Time for TINA approaches

It's nearly here and yet there is still soooooo much to do!

My time has been focused around media, media media. To put it simply, we've pretty much got the actual organisation of the event under control, but no-one even knows about it (well maybe that's an exxageration, but we need to get it out there more).

I've been working on a huge amount of media covering so many different angles. The thing with TINA is, because there is so much going on at the event, it means we need to try and cover it all - in one page press releases! Very difficult.

Here is some examples of the work I have been doing:

MEDIA RELEASE

11 September 2007

BROKEN BIKES AND BITS – WE'RE BEGGING FOR THEM!

Want to get rid of those spare bike parts and daggy old helmets taking up space in the garage? Sick of looking at that pile of rusting bike locks and lights? Why not donate them to the 2007 This Is Not Art Bike Corral?

The Bike Corral is a new event at the 2007 This Is Not Art festival and are we are desperately seeking old and used bike parts to repair and restore for the event.

Together with This Is Not Art, the Newcastle Bike Ecology Centre will offer free bikes and tips on how to fix them yourself at the Bike Corral- in less than two hours!

During the festival, people can drop into the Bike Corral for a personalised workshop on repairing and reclaiming a bike destined for the tip.

To run the DIY workshops, we are seeking an array of old bike materials including adult helmets, bike locks, lights for safe riding, and any other spare parts people can donate.

Anyone wishing to donate broken bikes and bits, can deliver them to the Newcastle Bike Ecology Centre, 106 Robert St, Islington, between 8am and 7pm daily.

Also at the Bike Library , people pay a refundable $20 deposit for a ready-to-ride pushbike to borrow for the course of the festival. Bikes which were previously junk have been repaired by volunteers so that visitors to Newcastle can have clean and cheap transport for the duration of their stay. Old helmets will help make this a safe option too!

The Bike Corral is part of more than 200 events to be held at the 2007 This Is Not Art festival, which is Australia's largest independent, experimental and emerging media and arts festival. It will be an excellent opportunity for Novocastrians to take part in a clean energy initiative, with the added bonuses of cheap transportation and and recycling.

And you get rid of your junk too!

For more information visit www.thisisnotart.org.

-ends-

Media Contact: Marni Jackson

This Is Not Art Festival Coordinator

Phone: 0423 613 904

Email: marni@thisisnotart.org

---------------------------

So that was something for the Bike Corral Event I am organising.

MEDIA RELEASE

11 September 2007

EVENTS HIGHLIGHTS FOR THIS IS NOT ART 2007

This Is Not Art is Australia’s premier festival for independent, emerging and experimental arts, engaging the nation’s most exciting culture makers for five days of panel discussions, hands on workshops, exhibitions, performances, screenings and presentations. From Thursday 27 September – Monday 01 October 2007 Newcastle hosts more than 200 free events which invite you to engage with current trends in media, music, writing, electronic arts and critical research.

This year a series of exciting visual arts exhibitions adorn the program, bringing a dynamic group of artists for our workshops and panels. Exhibitions include ARTETEXT, an interdisciplinary investigation into the use of language in art, an exhibit of comics and adjoining panels and workshops, a shop front full of wearable art from reSkin Wearable Technology Lab, and an entirely online exhibit of current Australian and International Net art practices.

Head to the website for full details on all exhibitions and artists.

Artetext

Podspace Gallery: 3/231 King St, Newcastle NSW

Opening Friday 28 September, 17:30 – 18:30.

This Is Not Art presents an exhibition of visual, installation and sound art that takes and transforms text. Discover the madness of life in a Darwin housing commission, find desire in the erasure of old books, control your world through braille or lose yourself in the sound of words under extreme pressure. Featuring works by Chayni Henry, James Stuart, Justy Phillips, Rebecca Giggs, DKDC Collective, Jeremy Arie John Bakker, Krista Berga, Stranger of the Month, James Newitt, Jessical Tyrell, Nicolas Low and Thomas Knox Arnold.

Taking eye-candy from strangers: the NYWF comics exhibition

Sushi & Cigarettes: 305 Hunter St, Newcastle NSW

Opening: Friday 28 September 17:00 – 18:00

Shift your reality into the second dimension and enter the weird world of Australian comics. It’s a mini-showcase of sequential art, with artists bringing their twisted worlds to life on the backs of napkins, in full-colour mags, on walls, in graphic novels and more. Featuring Ben Constantine, Jo Waite, Shaun Tan, David Blumenstein, Mel Stringer, Tony Newton, Hayden Fryer and Nicki Greenberg.

Wear Now Shopfront Exhibition

High Tea with Mrs Woo: 74 Darby Street, Newcastle NSW

Opening Thursday 27 September 17:00 – 18:00

An exhibition of works from the reSkin Wearable Technology Lab integrating electronics and new materials into traditional craft practices and design. Featuring works by Alexandra Gillespie, Keith Armstrong, Celia Heffer, Leah Heiss, High Tea with Mrs Woo and Sarah Kettley.

Electro-Online

www.electrofringe.net

Launching 27 September

Electro-Online 07 samples current Australian and International Net art practices. A gateway to different constellations of works, it presents the navigator with a choice of trail and invites discoveries en route. Featuring works by Aaron Oldenburg, Alan Bigelow, Alan Perlin, Alexander Mouton, Anders Weberg & Robert Willim, Andy McKeown, Annabel Castro Meager, Dennis-Kratz, Francesca Roncagliolo, Heather Raikes, Henry Gwiazda, Jody Zellen, judsoN, Kate Pullinger & Chris Joseph, mez breeze, Michael Takeo Magruder, Olivier Vanderaa, Peter Horvath, Richard Vickers, sadmb (Sadam Fujioka + Osamu Sambuichi), Stanza, Pip Shea and Jenny Fraser.

Special Event

This Is Not Art Art Walk Walk

Meet at: TAFE Front Room Gallery, 590-602 Hunter St, Newcastle NSW

Friday 28 September

This guided walk and talk will take in all of the festival Art Sites - galleries, shop windows, and The Lock-up’s prison cells. Starting at 3pm, the tour then winds its way through the city centre, finishing the excursion with a free bus back to the Podspace exhibition opening at 5.30pm. A great way to see all of the works, with some insider info from the artists and curators.

Several of the artists across the exhibitions will be in situ for their exhibition launches on Thursday or Friday – check out the Exhibitions link on the Online Program for more details.

Exhibition artists are involved with additional programmed events, including artist presentations and panel discussions.

For more information on the exhibitions, artists (including other events these artists are involved in), openings and the full program of events, visit www.thisisnotart.org

-ends-

Media Contact: Claire Hargreave

This Is Not Art Publicity Coordinator

Phone: 0406 159 062

02 4927 1475

Email: tina.publicity@gmail.com

-------------------------------
And that was one on the event as a whole

At the moment, I'm working on specialised releases so we can get lots of local coverage.

More on them tomorrow once I have them done.

Allyson.

what to do when your artists have nowhere to stay and decide to not come........

This was today's major debacle. It seems the whole (budget/cheap) accommodation in Newcastle is booked out over the TINA weekend and consequently, we don't have anywhere to put some of our performers. This is a bit of a problem because if they don't have anywhere to stay, then basically they won't come. If they don't come, there goes events at the festival. It's one toxic circle that stems from the fact that there are only 600 accommodation beds within Newcastle!

So it was a case of think hard - what I came up with is the chance for Novocastrians to 'adopt an artist' sort of thing - like billeting. I basically had to figure out how the hell we were going to run it, and after going through many options (such as already established billeting sites, using blogger and using stikipad - thanks to the uni lecturers who have made us get in touch with technology) Marni and I came up with a system whereby we can run it from the TINA website. So it was then just a case of making up register sheets - and tonight I'm doing up a press release so we can actually get it out there in the public and get the whole process working! I need to do it tonight because for a paper that is to come out next week, deadline is tomorrow. The inner workings of the media is so essential I'm learning. How exciting :) If anyone wants to open their homes to some artists during the festival just visit www.thisisnotart.org.au.

Then it was just a case of getting the bike corral happening. This is underway well and truly and fully under control. Summarising the list of things I have been doing goes as such:

This is Not Art: The Bike Corral
Task	Done by	When Done By?	How	Done
Source star pickets and Hessian	Allyson	Monday 24th September	Call out over email list – NBEC list, NUSA lists	Sourcing star pickets, hessian in art corner at the pod
Risk Assessment	Allyson – to do with Marni	ASAP!!!	Marni and Allyson to do together
Banner Making	Allyson and volunteers	Monday 24th September	Need to call out for equipment and volunteers. Banner = DIY Bike Repair Workshops. Banner = Bike Library	Banners will be made on Saturday 8th and 15th September at the pod – volunteers have already been recruited and material provided at the pod by TINA
Signage	Allyson	Thursday 27th September	Outlining borrowing fees, contact details for NBEC, when library will run. Allyson to source board to make signs on: to make at the pod in the coming weeks.
Survey Form	Allyson	Tuesday 25th September	Allyson to make up a sheet so we can collect peoples details for further use. To include name, address and contact – phone and email.
Spareparts Drive	Allyson	11-15 September and again 25, 26, 27th September	Contacting media outlets as outlined in media lists and contacts – sheet 2
Callout for volunteers	Allyson and Dan	From now until TINA	Using mailing lists as outlined in Media List and Contacts – sheet 2

Basically all the big things I have done and it's the above list that I have to organise. Dan Endicott from the Newcastle Bike Ecology Centre (NBEC) is doing an amazing job restoring bikes and the NBEC will be the drop off for all of the spare parts. Now I just have to get it out in the media and public - which is much easier than it seems.

I have to get to it now.

Allyson.

Media for the Hunter

The other day I met with Claire Hargreave and Jess Singleton - the two lovely ladies who have been doing promotion all around Australia. They have been doing a fantastic job getting adverts around the place and securing sponsorship from all of Australia - which is really exciting to see come together. But now for the Hunter.

Because the Hunter is the area where I really know my stuff (or think I do :p) it was decided that I would take the lead with this one. So, I did up a media plan for us to use between now and the actual festival, and a different one for media to be covered during the festival. The media plan basically outlined all the different media outlets (and their contacts), what message we would be sending to them and when we would target them.

The thing with Newcastle is that we are so locally focused - so I did a general release about TINA 2007 and some of the exciting and new things that are happening, I am going to actually try and make some releases personal and target actual events which have local performers in them. This has the added benefit of pic opportunities. One of the things I've learnt through my time at The Maitland Mercury and The Sun Herald: Hunter Extra is that local people want to read about local people and local issues. So hopefully this will work.

I have a million and one releases to write up so I have to get to it.

Allyson.

A month until TINA

One month from now, TINA would be in full swing. That's a scary thought considering there is so much that needs to be done!

I have been working on the actual event in terms of venue and venue management. I have been confirming bookings for all events at venues and in what times. What I have also done is make a up a program for each venue regarding what events will be held there and when - like a personalised program just for each venue. Doing this for all venues which hold more than 200 events proved to be quite a large job. I have however developed some new skills in terms of databases. I've used an excel spreadsheet with sort functions to make my tasks a lot easier and I'm so grateful Marni has shown me this for it is something I could see myself using everyday in a public relations role.

The program for TINA is also nearly complete and I have been working with our graphic designer and doing all the jobs that take up time - but none the less need to be done. Things like making up adverts for our sponsors who do not have their own ads and making sure they are in jpg or gif (and small size) for the net and eps format for print.

This has been a real eye opener in how to work in a team, something which I know I am not particularly good at. I have always been really hesitant about having to rely on other people to get things done, mostly because I have been let down before and have adopted a rather pessimistic perspective of, to get the job done and done well, you have to do it yourself. It has actually been quite refreshing to feel I am working collaboratively with a team of people to accomplish something at the end. I'm not admitting I've found it easy because I always still have that feeling where I need to be in control and doeverything so it gets done right, but with an event like TINA, you see this physically and mentally impossible and I've really had to work on putting trust in other people.

As a side role, I have hit two birds with the one stone this week, doing a story onTINA for my job at the Sun Herald: Hunter Extra. This not only benefits TINA, but it helps me too!

I am meeting with the current TINA publicity team later today. They are keen to use my skills in PR and journalism to their benefit, as none of them have media experience like this. I am keen to help and I feel this is the place where I know can contribute loads and loads. More to report on that later.

Allyson

disaster strikes....

My first experience with an event crisis has come.....and is still there, but passing. The website which I have been furiously working on for the last three weeks - along with all my website material - has crashed and burned. Note to self - always keep your material backed up. That is the lesson for this week. So the site and contract with site manager hasn't exactly worked out, which is a minor setback in operational terms, but greatly hinders sponsorship potential.

As such, I have to remake the This is Not Art website. Because of personal time constraints and the festival looming just around the corner, I have made the decision to use the website from last year, but update it with the 2007 material and look. The reasons for this is mainly from a promotional perspective. TINA and the four major sub-festivals: Electrofringe, Critical Animals, Sound Summit and the National Young Writers Festival, each have a huge amount of sponsors - all of which need to be featured on the website right now and on all printed and promotional material that has already started going out. Not a good practice when trying to lure future sponsors if their logo's aren't even featured!

As well as this, everything else from what's on, to program descriptions, accommodation, dining and transport, all need to be covered in the next week. This way, the site will be fully operational for three weeks prior to the event, which should be a sufficient time. Bearing in mind I am not a graphic designer or website designer, this has definitely taught me to step up and go that step further than my usual, writing comfort zone.

Unfortunately, this also puts everything else I have been doing on the backburner, which, frankly, can't be there. The Bike Corral which I am organising has a huge amount of work that needs to be done. Briefly this includes:
- doing a spare parts drive on radio and the local media
- sourcing material for the actual premises -eg- star pickets, hessian etc.
- doing a risk assessment for the Bike Corral as a whole
- Getting and using banner making equipment
- Making up survey forms for people to give their details as the come in for a bike/workshop
- Promotional of the Bike Corral and TINA through local media
- Organising three working bees to fix up bikes
- Organising a committee of volunteers to help on the event
- and the actual running of the event - what, when, where, how.

Basically there is a lot that needs to be done and not working on it is simply not an option. I'm not sure what part of this list should be the priority, that is, what I should be working on first. As far as I can see, everything on that list is needed for the Bike Corral to run successfully. So, I think I will make up a gantt chart to help me get this into a timeline perspective.

Important lesson - I need to multitask. I think I will just throw myself in headfirst and let loose. Here goes........

Allyson.

And TINA is underway

With just over two months to go until TINA gets underway, the placement has begun with things in full swing.

I have been given some major responsibilities to do with the festival in terms of media and promotion and also the formulation of the new website.

I have also been given the responsibility of organising the 'Bike Corral' - a combination of the Bike Library and Bike Workshops. More on this later.

During TINA, there are four major sections of the festival - and they each have sponsors/supporters. These are:

Electrofringe: a festival of experimental electronic arts and culture dedicated to skills development and artistic exchange. It focuses on uncovering emergent forms and places a particular emphasis on encouraging exchange between emerging and established artists

National Young Writers Festival: Australia's premier event for emerging writers, publishers, performers and trouble-makers. Several thousand of the country's most challenging and original young minds descend upon Newcastle for a five day creative bender.

Critical Animals: an event where creative research forums will play with concepts of obscurity and obsession, academic art/institution battles, literal literary journeys and much more.

Sound Summit: an annual conference for independent artists, labels and people interested in working and playing in electronica and hip-hop. Sound Summit exists to explore and support brilliant, independent electronic music and hip-hop from Australia and abroad.

These four sections are sponsored and supported by a range of different organisations from national and local level - and an integral part of this sponsorship is the inclusion of their logos on all promotional material. This is part of a heavy media relations campaign, and as TINA is a non-for-profit festival and rely on sponsors and supporters to keep going every year, this is essential.

So, I have been working furiously on this and making a brand, spanking new website for TINA 2007. Other activities which will be coming up in the future for me to work on include the organisation and coordination of the Bike Corral, which is a sub event of TINA.

The Bike Corral is a joint festival of This is Not Art (TINA) and the Newcastle Bike Ecology Centre (NBEC), which will feature DIY Bike Repair Workshops and the Bike Library. More on this later, but basically, it is going to be a place where people can come and fix up old bikes through the workshop and then use the bikes to travel around the festival. As organiser and coordinator of this event, there is obviously a lot to think about. But as I said, more on this when I immerse myself in it.

Until then, it's all guns blazing.

Allyson.

Event Placement Secured: TINA

Last week I met with Marnie Jackson, the festival co-ordinator from the This Is Not Art (TINA) festival for an interview and was lucky enough to secure my event placement at TINA.

TINA is a five day festival held from the 27th September until the 1st October. It is Australia's premier independent arts and new media festival. The festival this year will feature five heady days of creative over-stimulus with workshops, exhibitions, performances, gigs and events.

My role at TINA will be heavily focused around the promotion of the event, using the media and communication skills I have built through my employment at the Maitland Mercury, as the Media Officer at NUSA (Editor of Opus), my job at the Sun Herald: Hunter Extra and experience such as Surfest.

My primary roles will include:

• Assisting the publicity team in pre-event publications, print and radio media
• Web coverage management
• Daily reporting at the event (which will include photography and creating and uploading web content)
• Managing the TINA e-list
• Co-ordinating the Bike Library event, including the radio and press drive

I am really excited about the opportunity to contribute to TINA and work with the rest of the TINA team to see the event come together. I'm looking forward to increasing my skills past the realms of newspaper and magazine journalism - in other words, doing some public relations work in the field. I think the place I will most develop this untapped part of myself will be in the co-ordination and management of the 'Bike Library'. Actually having my own section of the event to organise and co-ordinate is a scary, yet exciting prospect.

I am starting my placement there on the coming Tuesday, so I aim to gain a more rounded understanding of my role at TINA and then I will have more updates.

Allyson.

TINA Website: http://www.thisisnotart.org/