ArtSound Newsletter — October 2024

A lot is happening at ArtSound! Read on for news about:

  • ArtSound 2024 Radiothon
  • Concerts coming up at the Polish Club and at ArtSound
  • September Winter Concert
  • Young Virtuoso Competition
  • ArtSound’s new transmitter
  • ArtSound goes to Technorama conference
  • Rotary outside broadcast
  • Jazz Haus at Tuggeranong Arts Centre concert recording
  • Call for radio drama scripts
  • ArtSound’s Big Year of Fundraising
  • GoFundMe Campaign passes $10,000 of $15,000 goal
  • How You Can Help

 

ArtSound 2024 Radiothon

ArtSound’s annual Radiothon (on-air fundraiser) is coming up. It begins with a Sunday, October 13 afternoon concert at the Polish White Eagle Club in Turner (see below) and wraps up on Sunday October 20, when we’ll have an outdoor concert in the ArtSound gardens at the Manuka Arts Centre.

During the fundraiser’s eight days, we’ll have special broadcasts each day, with daily and grand prize drawings for donations of $40 or more. As always, donations of $2 or more are tax deductible.

ArtSound’s annual expenses run to over $110,000 each year (after much paring and shaving, in recent years), and we also have additional costly projects from time to time, such as our current technology-upgrade project (see below). We count on the Radiothon to help meet those costs.

As during the additional fundraising events we hold during each year, we invite you, our listeners, to help out by making donations via our website (artsound.fm), or by phoning the station on 6295 7444.

Or, use this QR code to go directly to the ArtSound payment page:

We’ll be delighted to hear from you, and you’ll be helping to take ArtSound into its fifth decade of operations. Each year, we broadcast hundreds of interviews and concerts with local artists in many fields, along with specialty programming that supports and fosters arts activities in the ACT region.

We encourage all listeners to go online (artsound.fm) or phone in during the Radiothon to show support for our 24/7/365 broadcasts.

 

Concerts at the Polish Club and at ArtSound

The 2024 ArtSound Radiothon on-air fundraiser, which will run the week of October 13 to 20, will begin with an afternoon concert on Sunday October 13 at the Polish White Eagle Club in Turner (38 David Street).

On Saturday October 19, we’ll hold an Open Day at the ArtSound Studios (Manuka Arts Centre, next to the Manuka Swimming Pool), from 10am to 3pm. There, listeners can see our studios in operation (kids find that enthralling), and we’ll have tables of CDs for sale and other activities and attractions.

The Radiothon will close on Sunday October 20 with a Garden Concert.

For the Sunday October 13 concert, ArtSound is teaming up again with Live @ The Polo and organiser Clandestino to offer a full afternoon of musical performances. ArtSound will broadcast the music live over air, and also via video on the ArtSound Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/3807468676138600

Full information about the event, which runs until 4:30pm, is available at the ticket sales site: https://events.humanitix.com/copy-of-artsound-event, or at the door. Admission is $25 general and $20 concession, and there’s a $30 ArtSound supporter level, too, if you’d like to step up to that.

Proceedings begin with a screening at noon of a 2020 documentary film by rapper and activist Emicida, showcasing the rich legacy of Black Brazilian culture. The music begins at 2pm, with sets by members of three ACT bands: Andy + Matt (from Los Chavos), Adanna + Sergio (Funkytrop), and Ned + Nadia (Chicharrita Club), then a feature set of bossa and samba from Capital Samba , a dynamic eight-piece ensemble of talented musicians with deep roots in Brazilian music and culture. It formed in Canberra in 2023 to bring the pulsating rhythms and smooth melodies of Brazil to Australia’s capital.

 

Concert at ArtSound

The 2024 ArtSound Radiothon will end on Sunday October 20 with a concert in the gardens of the Manuka Arts Centre, from 2-4pm, featuring musical performances by the In Full Swing big band and Clover’s Clever Clinkers. Admission is $25 general, $20 members, $18 seniors and students with ID; 16 and under: free.

We have about 45 garden chairs, but feel free to bring your own, or a blanker, and even a picnic, too.

 

September Winter Concert

In collaboration with Clandestino Canberra and Live @ The Polo, ArtSound held an afternoon of music and film on September 1 at the Polo Club. It was a great success, bringing to ArtSound about $1,000. Thanks to the three bands that performed: Kopasetic Duo, Joel Dreezer Quartet, and Zambezi Sounds, and to Clandestino Canberra and Live @ The Polo.

Here’s the scene on the day.

 

Young Virtuoso Competition

On September 29, ArtSound hosted the annual ACT finals of the national Young Virtuoso Competition, which is open to instrumentalists aged 25 or under and vocalists aged 30 or under.

Four finalists performed, and ArtSound broadcast the sessions live during the weekly, Sunday afternoon Sounds Classical program.

Judges Sally Greenaway and Marián Budoš selected as winner Zachary Li, a pianist who was the finalist in the 2023 competition. He performed pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach, Frédéric Chopin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Felix Mendelssohn.

Runner up this year was pianist Jacob Wu. Also in the finals were cellist Enola Jefferis and vocalist Elsa Huber.

Thanks to Rotary of Belconnen, Zachary Li took away a $1,000 prize, while Jacob Wu received a $500 prize. In November, Zachary will travel to Sydney for the national final of the Young Virtuoso Competition.

Zachary Li receives his award from Wayne Jeffs, President of Rotary of Belconnen, and the finalists join the judges; from left: Sally Greenaway (judge), Elsa Huber, Enola Jefferis, Jacob Wu, Zachary Li, Marián Budoš (judge).

 

ArtSound’s New Transmitter

ArtSound Technology Manager Chris Deacon worked with Rodger Bean in September and early October to install the brand new transmitter that has arrived from Canada. Expected to increase quality, reliability and coverage, the equipment was tested offline on October 7 (see images) at 3000 Watts, up from the 2000 Watts that ArtSound currently feeds into the shared FM antenna towards the top of Black Mountain Tower.

Left: Rodger Bean and Chris Deacon who maintain between them nine community radio station transmitters at Black Mountain and Mt Taylor, mostly on a voluntary basis, receive the transmitter, and install it in the Black Mountain tower.

The new unit is shown in blue in the photographs and occupies a fraction of the existing transmitter around it. Chris and Roger will complete testing soon, and expect to go live with the new transmitter after the Radiothon, which ends on October 20.

ArtSound thanks the Community Broadcasting Foundation for its generous Development & Operations Grant, which is covering the cost of the new transmitter.

Right: ArtSound stalwart Clinton White happened to be back in town when the transmitter arrived at the ArtSound studios, and lent a hand to unload it.

In other technology news, the ArtSound Board has approved the first phase of a studio digital transformation project; various equipment acquisitions are expected to be made before Christmas. Funds contributed by ArtSound’s valued donors have been dedicated to this long-awaited upgrade which, when completed, will bring the station’s control room and the first of four studios to state of the art with the first Australian deployment of an innovative new product. The equipment includes new, digital studio consoles, one studio at a time. More news on that, soon.

 

Technorama Conference Sydney

Chris Deacon and Marvin Jiang recently attended the annual Technorama conference in Sydney. Technorama is the national group for community-radio technologists.  The conference provided updates on technology training, equipment developments, acoustics and cybersecurity techniques.

Among Chris and Marvin’s activities were visits to sister station Fine Music FM (image: Marvin Jiang, left; Chris Deacon, second from right, at Fine Music FM’s recording studio) and the new $15-million commercial studios of Australian Radio Network, located on the top floors of Sydney’s CocaCola Building.

 

Rotary Outside Broadcast

On Sunday, September 8, ArtSound was on hand to broadcast live from the 50th Anniversary of Trash and Treasure Market at the Jamison Centre, which the Rotary Club of Belconnen organizes with assistance from other local Rotary Club members and Rotaractors.

The anniversary event marked a mighty achievement by Rotary, which holds its Trash and Treasure market each Sunday from 7am until 1pm, weather permitting.

During the last 50 years, Rotary of Belconnen has assisted many charities and organisations in the local community and overseas. For example, each Christmas, the club packs 360 hampers for families in need and donates them to the St Vincent de Paul Society, St. John’s Care, Kippax Uniting Church, the Salvation Army, local schools, and others.

Among many other projects Rotary Belconnen has assisted: local schools seeking to purchase library books, school readers, and sports equipment.

Image: Tim McNamara, left, broadcasts from the Rotary event

 

Jazz Haus at Tuggeranong Arts Centre

On August 31, ArtSound was on hand to record the Jeremy Rose Quartet perform in the Jazz Haus concert series at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre.

Friday Night Live (Friday 8pm-) will present the recording in coming weeks.

 

Radio plays wanted

ArtSound Press recently launched its latest book, Gertrude’s Sweetheart — Monologues for Readers and Actors, which collects 11 pieces by Canberra writers that have been produced and broadcast on ArtSound FM.

The launch took place on Sunday, September 7 in the ArtSound Gardens at the Manuka Arts Centre. Longtime ArtSound theatre and arts contributor Bill Stephens launched the publication (pictured).

 

2024 is ArtSound’s Big Year of Fundraising

ArtSound’s newly refreshed Fundraising Committee is building on recent successes to revive ArtSound’s financial fortunes after some tough years.

Our 2024 campaign will proceed on various fronts. During the year, we’ll hold an ongoing membership drive, an end-of-financial-year donations drive, and a full-fledged Radiothon is coming up this month.

Earlier this year, we held a successful Music Trivia Quiz Night fundraiser, and have offered some public courses in broadcasting and podcasting skills.

There’s more to come.

 

GoFundMe

In one major thrust of our campaign, we’re using an online crowdfunding platform to raise money for essential technology upgrades. That’s on GoFundMe. The campaign has passed $10,500 towards a goal of $15,000. And we’ve received some welcome donations outside the GoFundMe campaign. Thanks to everyone who has contributed.

Help us to upgrade our transmission gear. That will ensure we stay on air and continue to bring you the best specialist music and arts programming in the region (and streaming to the world).

It is expensive to provide quality radio. We can do it only because at ArtSound we have no employment costs: we are all volunteers. We have managed to raise enough funds every year for the past 40, but we now must replace vital broadcasting equipment, and that will take money we need to raise from several sources, including you, our listeners.

In 2005 station volunteers cobbled together our current studio broadcasting consoles, and those have served us well — as our on-air campaign promo puts it, they were “lovingly handcrafted in the Middle Ages.” But we’ll soon have to re-equip our studios at an estimated cost of well over $100K. (As mentioned above, we now have obtained funds to purchase a much-needed new transmitter.)

Our analogue broadcast consoles are old – way beyond expected lifespan! We aim to upgrade them to spiffy new digital ones, soon.

We’ll seek grants for part of these costs, but we need to find the bulk of the money. So, we’re asking you to invest in the future of your good listening by contributing what you can to help — to make an impression on the arts in and around Canberra.

How can you help? Simply go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-console-artsound and follow the prompts. Or contact us and talk about how you might help: admin@artsound.fm

Thank you.

 

Membership

ArtSound has a new membership database system in place, and now we’re aiming to boost the benefits that members enjoy. Yes, already we provide members, and non-members, with 24/7 radio every day of the year. But we’d also like to increase the number and range of businesses that will offer discounts to our members. We’ll list these on our website’s membership page.

Can you help us to identify or recruit such business supporters? If you know of any that might be interested, please write to Bart Meehan (bart.meehan@gmail.com) with details (including any contact details, if you have them).

 

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, send your contact details and a description of how you think you can help to help@artsound.fm.

Or phone 6295 7444 weekdays between 10am and 2pm.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.

ArtSound is an all-volunteer community radio station.

 

Please forward this newsletter to any possibly interested friends and family members. And if you have any suggestions about items to include in this bulletin, please send them to newsletter@artsound.fm at least three days before the end of the month.