Marcus Westbury - links

Marcus Westbury - questions / research

Marcus is looking for some long lead articles about his upcoming tv show. I offered to post something here then have had limited net accesss (excuses!). so some research on him. he's already all over the net!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Westbury
Marcus Westbury
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Marcus Westbury

Born 1974
Australia
Residence Australia
Nationality Australian
Marcus Westbury (b. 1974) is an Australian festival director, writer and media maker. He is currently based in Melbourne, Australia where he created the three part TV series Not Quite Art for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation screened during October-November 2007.

Contents [hide]
1 Biography
1.1 Arts and Festivals
1.2 Media Projects
2 Other
3 Media Coverage
4 External links

[edit] Biography
Westbury was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia on 17th January 1974. He attended Jesmond High School (now Callaghan College Senior Jesmond Campus) and University of Newcastle where he failed to complete a Communication Studies degree. During this period he was involved in student politics and was campus activities officer and co-editor with Sean Healy of the student newspaper OPUS in 1995. Under their direction, OPUS was one of the first Australian publications to publish regularly on the World Wide Web.

[edit] Arts and Festivals
In 1996 Westbury was a co-founder of the arts and media collective Octapod and the short-lived Newcastle Fringe Festival. This led to a position based in Sydney as the Online Manager of the LOUD media festival a landmark festival of media arts that took place across Australia's radio and television networks in January 1998. Westbury was subsequently the inaugural Creative Manager of the Noise Media Festival - a follow-up festival to LOUD.

Whilst working in Sydney between 1998 and 2002 Westbury was the founder and manager of the This Is Not Art festival in his home town of Newcastle, New South Wales.

In 2002 Westbury was appointed as the Artistic Director of Melbourne's Next Wave Festival [1] and was the Director of the 2004 and 2006 Next Wave Festivals under the themes of Unpopular Culture (2004) and Empire Games (2006). In 2006, Westbury was also a Director of Festival Melbourne 2006, the cultural program of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Marcus Westbury also founded and was one of the directors of Free Play, Australia's largest independent computer games developers' conference that took place in Melbourne in 2002 and 2003.

[edit] Media Projects
Westbury has worked across a range of media including as a commentator and producer for ABC Local Radio in Newcastle, Sydney and Melbourne and ABC Radio National and has featured on a range of ABC TV series including Recovery, Critical Mass and Vulture. As an occasionally published writer, Westbury is also a coauthor of the h2w2 guidebook (published by the Australia Council) and a tongue in cheek tourism guide to Newcastle called Newcastle Navigator.

[edit] Other
Westbury's mother Kaye Westbury was the Australian Democrats candidate for the Division of Newcastle in 1998 when she died on the eve of the election, forcing a postponement of the vote in the city.

[edit] Media Coverage
Oliver, Robin. Not Quite Art, The Age Newspaper, 15th October 2007.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/tv-reviews/not-quite-art/2007/10/15/119230...

Hill, Jason. Screen Play: Not Quite Art, The Age Newspaper, 2nd October 2007.
http://blogs.theage.com.au/screenplay/archives//007480.html

[edit] External links
Marcus Westbury personal website
Not Quite Art
Octapod Association
This Is Not Art Festival
LOUD Festival
Noise Media Festival
Next Wave Festival
Festival Melbourne 2006: Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival
Next Wave Festival
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Westbury"
Categories: Australian businesspeople | 1974 births | Living people

http://www.marcuswestbury.net/ - personal website

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/notquiteart/ - Not Quite Art

http://www.octapod.org.au/ - Octapod

http://www.thisisnot.org/ - This is Not Art festival

http://www.loud.net.au/ - Loud festival

http://www.noise.net/ - Noise Media festival

http://www.nextwave.org.au/ - Nextwave festival

http://www.melbourne2006.com.au/Festival+Melbourne2006/ - festival melbourne 2006

http://www.nextwave.org.au/freeplay/index.htm - Free Play Games Writers festival

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4SKPB_e...

http://larvatusprodeo.net/2008/04/15/guest-post-by-marcus-westbury-whats...

http://www.griffith.edu.au/griffithreview/campaign/Ed_20/Westbury_Ed20.pdf
what makes a city culturally dynamic? What makes a city the sort of place. that people want to visit, move to and explore?

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=1870&page=0
Talkin' about intergeneration

http://wordpress.com/tag/marcus-westbury/
Blogs about: Marcus Westbury

http://blog.wonderwebby.com/2007/10/25/virtual-culture/
Virtual Culture

http://culturalpolicyreform.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/marcus-westburys-20...
Marcus Westbury's 2020 agenda: cultural micro-economic reform
culturalpolicyreform wrote 4 months ago: The beneficiary of a late call-up for the 2020 Summit, my friend and colleague Marcus Westbury ...

http://naysayer17.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/the-shock-the-horror/
The shock! The horror!
Erin wrote 1 month ago: There was a fantastic article in today’s Sydney Morning Herald about a political vacuum in Aus

http://blog.wonderwebby.com/2007/10/25/virtual-culture/
Virtual Culture
wonderwebby wrote 10 months ago: Is culture the very thing that creates community and life in a virtual world? A recent series on the

http://www.artshub.com.au/au/news.asp?sc=&sId=173683&sType=column
A Short Interview with Marcus Westbury
By David Blumenstein Arts Hub
Monday, August 11, 2008
(paid site - pay to read article)

http://www.selectparks.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=699
Games Episode of Marcus Westbury's 'Not Quite Art' doco

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/17/1192300857463.html?page=fullpage
Mozart cover bands rake in the moolah
Email Printer friendly version Normal font Large font Marcus Westbury
October 18, 2007

http://www.abc.net.au/queensland/conversations/stories/s1727037.htm
Bernard Salt and Marcus Westbury
Last Update: Tuesday, August 29, 2006. 1:49pm AEST

Bernard Salt and Marcus Westbury
Bernard Salt and Marcus Westbury in conversation with Richard Fidler
http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200608/r103530_317718.asx
http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200608/r103530_317713.ram

http://www.facebook.com/people/Marcus_Westbury/528613242

http://larvatusprodeo.net/2008/08/14/qa-plug-marcus-westbury-and-germain...
Q&A plug: Marcus Westbury and Germaine Greer

http://stilgherrian.com/internet/marcus_westbury_website/
Marcus Westbury on the web

http://palgn.com.au/article.php?id=12567&rss=1&title=Marcus+Westbury+exp...
Marcus Westbury explains why games as art is the wrong question
PALGN News | An exclusive interview with the Not Quite Art creator.

http://forepaw.org/events/wed-2-artist-talk-marcus-westbury
Wed 2: Artist Talk: Marcus Westbury

http://cpd.org.au/article/accountability-authoritarianism-and-new-separa...
Accountability, authoritarianism and a new separation of powers?
Published Tuesday, 27th November, 2007
by Marcus Westbury

http://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/Show/Biography.aspx?p=60&bio=202

http://daleslamma.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-still-want-to-punch-marcus-west...

http://daleslamma.blogspot.com/search/label/Marcus%20Westbury

http://www.powerset.com/explore/go/Marcus-Westbury

http://www.youngwritersfestival.org/program_detail.php?people_id=138

http://www.thisisnotart.org/marcus-westbury/

https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/2005-June/005822.html

http://www.naymz.com/search/marcus/westbury/113409

http://www.plugger.com.au/news/Germaine_Greer__or__Marcus_Westbury/

http://www.liveinternet.ru/tags/marcus+cinema/

http://www.tapeprojects.org/files/pdf/ArtistTalk_Marcus.pdf

http://www.dca.wa.gov.au/projects/arts_cultural_dev/umbrella_policy/reso...

http://www.designfederation.net/tag/marcus-westbury/
Marcus Westbury
Not Quite Art - Icons And Opportunities: 10:00pm Tuesday, 16 Oct 2007

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4SKPB_enIL252&q=marcus+westbu...

http://just-me.blog-city.com/tags/?/marcus%2Bwestbury

http://twitter.com/mpesce/statuses/887262766
twitter - Mark Pesce
http://blog.futurestreetconsulting.com/

http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2007_10_15_archive.html
Not quite fringe

http://www.theage.com.au/news/tv-reviews/not-quite-art/2007/10/15/119230...
Not Quite Art
Email Printer friendly version Normal font Large font Robin Oliver, reviewer
October 15, 2007
Marcus Westbury, the presenter of this extremely watchable series, insists on presenting himself as a cultural ratbag.

http://film.vic.gov.au/www/html/594-factual-development.asp
March 2008
Title: On Television
Production Type: 4 x 1 hour series
Applicant: Marcus Westbury
Writer: Marcus Westbury
Researcher: Marcus Westbury
Current Stage: Outline
Proposed Stage: Treatment
Approved Program: Factual Television Outline to Treatment (Writer/Researcher) - $2,500

http://larvatusprodeo.jaiku.com/presence/41743862
http://larvatusprodeo.net/2008/08/04/guest-post-by-marcus-westbury-floti...
Guest post by Marcus Westbury: Flotillas vs. flagships

http://www.alexburns.net/mt/mt-search.cgi?tag=Marcus%20Westbury&IncludeB...

http://www.blogotariat.com/item/guest-post-marcus-westbury-flotillas-vs-...

http://www.swf.org.au/component/option,com_events/task,view_detail/agid,...

http://en.scientificcommons.org/marcus_westbury

http://abetz.com.au/newsroom.php?n=24
Senator Eric Abetz : News Room
Marcus Westbury – “anarchist idealist anti-authoritarian cynical youth” – and creator of the bodgy vote generator
But was it independent in the sense that it all was at arms length from the ALP, or really conceived as the objective exercise it claimed to be?
It is pertinent to look at Marcus Westbury – the person responsible for howshouldivote.com.au.
Mr Westbury is actually an anarchist artist, but I will come to that.

http://www.gwb.com.au/gwb/news/nywf99/
National Young Writer's Festival -
30th September to 4th October 1999 - Newcastle

http://seanrobinson.prv.pl/summer-j24/hicks-nursery-westbury.html

http://seanrobinson.prv.pl/summer-j24/hicks-nursery-westbury.html

http://www.slf.org.au/festival/program/talks/1488
The Role of Information Technology and Media in Sustainability
Sat 16th February 08 | 4:00pm - 5:00pm
The Edge
hosted by | GetUp!, EngageMedia , Engineers Without Borders

http://just-me.blog-city.com/tags/?/marcus%2Bwestbury

http://www.geekgirl.com.au/blog/?p=482

http://blogs.theage.com.au/screenplay/archives//007480.html

http://www.afc.gov.au/filmsandawards/filmdbsearch.aspx?=keyword&view=tit...
frank haines films

http://www.afc.gov.au/filmsandawards/filmdbsearch.aspx?=keyword&view=tit...

http://www.messandnoise.com/discussions/1253359
- check his replies
art in the city

http://inside.nextwave.org.au/content/archives
2008 NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWL1F9cCf5Q
Not Quite Art - Episode 1 - Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZAzFCC9jpU
Not Quite Art - Episode 1 - Part 2

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4SKPB_enIL252&q=marcus+westbu...

===

http://www.crikey.com.au/Media-Arts-and-Sports/20061116-Fox-blocks-Al-Ja...
Why you won't see Al-Jazeera on Foxtel
Thursday, 16 November 2006
By media commentator, festival organiser and satellite geek Marcus Westbury

http://www.throng.com.au/not-quite-art/the-new-folk-art#comments
Not quite art
The New Folk Art

http://www.nywf.org.au/program_detail.php?type_id=6
Arts Agony Aunts
When: Saturday 11:00:00 - 12:00:00Responsible: | Where: Festival Club - The Sunroom | Event type: Roundtable | Categories: Grants and Funding
Feeling like you‘re all alone with your project and that no one understands? Are you getting deeper with your spreadsheet than with your lover? The TiNA arts agony aunts are here to help, with a wealth of wisdom to help you stop breaking your brain.

http://www.nywf.org.au/program_detail.php?people_id=138
Marcus Westbury
Marcus Westbury is the writer and presenter of Not Quite Art, which will air on ABC TV Tuesday nights at 10pm throughout October. He has directed, managed and/or founded TINA, NYWF, Noise, Next Wave and the world's biggest nude BBQ at Newcastle University in 1993.

http://www.loud.net.au/noise/display_stories/1-90000/301-600/display_sto...
a question you asked Helen Darville
MARCUS: Do you pay attention to your own coverage and have you learnt anything from it?
MARCUS: Before I worked at LOUD, I started the Newcastle Fringe Festival with about $30,000 worth of private sponsorship because I didn't realise that you could get government money for the arts. I don't think I knew that the Australia Council existed - I certainly didn't know what they did.

http://mobias.tsd.net.au/interface/?p=program.html
Is democracy rooted? With Marcus Westbury, Meg Mundell, and Peter Crawford.
Shareholder Nations - sell, buy or hold? With Neil Tucker, Justin McMurray and Marcus Westbury

http://www.apo.org.au/linkboard/results.chtml?filename_num=178807
Arts funding
Marcus Westbury and Amanda Smith / Artworks, ABC Radio National
Posted: 28-10-2007
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/stories/2007/2071697.htm

http://www.squatspace.com/uncollectable/2007/10/22/uncollectable-tv/

http://www.enhancetv.com.au/shop/product.php?productid=106303&cat=274&pa...
Not Quite Art (Complete Series 3 x 30 mins)

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http://www.abc.net.au/tv/notquiteart/
Not Quite Art

The art show that believes there is life outside the galleries.

Host Marcus Westbury, founder of the This is Not Art Festival in Newcastle and the former director of Next Wave Festival in Melbourne, takes on a tour of how the art world looks from the other side.

Ep. 1 ICONS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Tuesday October 16 at 10pm, ABC TV

Why do we spend far more money building sterile palaces to dead artists and their artefacts than supporting living ones?

Presenter Marcus Westbury travels to his home town of Newcastle, Australia where the cultural vision looks a lot like a real estate development. He then takes a trip to the Scottish city of Glasgow, where DIY culture has transformed an post-industrial casualty to a hub of happening culture in Europe.

Marcus puts forward the question of whether you can buy culture by building an iconic building or even franchising a McLouvre or McGuggenheim? Or is culture a messy, dirty thing that comes from the bottom up, refuses to behave, is borderline illegal and breaks a lot of occupational health and safety rules?

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http://artlife.blogspot.com/2007/10/marcus-westbury-writes.html
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/nesbitt/8983677280495647353/

regarding comments in http://www.haloscan.com/comments/nesbitt/8983677280495647353/
eg breakdown of Victorian arts funding & that people aren't visiting the museums/galleries have you done any comparitive figures for the festivals eg the ones you've been involved with over the years - funding vs participation (& interaction of visitors) & if so how do they weigh up?

http://www.ncc.nsw.gov.au/for_business/business_in_newcastle/city__and__...
Cultural Precinct
A cultural precinct is an area that concentrates a range of cultural experiences within a central, easily accessible location.
The study provides insight into the past uses of significant buildings and spaces within the precinct and how current uses have developed over time.
http://www.ncc.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/8809/civichistory_...
http://www.ncc.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/8804/civichistory_...
http://www.ncc.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/5627/ccp_master_pl...

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/notquiteart/

http://www.artdes.monash.edu.au/news/lunchtime-forum-brochure.pdf

funding - what are your recommendations for artists wanting to apply for funding
what do think would happen if artists did receive more funding - how would things change?

http://www.apo.org.au/linkboard/results.chtml?filename_num=210050
Fluid cities create
Marcus Westbury / Griffith Review
Posted: 27-05-2008
What makes a city culturally dynamic? What makes a city the sort of place that people want to visit, move to and explore?

http://www.apo.org.au/webboard/results.chtml?filename_num=178759
CREATIVE INDUSTRIES Taking a stab
ELLIE RENNIE reviews Marcus Westbury's ABC TV series, Not Quite Art
Posted: 26-10-2007
On our partner website, Creative Economy, ELLIE RENNIE reviews Marcus Westbury's ABC TV series, Not Quite Art

http://www.deakin.edu.au/arts-ed/research/newsletters/arts-rage/0302-Art...

http://www.apo.org.au/linkboard/results.chtml?filename_num=178807
Arts funding
Marcus Westbury and Amanda Smith / Artworks, ABC Radio National
Posted: 28-10-2007

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http://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/?p=1017
Whatever. Of the other figures mentioned, Marcus G later achieved a small degree of notoriety for blaming the Arterial Bloc and Mutiny for the carnage which erupted on the streets of Melbourne as part of the bloody, ultra-violent struggles surrounding the G20 meeting in November 2006 (JOSIE TAYLOR: Who were the people responsible for that violence? // MARCUS GREVILLE: The names of the groups are Arterial Bloc and a group called Mutiny. Above and beyond that, we don’t have any information, because they organised externally to us”.) Van Badham, on the other hand, now scribbles for the theatre. Further, according to Wikipedia anyways, “By 1998, Badham was an avowed anarchist and President of the New South Wales branch of the National Union of Students, caucusing with the radical group known as the Non Aligned Left”.

Two things. One, I can remember reading about the, ah, anarchist coup in NSW student politics at the time. And thinking “Who the fcuk?”, “What the fcuk?”, and “The fucking Irish know more about anarchist politics in Australia than I do?”

‘Anarchist Students Win in Australian NUS Election’, Workers’ Solidarity Movement, No.47, Spring 1996:

Reports from Australia indicate that an anarchist-influenced student initiative, called the Non-Aligned Left (NAL), has been elected to almost all the regional National Union of Students (NUS) officerships and is the largest faction on the national officerships. The NUS represents some 450,000 students. It is the first time the Australian Labour Party has lost control of any state NUS branch and the first time non-Labour [Party] factions have had a majority of the national executive. According to NAL activist, Marcus Westbury, the NAL has existed only for two years. They have grown from a handful of delegates to the second largest NUS faction primarily because of their commitment to participatory decision making, a non-hierarchical structure, and their non-binding nature.

Surprisingly — and this is thing number two — the ‘anarchist’ intervention in NUS didn’t last. Nor did NAL, for that matter, which later morphed into the NBL (which has since been supplanted by the Grassroots Left). Note that such shenanigans took place just as a new Federal, Tory Government was ushered in. Further, that with its dispatch late last year, the low-wattage light bulb on the shared student household on the hill has been re-lit (Students in shift on union funding, Sarah Elks, The Australian, January 14, 2008: “THE nation’s peak student body will urge the Rudd Government to scrap controversial voluntary student unionism laws…”).

Other former NAL *s include Kerry Nettle and Jamie Parker. Both Nettle and Parker found a place in the Greens; Nettle in the Australian Senate, Parker on Leichhardt Council. Marcus Westbury, on the other hand, now opines on The Yartz for the ABC.

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http://fortunegrey.com/2008/05/01/creative-strand-unravels#comments
Creative strand unravels
May 1st, 2008
As if that wasn’t a headline waiting to happen.
Western Sydney community arts manager Lena Nahlous hinted all was not as it seemed with the 2020 Summit creative strand when she appeared on Canvas last Sunday morning. Nick Pickard’s article in today’s Crikey makes it explicit, saying the Initial Summit Report censored ideas discussed and included ideas never broached.

http://www.themediasociety.org/?tabid=1717
"Of course, this report raises a much more terrifying prospect than the economics. It predicts that the demographic blip that has accompanied the baby boomers since they reached voting age will be with us for a long time to come. It also means that classic rock, self-obsessed radio commentators, and A Current Affair will be around for much longer than their natural lifespan. It also means that the most important demographic in federal election 2032 will be living in luxury retirement villages in marginal electorates, popping government subsidised Viagra, wearing tie died bowls outfits, and gathering around the piano singing along to 'people try to put us down - talking about my generation!' "Marcus Westbury

http://www.themediasociety.org/Profiles/People/tabid/1717/ctl/Detail/mid...
editor of the Newcastle University student newspaper Opus for many yearsestablished Octopodfounded This Is Not Artcurrently Artistic Director of Melbourne's Nextwave Festival

http://newmatilda.com/2008/04/17/same-old-song-and-dance

and what was 2020 conference like - I heard you were a late addition, did you get to provide much input?

http://blog.wonderwebby.com/2007/10/25/virtual-culture/
couldn’t help but think of the parallels with virtual worlds, Secondlife in particular. From the ABC site:
Marcus puts forward the question of whether you can buy culture by building an iconic building or even franchising a McLouvre or McGuggenheim? Or is culture a messy, dirty thing that comes from the bottom up, refuses to behave, is borderline illegal and breaks a lot of occupational health and safety rules?
Sometimes when you wander around Secondlife you sense this “culture” - a community living outside the rules. Obviously this is where traditional marketers got it wrong. Imagine McSponsor walking into a real life burgeoning underground arts & culture scene and dropping in a building, flashy logos, and changing the rules

http://www.api-network.com/main/index.php?apply=reviews&webpage=default&...
The Ideas Market
By David Carter Ed, Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2004, 298 pages, paperback, $32.95. Reviewed by Eve Vincent in the March 2005 issue.
I found a lot of the writing in The Ideas Market uptight and the topic over theorised. Marcus Westbury's contribution breaks with this style, and is thoroughly enjoyable for its energy and piss-taking. Westbury has a serious point to make too; he understands the public intellectual sphere to be reconstituted as a 'space for hire' in which 'agenda-driven think-tanks, benevolent and malevolent interest groups ... hack journos and wire services' hog the column inches. Westbury's contribution was commissioned in order to tap into a very different 'public intellectual' realm, the 'black market of ideas' exchanged by a net-savvy generation that has little access to, and importantly little interest in, the debates in the mainstream media.

http://www.gregsandow.com/Juilliard/
CLASSICAL MUSIC IN AN AGE OF POP
Spring 2008
Class Schedule and Assignments
January 23
The crisis in classical music
reading:
Greg Sandow, Where We Stand: The Classical Music World Today (unpublished)
Allan Kozinn, “Check the Numbers: Rumors of Classical Music’s Demise are Dead Wrong” (from The New York Times, May 28, 2006)
Marcus Westbury, “Mozart cover bands rake in the moolah” (from the Sydney [Australia] Morning Herald, October 18, 2007)

http://www.gregsandow.com/juilliard/moolah.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/10/17/1192300857463.html
Mozart cover bands rake in the moolah
Marcus Westbury
October 18, 2007

http://peoplethings.com/andblog/next-wave-2008-opportunity-beckons/

http://webdiary.com.au/cms/?q=node/2470
A review with more questions than answers
by Tony Phillips
Having had some forewarning from Peter Hindrup’s review I nonetheless sat down last night to take in a dose of Q and A. Watching it was in part a cause for hysteria and in part the fascination of taking in something appalling. The panel was: Greg Sheridan, foreign affairs editor at the Oz and, with Gerard Henderson, a bona fide channeller of the shade of B.A Santamaria; Bob Carr, styled by some (himself?) as Labor intellectual as well as the right wing former Premier of NSW; Germaine Greer, proud expatriate pain in the arse and one of our foremost genuine intellectuals; Julie Bishop, deputy leader of the Federal Liberals; and Marcus Westbury, arts person with ABC TV and a real "young person".

http://play.tm/wire/cluster/2084306
http://play.tm/wire/click/2084306
The PALGN Podcast, Episode 41
Story
The PALGN Podcast, Episode 41
PALGN Feature We turn one, look back on the year that was, and chat with Marcus Westbury.
PAL Gaming Network PAL Gaming Network, 26 August 2008

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24164646-25090,00.html
Is Greer still germane
GERMAINE Greer is regarded by many of her detractors as an aged loon who hasn't said anything sensible since the 1970s and by her supporters as still possessing one of the sharpest and most amusing intellects produced in this country. Both groups will get a chance to reinforce their views on Thursday evening when Germs joins host Tony Jones and the panel of ABC TV's Q&A. She will be joined by acting Opposition Leader Julie Bishop, former NSW premier Bob Carr, arts critic Marcus Westbury and The Australian's foreign editor Greg Sheridan.

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http://www.comicsbulletin.com/smallpress/95810981720678.htm
FESTIVAL FRENZY: Both in Newcastle and Mexico.

NEWCASTLE YOUNG WRITERS' FESTIVAL is gearing up for October. Marcus Westbury writes:

I am working on preperations for this year's Newcastle Festival (writers festival and electrofringe). Amanda Kerley and Anna Polleti have taken over the writers component and i am concentrating on expanding the Festival into a broader DIY media festival. This will mean a lot more radio, video, music, and electronic stuff and i am keen to hear of any people and ideas that may suit that expanded program.

Does anyone have any suggestions there? I am keen to hear of anyone who you think would be good, likely to enjoy themselves, and have something interesting to say - whether they are known or unknown. They can be professionals or enthusiastic upstarts and i am particularly looking for media people who may not have been incluced in the past because they aren't strictly writers or electrophiles...

Any interesting people, ideas, or media based topics would be welcome.

Last year's writers festival programme is still online at http://www.renewal.org.au/writersfestival, the electrofringe program is online at http://www.octapod.org.au/electrofringe. New web sites will be up for this year in the next few months.

Feel free to email or call me about any of this...

marcusSTOP-@-SPAMva.com.au
-------

contact Zines/Comix organizer Kylie Purr.
http://freespeech.org/catpounce/comix.html
Ongoing discussion re: comics program at Comics Australia message board:
http://comicsaustralia.com.
Festival planning discussion group at http://www.egroups.com/messages/nywf
and http://www.egroups.com/messages/ef2000

FESTIVAL OF INDEPENDENT PRESS, MEXICO:
Rather than reprint the lengthy (and entertainingly worded) press release,
reference the following web address for it in entirety:
http://www.egroups.com/message/zines/4093
To get in touch with organizers, try amoniacoSTOP-@-SPAMgemtel.com.mx

LOUDER, HARDER, FASTER:

Marcus of LOUD/Newcastle Youth Festy Fame writes:

As some of you may be aware i have just scored myself a new gig as the Creative Manager of the Australia Council's new Media based arts festival thing that will be happening in late 2001 or early 2002. It is essentially the sequal to LOUD but we are thinking everything through from scratch and it won't be called LOUD or LOUDer - we are still sorting that out.
We are still refining exactly what it is that we are going to do but essentially the festival will be a media based arts festival for people 25 years of age and under. It is essentially about taking anything that can be delivered via the media and working with all the media in the country to get it out and show it to people. That includes internet, tv, radio, music, video, print and just about any other medium that you can dream up. At the moment i am trying to come up with the ideas for projects that we could potentially include in the festival and while i have plenty of my own, i just thought i'd flag with you all that i am interested in any suggestions.
If you aren't familiar with what LOUD did last time, see the old program at: http://www.loud.net.au/program . And if you want to see who we were working with last time and the sort of resources we may be able to access: http://www.loud.net.au/sponsors. Although, as i said this is not meant to be a guide for what we will be doing this time around. We recognise that there are a lot of things we could have done better and the sheer fact that several years has passed means that there are a lot of new possibilities (particularly online) that just didn't exist last time.
At this stage, i am really interested in broad ideas of the "wouldn't it be great to see ___ on tv" or the "someone should do a book of .." or the "why the hell hasn't someone done this before" or the "maybe we could do
this" type. It is probably going to be several months before we start fleshing out the details and it will be next year some time when we actually hold the process open to public submsissions.
Essentially, this is a fishing expedition at this stage, and i am keen to hear any ideas that any of you may have as you all have some connection with the media, youth stuff, or the arts side of things. Many of you with relevant big wig type jobs are likely to recieve a more formal approach from us at some point over the next few months but now is a good time to float ideas.
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Again, contact marcusSTOP-@-SPAMva.com.au

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