December News | Thank you & Looking Forward to 2026
As we reach the final pages of this year’s story, we want to say thank you for being part of the 100 Story Building community. Your curiosity, care and connection help make everything we do possible.
In 2025, our year was filled with extraordinary moments. We worked alongside newly arrived young people as they found their creative voices; supported children in Moonee Valley commission housing to grow a reading group into a buzzing storytelling club; and stood with Maribyrnong families as they transformed memories of the floods into We Watched Our River Rise, a 100 Story Building self-published picture story book for young children.
We wandered through the Royal Botanic Gardens, gathering stories of wellbeing and resilience, while our FutureMakers youth advisory group dreamed boldly about the organisation 100 Story Building is becoming. Our after-school programs flourished with live play readings and recorded audio works, shared proudly with friends and family. Across Victoria, Story Hubs continued to light up classrooms, supported by teacher professional learning that helped whole school communities reconnect with imagination, confidence and creative possibility. Along the way, we were grateful to collaborate with organisations including the Centre for Multicultural Youth, Footscray West Writers Festival, and to continue contributing to the International Alliance of Youth Writing Centres.
Looking ahead to 2026, our co-designed work continues to grow. New programming staff will join us, bringing fresh ideas, new adventures and more capacity to reach young storytellers in schools, libraries and diverse communities across Victoria.
As the year comes to a close, we wish you a happy holiday season and a joyful New Year. We hope to see many of you in January, when our summer holiday programs return with more amazing opportunities for young storytellers to create, imagine and play.
Thank you for helping keep the trapdoor open and the magic alive, we can’t wait to share the next chapter with you.
Warmly,
Lena Cirillo
CEO, 100 Story Building
