About Fishtrap

Organizational Profile ~ Sponsors & Foundations ~ Fishtrap History

Mission
Fishtrap’s mission statement, formulated many years ago and re-affirmed frequently, is “Fishtrap promotes clear thinking and good writing in and about the West,” sometimes abbreviated as “Writing and the West.”

Programs
Fishtrap began in 1988 at Wallowa Lake, Oregon, with a Summer Writers’ Gathering. Over 100 writers, editors, teachers, librarians, and readers spent a July weekend reading, listening, and discussing “Western Writing and Eastern Publishing.” Each summer since, people have gathered to listen and respond to outstanding Western writers address living and writing in the West. Summer workshops were added in 1989, and the Fellows program in 1990, both of which are tightly coupled to the Gathering. In 1991 the first Fishtrap Anthology was published. The Winter Fishtrap Gathering was launched in 1992, followed by the Imnaha Writers’ Retreat and the Writer-in-Residence programs in 1997.

Several programs that primarily serve residents of Wallowa County followed: the volunteerdriven Radio Storytelling program in 2000, both the Friday College program and Lectures & Readings in 2002, and The Big Read in 2006. At the same time, programs for the regional audience of writers continued to expand. The Children’s Lit Workshop started in 2004, Fishtrap’s writer-in-residence model was expanded in 2006 to serve four other eastern Oregon counties as the Eastern Oregon Writers-in-Residence program, a yearlong low-residency writing workshop program started in 2008, and the Outpost workshop and a nature writing residency are seeing their first incarnations in 2009.

Today, Fishtrap runs more than fifteen different programs which occur year-round. We estimate that in the course of our 22 year history, we have served more than 20,000 people and engaged more than 350 writers, academics, and literary professionals as faculty for our programs.

History and Organization
Fishtrap became a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation in August of 1992. The organization has a very active 11-member local Governing Board of Directors, and a 19-member Advisory Board made up of writers, publishers and literary activists from all over the country. The founding director, Rich Wandschneider, stepped down as Executive Director in 2008, but is still on staff as the Josephy Library director.

Fishtrap conducted its first capital campaign in 2001 to purchase the Gwen and Gladys Coffin house in Enterprise, which now serves as its headquarters. Under Rich’s guidance, Fishtrap is planning a second capital campaign to fund the development of the Alvin Josephy Library of Western History and Culture.

For more on the history of Fishtrap, click here.

Board of Directors
Fishtrap’s very active governing board is composed of Wallowa County residents who have collectively contributed thousands of hours of volunteer time to make Fishtrap work, plus a wider Advisory Board that consults constantly and meets occasionally. As a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, Fishtrap welcomes donations large and small to assist funding specific programs, meet matching grant requests, and provide scholarships for deserving individuals. Click here for current listing of Fishtrap's board and staff members.