Welcome to Sunday Night In

I’m Tracy Crisp and I started Sunday Night In because I kept finding out about book launches and performances and readings after they’d happened. Or not finding out about them at all.

I was also spending a lot of time whinging about how hard it was for local Adelaide artists to get any traction in the media. This is partly because there isn’t a lot of local media left in Adelaide. And there certainly isn’t much media dedicated to local South Australian writers and independent theatre makers. Then, when it comes to the times of a big arts focus like the festival and the fringe, the media attention is all about the novelty of interstate and overseas artists. That’s just how the news works. Which is fine, but can be a bit frustrating at times.

After a while I’d whinged about everything so much that I thought it was time to stop whinging and start doing. I started putting together a regular list of book launches, readings, and performances with a focus on local artists and venues.

The title Sunday Night In, was inspired by a decision the ABC made decision to cut all local news services on Sunday nights and run a news service from Sydney or Melbourne. In fact, the day the ABC announced that decision was the day I decided to start my newsletter. Good news! The ABC did change their mind about that and we do still get a local Sunday night news service. But by then I’d started the newsletter and I liked the name so I kept it.

Sunday Night In started as a substack newsletter which came out (not coincidentally) on Sunday night. It was a great start, and the subscribers grew quickly. But once I sent the newsletter out, things just disappeared. So I thought I’d start a small website and see how it goes. I’m notorious for starting things and then letting them dwindle, so it’s very possible that’s the way this will go too. But I’m hoping it has a medium-term shelf-life at least.

Sunday Night In focuses on local artists and local work. That is, writers and performers, books, literature, theatre and other word-based happenings from Kaurna Yerta (Adelaide) and around the regions. It also includes events organised by local and independent venues, because venues are a crucial part of our arts ecosystem.

Thanks for reading Sunday Night In.

Tracy Crisp