Patron: The Governor-General, Her Excellency the Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn

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

  • EOFY campaign
  • 2025: The Membership Year
  • Visitors to the studios
  • Programming update
  • First Winter Concert
  • Concert Recording
  • ArtSound work-study student
  • Beanie competition
  • Young Virtuoso Competition
  • Can you donate a decent used Android phone?
  • Call for radio-drama scripts
  • ArtSound production unit
  • Canberra Southern Cross Club sponsorship
  • ArtSound’s podcasting meetup
  • 2025 membership marathon
  • The state of community radio
  • Donations
  • How you can help
  • Seeking volunteers for the Welcoming Committee

 

EOFY campaign

Thanks to everyone who donated to ArtSound during our End of Financial Year Fundraising campaign. It was a great success. We raised $12,012.

Your donations will help us to make progress in our Digital Upgrade project. We’re installing new consoles that will secure our broadcasts now and for many years to come.

And that helps us to showcase local talent and arts back to you, our valued community.

If you missed your opportunity, this end-of-financial-year, not to worry: the new financial year has now begun, and we’d be delighted if you got in early at our donations page. (Image: Angela Paliaga)

2025: The Membership Year 

By now most of you will know that the Governor-General, Her Excellency the Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn AC, has agreed to be Patron of ArtSound. I’m delighted that we have her support and thank everyone on the ArtSound team who pursued this patronage.

Some in the ACT have been quick to dismiss ArtSound as “just” a radio station. We are far more than that and the Governor-General’s endorsement gives us an opportunity to strengthen our profile in the Canberra community and continue the decades of support we have given to local arts and artists.

However, we need more than a high-profile patronage to achieve our goal of making Canberra one of Australia’s great centres of the arts.

We need you.

Without the volunteers and members who provide both resources and financial support we cannot optimally function. While grants cover some of our technical and transmission costs, it is membership fees and donations that support our day-to-day activities. That is why we have designated 2025 as The Membership Year and have set a goal of doubling our membership by December. (Currently membership dues account for less than 10 percent of our annual income; can we bump that up to, say, 15 percent by year’s end?)

With that in mind, I thank you for being part of ArtSound and ask that you continue to help by encouraging family and friends to join our team.

  • Bart Meehan, President, ArtSound

Visitors to the studios

During June, ArtSound received some welcome visitors.

Those included the recently appointed ACT Arts Minister, Michael Pettersson (second from left), who came for a familiarisation visit, his first to the ArtSound facilities.

As it happens, in the studios he ran into Luis Zeceña, Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of Guatemala to Australia (far left), who was taking part in a new ArtSound program that is due to go to air in mid-July, Pacific Neighbours. (Also pictured: ArtSound President, Bart Meehan, and Manager Technology, Chris Deacon.)

ArtSound has been preparing Pacific Neighbours as a new weekly radio program featuring the music and culture of Australia’s Pacific Neighbours, near and far. To date, we’ve recorded episodes with diplomats from the embassies or high commissions of six nations, with more to come.

Another visitor during June, in preparation for a later Pacific Neighbours recording, was Tonga’s Acting High Commissioner in Australia, His Excellency Mr Curtis Leonard Tu’ihalangingie, pictured here with ArtSound’s Julie Finch-Scally.

Programming update

Pacific Neighbours goes to air on ArtSound on July 12. Guest hosts, most of them diplomats from Canberra-based missions, present music of their nations, and cultural insights about it.

First up is Yves Lafoy, the Official Representative of New Caledonia to Australia.

On July 19, our host will be Her Excellency Carolina Molina Barrantes, Ambassador of Costa Rica to Australia.

On July 26, we’ll hear from Mario Guillermo Corredor Hernandez, Second Secretary of the Colombian Embassy of Colombia in Australia, along with Jorge La Descarga of the Melbourne musical group, La Descarga.

The program airs on Saturdays at 11am and again on Mondays at 11pm (replacing the Community Radio Network offering, The Breeze).

We’ve defined “Pacific Neighbours” quite liberally, casting our net as far afield as South-East Asia to the northwest and western South America to the east.

If you’re from that broad region, and knowledgeable about your nation’s musical heritage, and would like to take part in the program, please get in touch. (You don’t have to be a diplomat.) You can then work with an ArtSound producer who’ll do all the techie stuff while you simply talk a little about your country’s music and culture.

Please get in touch via help@artsound.fm.

First Winter Concert

ArtSound presented the first of its 2025 winter fundraising concerts on June 15 at the Polish White Eagle Club in Turner.

Thanks to the Spectrum Big Band, one of the esteemed combos within the Canberra City Band, which entertained supporters at the well-attended event.

ArtSound presented the spirited large ensemble to celebrate the centenary of the Canberra City Band. As for Spectrum, it has been a vital part of the Canberra jazz scene since 1998, and has recently come under the baton of a new director, AJ Dangerfield. The band performed iconic hits from the past along with exciting new arrangements of more contemporary tunes.

Stay tuned for details of more concerts coming this winter.

(Image: Michael Catley)

Concert Recording

Steve Hunter performed during June at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s Jazzhaus series along with his group, supported by ArtSound, and Chris Deacon was there to record the concert for broadcast soon on Friday Night Live (Fridays at 8pm).

Hunter is both a virtuoso electric bassist and prolific composer who draws on elements of music from Spain, Africa, and Latin America, and funk. He has performed with many major international artists in jazz — among them Billy Cobham, Chick Corea, Mark Isham, and Bobby Previte — as well as key Australian jazz performers such as Mark Simmond’s Freeboppers, Dale Barlow, and the Joseph Tawadros Trio.

He performed at the Jazzhaus series with his quartet: Matt McMahon (piano), Ben Hauptmann (guitar), and Gordon Rytmeister (drums).

Work-Study Intern

Thanks to our 2025 work-study intern Hayley Crowe, a student at Canberra College, who spent a week of her term break helping out at the station. She learned some of the ArtSound ropes from Julie Finch-Scally and other ArtSound volunteers, assisted with some production tasks, was interviewed on air by Stuart Warner (pictured), and even prepared a sample one-hour program segment. (Image: Julie Finch-Scally)

Beanie Competition

Congratulations to Pam Murray, the winner of this year’s ArtSound Knit a Beanie Competition, which we now run annually in cooperation with Vinnies Winter Appeal. (Pictured: this year’s entries.)

The goal of the competition is to provide warm winter headwear for homeless Canberrans.

Below: Julie Finch-Scally handed the contributed beanies to Stuart Davis-Meehan, Vinnies’ Director of Special Works, a participant in the organisation’s Night Patrol program.

Young Virtuoso Competition – can you help?

Each year, ArtSound hosts the ACT regional finals of the Young Virtuoso Competition, which identifies outstanding emerging Australian classical music performers. The event offers ArtSound an excellent opportunity to demonstrate its support for talented performers in the Canberra region.

Could you help us to stage the ACT leg of the competition? We’d be most grateful for sponsorship covering the cost of sending the ACT winner to the nationals. This year, those will be in Adelaide. We cover the regional winner’s travel and accommodation expenses to attend the final.

If you can help, please contact us at admin@artsound.fm or phone 6295 7444 Monday-Friday 10am-2pm and ask for Julie Finch-Scally.

Can you donate a decent used Android phone?

Can you donate a decent used Android phone? We could use one to receive SMS messages from listeners, direct to our broadcast studios and office. Ideally, it’d be of relatively recent vintage — say, something from 2022 or more recently. (It needs to be an Android phone, to link up to our existing infrastructure.)

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

Thanks!

Call for radio-drama scripts

You, too, could be featured in an ArtSound Radio Players production. If you have a script that would be suitable for radio, or even an idea for a radio play but you’re not sure where to start, get in touch with ArtSound Radio Theatre, which airs Sundays at 4pm (repeated Mondays at 10pm). The highly experienced troupe may be able to help. Write to help@artsound.fm.

ArtSound production unit

Do you have skills or ideas for audio production? For example, have you wanted to create a series of short items about some aspect of ACT-region arts and culture?

In recent months, ArtSound has formed a communications unit to help get the word out about our activities and events. Now we’re doing something similar around production — specifically, production of promotional and sponsorship (advertising) announcements, along with short items to drop into our regular programming.

The latter could be, for example, segments about Canberra-region arts, culture, history, architecture, social services… They could be anything that fits into our overall programming ethos.

ArtSound has the production capacity, and producers already working in this area of content creation. If you’d like to join them, or have ideas to share, get in touch via help@artsound.fm.

Canberra Southern Cross Club sponsorship

ArtSound is back on the Canberra Southern Cross Club Community Rewards list, which allows ArtSound supporters to contribute to our coffers simply by dining at the club’s various facilities.

Under the program, as a patron of the club, you can go to this link: https://csccmarketing.wufoo.com/forms/m1ti98210e4gdsx/ and add your CSCC member details. Then, every time you buy food and drinks at the CSCC, ArtSound will get 7.5% of what you spend, and the money goes towards our equipment upgrades and running costs.

It’s a sweet deal for all concerned.

ArtSound’s podcasting meetup

Members are invited to attend ArtSound’s fortnightly Podcasting Meetup. It’s an informal gathering of podcast enthusiasts — some experienced, some beginners — who discuss podcast skills, approaches, and content.

The group generally meets every second Monday from 5:30-6:30pm in ArtSound’s dedicated podcast studio. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday July 14.

To inquire about joining in, write to podcast@artsound.fm.

2025 ArtSound membership marathon

Through all of 2025, ArtSound is running a membership drive.

Annual fees are modest: individual membership, $75; family membership $110; concessional membership (with seniors or student ID) $50 per year.

For a limited time, new members will receive a free copy of the latest ArtSound Press publication, Gertrude’s Sweetheart: Monologues for Readers and Actors.

ArtSound aims to increase the benefits that members enjoy. Already members, and non-members, receive 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).

Or, contact us and talk about how you might help: admin@artsound.fm

The state of community radio

More than five million Australians now tune in to community radio every week, and that is among many signs of the continuing health and viability of the sector, according to Jon Bisset, Chief Executive Officer of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.

In an end-of-financial-year wrap-up addressed to stations around the country, he noted that the CBAA had secured about $27 million in new funding after more than 60 meetings with government ministers, parliamentarians and advisers.

The CBAA had also introduced updated Codes of Practice and led the sector’s input to the Federal Government’s Community Broadcasting Sector Sustainability Review, he said.

Marks of success, he added, included that CBAA membership among community radio and television stations hit an all-time high of 91 percent.

As a result of input from stations, the CBAA is increasing its emphases on fundraising, sponsorship and technological advancement, he said.

“This year more than ever, it’s clear how strong and connected our sector is,” Bisset wrote.

Donations

We’re always grateful to receive donations to support our work, which includes featuring about 1,000 ACT-region artists on air annually along with specialty programming that supports and fosters arts activities in the ACT region.

ArtSound does this as an all-volunteer community radio station with expenses to run to more than $120,000 each year, almost half of it from the costs of transmitting to the ACT from Black Mountain and Mt Taylor.

If you can help, please do so. Simply use the QR code below to go directly to the ArtSound donation page. Or get in touch to talk about how you might help: admin@artsound.fm or 6295 7444.

 

Support ArtSound in any of many ways

Opportunities to help out at ArtSound are many. Some of them are:

Welcoming Committee members

Communications team members

Management and financial wizards

Advertising reps

Presenters

Program producers and assistants

Music library helpers

We should let you know that our music library is one of the most enjoyable areas of our operations, according to volunteers who have spent many hours there.

The key task is to catalog new additions to the CD library, and then process the CDs (e.g., with simple numerical codes) to make them findable within the collection.

Working in the library provides an opportunity to view many aspects of station operations, and edge one’s way into taking part in them.

All amidst friendly company.

Please write to help@artsound.fm or phone 6295 7444.

Seeking volunteers for the reception desk

Want to meet some of ArtSound’s presenters and get a better understanding of how ArtSound works, as well as contribute to the smooth running of the organisation?

ArtSound is currently seeking new members to join our welcoming committee! This role is on ArtSound’s reception desk and involves simple office administration work including clearing emails, answering phone calls, greeting visitors to the studio and other administrative tasks. It’s a great way to get to know ArtSound programs, listen to music while you work and meet some of the presenters.

Members of the Welcoming Committee generally do a 4-hour shift from 10am-2pm on weekdays, once a week or once a fortnight. There is also some flexibility if you prefer a different routine, or different hours.

If you are interested in knowing more about this role, or other volunteering opportunities at ArtSound, please email help@artsound.fm with your contact details and a description of how you think you can help, or phone 6295 7444 weekdays between 10am and 2pm.

Volunteers are the heart and soul of community radio, and we very much appreciate your interest in supporting ArtSound radio.

Please 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.

 

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 (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 $1 or more are tax deductible.

ArtSound is an all-volunteer community radio station.

 

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.