1989. "Part of the reason they set up this fund,"; suggests Tony Phillips, "was the Shadbolts were setting up the Shadbolt Centre and their own trust fund. In essence, I think George and Inge probably said, 'Well, Jack and Doris are doing this, so we should really be thinking about what we're going to do. They're supporting artists. So we'll support writers.' They were idealists. Their idea was simple: If somebody has fallen on hard times you just give them a helping hand and everything will straighten out.";
The Writers' Trust of Canada, formerly known as the Writers Development Trust, subsequently received $1 million from the Woodcock estate in 2005, followed by $876,000 in 2006, and a final installment of $683 in 2009. "Writers are one of Canada's greatest exports,"; said Don Oravec, Executive Director of the Writers' Trust of Canada, in 2006, "yet many endure near poverty. This increased support of the Woodcock Fund will encourage and preserve our literary heritage by rescuing those works that might otherwise be abandoned."; These bequests, overseen by estate executor Sarah McAlpine, constitute one of the largest private donations to the literary arts in Canada, if not the largest.
Between 1989 (when it was activated) and 2009, the Woodcock Fund dispersed a total of $647,404 to 1489 writers who applied. "An endowment was built up from '89 to '05,"; says James Davies, senior program manager, "while at the same time the Fund dispersed between twenty and forty thousand dollars each year."; To be eligible for assistance, the writer must be working on a book that, without the grant, would be imperiled or abandoned, and the writer must have already published a minimum of two works, as well as face a financial crisis that exceeds the ongoing, chronic problem of making a living. The fund chiefly serves writers of fiction, poetry, plays and creative non-fiction.
"The Woodcock Fund is one of the many enduring legacies funded by the Woodcocks' generous, passionate and unflagging engagement with the world,"; says Ronald Wright, who knew the Woodcocks for twenty years prior to serving as Chair of the Writers' Trust Woodcock Committee. "Many authors received the Woodcocks' encouragement and friendship, which are rare gifts, and especially so from our heroes.";
In his remarks to celebrate the inauguration of the Woodcock Endowment Fund for Writers in Financial Distress on May 24, 2006, family friend and author Keath Fraser noted that George Woodcock "grew up in poverty and endured the costs of this, in one way or another, for more than half a lifetime. It's no wonder in remembering the value of a shilling he refused to forget that the worth of a dollar increased when it was shared.";
Fraser quoted from a letter written by George Woodcock to Sir Herbert Read that describes his impoverishment in Sooke and the importance of charity: "A few weeks later we were again out of paper money and down to nickels and pennies. This time we went over to the Englands to try and borrow a couple of dollars. They too were broke again.... Having told us this, Jean went without another word to her cupboard, took out her meager stores, and divided them, tin by tin and packet by packet. Then she took the children's money box, silently opened it, counted out the contents, wrote an IOU, and then divided the cash so that she and Inge had about $4 each. It was the most shining act of mutual aid I have ever experienced.";
George and Ingeborg Woodcock learned the importance of charity the hard way, and they would always remember, as Keath Fraser made clear at the closing of his remarks: "George never forgot 'the culture shock that often comes from the first encounter with deep poverty.' He was referring to his first trip to the less developed world, Mexico, in the summer of 1954. But his allusion might just as well apply to the culture shock of returning to Canada in 1949, where he encountered the deep poverty of having to buy his time as a writer by digging septic tanks and shoveling turkey shit.
"The Woodcock Fund is characteristic of George and Inge because it reflects their capacity and moral desire to remember others ... never to forget, as George put it, 'the less fortunate.' Having done their best for impoverished Tibetan refugees and tribal Indian villagers, their own tribe of writers is what they chose to remember in their will.
"In setting up this legacy, they were really remembering their anarchist roots. No red tape or state intervention, thank you, just mutual aid among writers. No hierarchy among applicants, but rather an evaluation by peers. And no publicity about the grants given; instead, anonymity guaranteed.";
George and Ingeborg Woodcock undoubtedly looked favourably on the Toronto-based Writers' Trust, registered as a non-profit organization in 1976, because it was conceived by writers Margaret Atwood, Graeme Gibson, Pierre Berton, David Young and Margaret Laurence. He was especially fond of Margaret Laurence, with whom he had corresponded, and Margaret Atwood, who he had taught at UBC in 1964-65 while writing the first draft of her novel, The Edible Woman. Atwood felt indebted to Woodcock for writing a highly favourable review of her work in the Toronto Star near the outset of her career.
Visit www.writerstrust.com
by Alan Twigg
Submitted on June 25, 2009 in By David.
