After thirteen years of highlighting arts and culture in London, ON, the time has come for LondonFuse to end.
With heavy hearts, the LondonFuse Board of Directors announces that LondonFuse will be shutting down in June 2022.
The decision was not easy, but the reasons to shut down outweigh the ability to continue. It’s been a challenging couple of years for everyone, including Fuse. In 2019, after the end of another grant funding cycle, LondonFuse moved to a volunteer-run model. The unsurprising volunteer burnout and the impact of the pandemic are just two of the reasons behind the decision to end Fuse.
Established in 2009, LondonFuse has meant many things to many people over the years. But its aim has always been the same — to highlight and celebrate London’s arts and culture scene. We wanted to talk about what was happening in the city and shine a light on the things flying under the radar. Throughout its tenure, LondonFuse has published thousands of articles and videos, trained and published hundreds of writers, artists, photographers, videographers, and other creatives, and organized or participated in over a hundred events.
The LondonFuse Board of Directors would like to thank everyone who has supported LondonFuse over the years. Whether you attended a Fuse event, read ShortFUSE, bought a t-shirt, or shared an online article — thank you for joining us.
To our contributors and volunteers: Thank you for all of your hard work, creativity, and camaraderie. You gave so much to Fuse, and you truly were the heart of the organization. Thank you as well to our partners who worked with us on some truly incredible projects. And thank you to those who invited us to tell your stories, who gave us their time, and trusted us with their creative works.
LondonFuse.ca will remain up until June 30, 2023; however, it will not be updated after today. We want to ensure our contributors have the time to archive their work for their portfolios. Supporting our contributors and their creative pursuits remains a priority. And many of their articles still get hundreds of views each week and will stick around a little bit longer. Our social media channels will remain up until June 30, 2022, but will no longer be updated or monitored.
While we are sad Fuse is ending, we are excited for what comes next. There are so many amazing, exciting, creative groups and people working to share the interesting and unique aspects of London and we can’t wait to see what else pops up to carry on the vision of LondonFuse. If you’re looking for the interesting and unique things happening in London, we highly recommend checking out See Collective, London’s Pretty Cool Podcast, PLUMP!, StompBox London, Huron & Erie Regional Digest, and The Localist, just to name a few.
