A lot is happening at ArtSound. Here’s some of it.

 

New Year, New Energy

It’s a new year, and at ArtSound we’re hoping to make it a good one.

With your help.

Members and other listeners are a key source of support, and they can fill many roles within the organisation.

Can you be such a person? Many of you already are, and others are welcome to join us.

Below, you can learn some of the ways. But first, here’s news of some enjoyable ArtSound events, coming up soon.

Music Quiz Night

ArtSound’s next music trivia night, with quizmaster Brian Leonard, is set for Thursday 29 February at the Eastlake Football Club in Griffith.

Gonna be a corker!

Brian will be testing our knowledge of popular music from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Tickets are $25 each, or $20 for members (plus booking fee), with a discount for tables of 8. If you want to form a group, you can buy a whole table, but if that doesn’t appeal to you then buy single tickets, and we will place you with a table of trivialists. (When you go to Humanitix buy a “single trivia star” ticket and we’ll do the rest.)

You may have heard rumours that the quiz has sold out, but these are exaggerated. We are selling well but there are still tickets to be bought. And if you should have trouble getting one, please add your name to the waitlist and we’ll get back to you, pronto.

Come to the club for a bistro dinner before quizzing begins at 7pm, or order from a special menu for dining during the quiz.

A raffle with great prizes will add to the excitement as well as ArtSound’s fundraising target.

Garden Concert

The next ArtSound concert in the shady Manuka Arts Centre gardens is set for Sunday 25 February at 4pm.

Wallabindi (Monica Moore, left) and her band will present her acclaimed variety of soul, blues and country songs including her own compositions included on her EP Wallabindi Dreaming which won the 2023 MusicACT Award for Independent Debut of the Year.

With his five-piece band, Mark Thomann (right) will present his own country folk and blues songs including the ones you’ll find on his album Plastic Flowers, released in 2023. His band includes vocalist, two guitarists, percussionist, bassist and trombonist.

Admission (at the gate) is $15 general, $10 members, free for under 16s.

We have about 55 outdoor seats, and of course you can bring a picnic blanket, and a picnic.

We may well have a bar — arrangements are in the offing.

Broadcasting Course

Have you ever wanted to be on the radio? Have you ever wondered what goes into making an ArtSound radio program, or on-air presentation?

ArtSound is conducting a four-session introductory course.

Where: ArtSound FM studios (Manuka Arts Centre)

Content: studio operations, program planning, presentation, production, optimising your voice

Experience: none required; just an interest in radio, music, and the arts

Cost: $300 (enrollment is limited to 10 participants)

For those who complete the course, there’s great potential to contribute to an ArtSound program!

Enroll online, here (or go to the ArtSound website, artsound.fm).

New Programs

We have one new program coming along, much requested: Driveway, a 5-7pm weekday presentation of arts news-you-can-use among innovative music from all parts of the ArtSound spectrum.

The program is off to a soft start, with some Mondays to Fridays covered, and more presenters preparing to come on board.

If it appeals to you to contribute to ArtSound’s emphasis on the arts, as well as its licence remit to present music from anywhere and everywhere under our broad umbrella of jazz, folk, world, blues, classical, and various related genres and permutations, please write to programming@artsound.fm, and we’ll talk.

Fans of early jazz, you can now hear the second of two series of programs provided to ArtSound by English aficionado, Neil Sheldon. It’s A Year in Jazz, presenting music from the 1920s and 1930s, and replaces his series The Roaring Twenties. On Sundays at 6pm (following Hot, Sweet and Jazzy).

Farewell Songfa Liu

The ArtSound Board of Management thanks and farewells Songfa Liu, who has stepped down.

Songfa, a retired geologist, has long supported community broadcasting at ArtSound, as well as at 1CMS, Canberra’s multicultural community radio station, where he remains president.

ArtSound wishes Songfa well and thanks him for his generous involvement at ArtSound over the last three years.

Podcasting 101

During January, ArtSound held a two-afternoon Podcasting 101 course in collaboration with the University of Canberra’s Short Courses program.

It was a marked success. Some participants may even join programming production teams at ArtSound while launching their podcasts.

There’s also talk of a Podcasting Meetup forming at the station. Stay tuned for more on that.

In the photo, ArtSound’s Chris Deacon, right, shares secrets of audio editing with some of the attendees, who included UC students, representatives from the Canberra Blind Society, and others.

Van repairs and refurbishment

Repairs and refurbishment continue on the ArtSound van. It’ll be a bomb, once it’s all spiffed up. You’ll see it at the station, and around the town.

Right now, it’s looking quite nekkid, but soon it’ll look real fancy.

Other running repairs

Sometimes radio-station maintenance is a matter of borrowing a nail file to entice a component to fit into a studio console! (Photo: Julie Finch-Scally)

How you can help to ensure that ArtSound thrives

ArtSound now has a new, spiffy membership database that should help us to keep good track of memberships, including when renewals are coming due, and to encourage all non-member listeners to join the ArtSound organisation, which very much depends on listener support.

At the moment, membership income accounts for only about eight percent of ArtSound income, but we aim to boost that at least 100 percent, and to make it dependably cover far more of our annual budgets, which run to about $130,000.

Aside from joining as members, there’s plenty listeners can do to support ArtSound. With 2024 still fresh off the launchpad, please consider what role or roles you might like to take with ArtSound community radio. You, our members and listeners, are crucial to the station’s financial health. You help us to define and inform how ArtSound can best meet the needs of the ACT region when it comes to arts-oriented community radio.

Support us by becoming a member or making a donation

To maintain the independence of our services and sound financial well-being, ArtSound relies on your contributions to preserve the quality of our service to you and others.

Please become a member, if you’re not yet. And, when it’s time to renew your ArtSound membership, please consider also adding a donation. Think about how often you are tuned in to ArtSound, and donate accordingly.

Support ArtSound in non-monetary ways

We greatly appreciate your financial support, but if you really love what we do, then you can do it, too! Making ArtSound a part of your life can be more rewarding than you ever thought.

Here’s how:

Listen without your radio. Attend a community station event with your friends, family, or co-workers (see above).

Get personal. Volunteer for one of our membership campaigns, community outreach events, on-site productions, or around the station — and get to know us personally.

Talk to us. Send us an email to admin@artsound.fm when you hear something you think isn’t appropriate, and of course especially when you hear something wonderful!

Keep us in mind. Refer a business associate, a friend, a client, or a peer to ArtSound for individual membership, station sponsorship, or event and special program sponsorship.

Sing our praises. Or, write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper or join our Facebook page when you want to say “Thanks to ArtSound.”

Pass it on. Tell people about us. If you value our service, others may as well. Invite someone to join our Facebook page or visit our website. Arrange to be a keynote speaker at your club, and tell its members.

Stay tuned in. Keep your radio on 92.7/90.3 FM as much as you can. The more listeners, the better we can be — you can even listen via DAB+ or online (artsound.fm) while at work.

Keep us informed. If there’s an important event in your community — send us your community service announcement by email to admin@artsound.fm.

Become a volunteer. There’s always an opportunity for you to strut your stuff behind the microphone! But we have rewarding roles in all other areas of our operations, too. Some key areas of activity (but there are a lot more) are:

Membership: reach out to members; encourage nonmember listeners to join; seek support from local businesses and organisations; develop and implement new membership strategies…

Fundraising: sometimes all that’s needed is to ask — but we always need volunteers who can help with that; then, we have our on-air “radiothon” fundraisers to organise, and much else.

Office Administration: This is an important part of the station’s operations as it is often the first point of contact for potential members, volunteers, and sponsors.

 

Please get in touch via admin@artsound.fm or 6295 7444

Next month in this newsletter, we’ll include a much more detailed list of areas in which we can use your help. Meanwhile, just let us know what you think you could do at ArtSound.

 

ArtSound FM’s mission is to cultivate a vibrant arts community in the ACT region. Your memberships and donations sustain our year-long programming including our artist-centred features and interviews and our many broadcasts of live recordings of concerts in and around Canberra.

Thank you for being part of ArtSound!

Please go online to artsound.fm to take out membership or donate. Or write to admin@artsound.fm. Or phone (02) 6295 7444 — if you don’t reach someone right away, please leave a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible.