what about tonight? I NEED AN AUDIO OUTREACH.... nothing is ready to roll- hundreds of ideas, boiling away, waiting for the rich reduction, but new ingredients keep going in, and life seems like water- diluting focus (but maybe keeping reality hydrated...) I make the fire in my favorite cafe up, coal blackened fingers type and raise the coffee to my lips- its not a bad life, this, adrift, crashing into knowledge, i am looking forward to being 40, when Awen is 19, and maybe.... i can go loose myself totally in 'it', become absorbed (imagine that!) to saturation, instead of feeling like only one eye can focus on these 'other' things, as the other has responsibility to maintaining healthful standards for another wondering child---- I thought parenting would be that easy- feed, clean occasionally, provide a few coordinates for morals and entertainment, and actually, find, when i find something i want to dive into, there is only 45% of me free to go, free for myself.... the rest is engaged, complicatedly, with a 9 year old. :-). What is this with learning, - aware there is always more- learning is a curve spiraling a helterskelter peeping over just the edge the world moves through a kaleidoscope changing views and jeweled approaches all the way down you gather speed to bump and jump up at the bottom and demand more more more why should it ever end, its not just a a game but it is seriously enjoyable- another turn another text another go another film another turn another track another go another approach to understanding another turn another side to the story of human endeavors to create and maintain the balance of becoming and being another go- its dizzying- but the views are amazing and the act maybe in some way a practice that readies one for dodging bullets or other repressive aggressive attempts at devaluing life?
The fire blazes now, cold weather is just outside the window.
A contextual enquiry for BA Writing at Dartington College of Arts: testing my own receptivity within the definition of a context: Community Radio. what do i mean by community? Living, sounding (broadcasting from) rural Devon, across the Southams, over the globe via the world wide web, on into outerspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
hi!
My practice as a writer has been developing towards audio work, and I have been more and more interested in the medium of radio as a platform for showing my own work, and also in radio’s possible uses as a tool of social empowerment. I am wishing to understand how radio is being used by artists and activists to create spaces that function as community centres, and how radio can be used to facilitate well being for individuals and in localities.
I will need to define what I understand by ‘community’, and also clarify which model of radio I will be studying.
I will be avoiding an ethnographic definition of community, as that is a life times’ work in itself- instead I will work around the ideas and writings of radio and audio artists (Gregory Whitehead, Allen Weiss, Charles Bernstein) and also other writers, artists and activists that offer definitions of community movements that I see Soundart radio as aligning itself alongside (Joan Retallack’s ‘dialogic community’, bell hooks’ ‘communities of resistance’, Felix Guattari’s ‘free radio’ etc.).
Radio for this CEP is a small local public broadcasting venture called Soundart Radio 102.5 FM, which broadcasts under a community license- it is not run for political or commercial gain, it is run by and on behalf of its listening community, and represents both the community of its geographical area, and also radio as a living and historic ‘hot’ media with a international community of listeners, producers, makers and enthusiasts. I will be seeking to understand how Soundart radio fulfils the role of community /ies, and how it serves the desires of said community /ies, and will be reflecting upon and monitoring my own interaction with these ideas as a individual participating, listening and producing, and process this into both audio and writing documentations.
Broadcasting can be considered as a mirror to the way we live, and I am interested in programming and stations that offer alternative and considered options within their scheduling.
Radio art requires a consistent body of research and practice that concentrates on sound at its point of signification, not a literal reading that will collapse into cliché, but a sensitivity to the ways in which meaning in sound circulates, dissipates and re-emerges. The development of an autonomous body of theory and practice regarding aural referentuality- in particular as it relates to radio and electronic media- will contribute to a better understanding of the role that radio art plays in the articulation of social and cultural ideas. (Lander,D. 1994, Radiocastings: musings on radio and art in Radio Rethink
The two community models I will be focusing on are individuals sharing a geographically related relationship within the area of FM reception, and also communities physically distant but still communing /communicating, thorough both FM and Internet radio. I will be looking the social benefits of participation in the arts:
Personal: growth in confidence, creative and transferable skills, social lives are improved through friendships, enjoyment and involvement in the community. In a wider social context: confidence of minority and marginalised groups is gained, promoting social cohesion. There is empowerment of a community to be involved in local affairs, a strengthened commitment to place and an ability to tackle problems. Provides the opportunity to take positive risks, contribute to education and personal and social change (Matarasso, F, 1997: ‘Use or Ornament? Social impact of participation in the arts’ p79-81).
I have secured a practical intern-ship at Soundart radio from September through till December 2010. This community radio station's location, programming and programmers, its geographical area, it's international and local outreach projects and its ethos and manifesto are all relevant to my enquiry.
My particular artistic interest lies with
Transmissions that Publicise the Private, or through an opening of dialogic space create new energy and directions within a social order.
Programming that re-instates the authority of chaos and chance, within the context of a functioning community.
Broadcasting that foregrounds and celebrates ambiguity and individuality, supported by structures of acceptance and value.
Work that transforms attention into action and revitalizes languages’ and radio’s uses in the public sphere.
I intend to immerse myself in the life of this small radio station for my time there.
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