Kore Press, Inc.

Kore Press Institute is among some 300 small presses directly impacted by the sudden closure last month of Small Press Distribution (SPD), the country’s only nonprofit distributor of small and alternative publishers. Along with so many of our colleagues, Kore was without notice suddenly left without distribution, information, access to inventory, and with that, sales income.

We’ve been sitting in on all the zooms and info sharing efforts, talking with prospective new distributors and other presses, and trying to wrap our minds around the calculus of the situation to figure out what the next right move for KPI is. Since those emergency meetings, I’ve recently learned which warehouses in the east and Midwest are holding Kore books. SPD had shipped over 300,000 titles in an effort this past fall to launch a new business model. A few months later they closed their doors. As many of you may have already heard, all presses were given short deadlines to provide the new address where their inventory is to go or face pulping of that stock, which for Kore amounts to 30 years of labor in material assets.

It’s been a lot for us former SPD presses, especially those like KPI who are still in recovery mode from the pandemic operating with little to no staff and reduced capacity.

Kore Press Institute for 30 years has been dedicated to cultivating more just and radically connected communities through publishing literature by women and trans writers, education, and innovative social practice arts. Kore is one of the longest running feminist, literary arts organizations of its kind in the U.S.

In this moment, Kore seeks emergency relief funds to support closing the financial gap this situation has created. As we pivot attention to figuring out new distribution, shipping of inventory across the country, and the additional time-sensitive labor required for good change management ( research, navigating contracts, procuring and establishing new distribution, uploading title data into new systems, managing new relationships, extra communications, website changes, etc, etc), books in the pipeline also require resources. This is what we see, so far, as the additional significant administrative burden (and stress) that Kore, along with so many others, are suddenly facing.

If you have something to spare for this Press that has been contributing to the diversity of America’s literary ecosystem for three decades, we would be ever so grateful. Any support to any group directly impacted is a gift.

Here is yesterday’s NY Times coverage of the debacle which has left so many in this community precarious:

korepress.org 

Hi everyone--COVID-19 is super serious,  and we in the nonprofit arts and culture sector take it just as seriously as you do. It's a hard time in Tucson and around the globe, but we know we are all in this together. Tucson is a world-renowned arts and culture city with a  justice-centered heart. We need your help, and we need one other's support more than ever. 

With everything we all are going through right now—homeschooling our kids, splitting work days in our living space with spouses, caring for elderly or sick relatives, navigating sudden aloneness, trying to stay safe, healthy, calm, and supportive in a radically new now. . . we also are striving to keep our meaningful work alive.

We need to make sure we support local, and help out so our families and your families survive and get through this together. The Kore community of artists, activists and culture workers, and their families, want to stay connected with your people. 

You have your favorite performance series, your favorite events, favorite books, favorite authors and workshops and spaces to learn, grow, commune in, and be moved by . . . live music, the power of story, of language, through movement, performance, through visual art. Call those mission-keepers and artists up and let them know what their work means to you! Everyone could use a reminder in the absence of those previous in-person exchanges.

Today, want to join me in making a difference by supporting this small and mighty local nonprofit that has been helping make Tucson better for 27 years?  There are so many vital, rad organizations and businesses in need, and we ask you to give as you can to those you love the most.

We are inviting you now to help raise money to keep Kore Press Institute's staff employed and food on their families' tables.  Any donation will help make an impact toward retaining these amazing part-time employees and pivoting the high-impact, good work of KPI from events-based, in-person community building to a new online ecosystem for everything.

Buy a book, become a monthly subscriber at the cost of a ticketed event, attend an online workshop, buy a culture worker a meal.  Or, give to this campaign to directly support one month of salaries, so staff can keep eating and making and creating for you.

Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause---and the people---that mean so much to us!

 More information about Kore Press Institute:  Our vision is to cultivate more just and radically connected communities by amplifying and celebrating all women's voices with intersectional feminist culture work, literary publishing, social justice education, gender diversity werk, and innovative community engagement.