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This is Not Art 2007

photography by Sean Wilson and Scott-Patrick Mitchell

I hate writers who write feature articles in the first person. In the 10 years I have been writing journalistic pieces, I have never written a feature article using the first person pronoun finding it cheap and tawdry…an easy way out. Oh yes, columns command the use of I – if you’re gonna slaughter someone’s career in your column, at least have the decency to take responsibility. But in a feature? Never…until now. Why? Well, as you’ll soon read, this article itself is ultimately about being a writer, so how better to write such a piece than to write it as a writer, which is what I am…clearly. 

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A world of opportunity exists for writers beyond the confines of our boomtown borders. Melbourne has a bold boho culture, perfect for poets and deep thinkers. Sydney is slicker – a career driven carnivore of commotion, just right for cutthroat journalism. Further afield, friends are finding their feet in such places as London, New York, Berlin or Tokyo. Yes, a world of opportunity in the world of words exists out there, somewhere. But in Newcastle? Dusty old Newcastle, three hours train ride out of The Emerald City? Newcastle, New South Wales – home of the ‘chair, a cornucopia of writing adventures’? Yes, it is, when Newcastle succumbs to TINA. The festival that is….

The TINA (This Is Not Art) Festival is an annual event which transforms Newcastle into a hub of creative energy, a nexus where over 200 invited guests – whose backgrounds vary between writing, publishing, performance, art, illustration, music, critical theory, photography and any other art form imaginable – converge to participate in up to over 80 programmed events. All of these opportunities take place across four different mini festivals – Electrofringe, Sound Summit, Critical Animals and The National Young Writers Festival (NYWF) – all of which come together under the umbrella of TINA. And as the name suggests, this is one rockin’ super festival which burns bright for five days straight.

I had the pleasure of being invited to attend TINA as a speaker at The National Young Writers Festival this year, all of which took place in the final days of September. Why me? I have been writing poetry for what seems an eternity now…well, it started during early adolescence and fortunately progressed beyond the doom and gloom of tortured teen verse into something substantial and innovative. Performance and an eye for art aided and abetted my work, resulting in collaborations which saw me tour with a minimal baroque composer and exhibit poems transformed by nine of Perth’s most talented artists. Add two residencies, countless stage appearances, and I soon garnered a reputation for poetry which reached out beyond the page to engage an audience.

Which is how the crew from NYWF heard about me. Their ensuing invitation was gladly accepted, and I soon found myself part of a formable West Australian contingency. It included journalist and new media publisher Patrick Pittman, editor of the New Critic Rebecca Giggs, poet Sean Wilson, Catherine Green whom experienced the 2006 tsunami first hand and lived to blog about it, plus maverick spoken word electro cabaret performer Tomás Ford, who has made a career from being abrasive. Naturally, I wondered if I truly belonged amid such young creatives.

Once in Newcastle, however, I soon discovered that yes, I belonged…in fact, I discovered my unique ideas were rivalled by the innovative thought of a whole assortment of contemporaries whom, up until now, I had never known existed. Events included discussions on erotica, spoken word transmutations of karaoke classics, comic book workshops, and master classes with award winning illustrator Shaun Tan. Anonymous blogging, hip hop workshops, D.I.Y. publishing showcases and The ARTEXTART exhibition sidled alongside more playful events like The Bad Writing Pinata of Cathartic Shame, The TINA Confession Booth and the amazing interactive sound adventure of Chi Chi Fibonacci’s Electric Hermaphrodite Suit which came complete with wha wha tally-whacker.

Definitive  moments of NYWF included The Mega Mega Launch, where my own independently produced ‘zine MoTHER [has words…]. (available from Planet Books, The ArtisRE and Harry Highpants) was dubbed one of the best new titles of 2007. Next? The Independent Small Press & Zine Fair which saw Civic Park become a bustling bazaar with over 50 stall holders selling an assortment of zines, art & artistic products. Later, a panel on post-paper publishing lead to an opportunity to meet David Prater (editor of online Australian poetry journal Cordite) and Chris Flynn (creator of online gallery litmusphere.com), the latter a wealth of international writing contacts, which he gratefully shared with myself. Then of course there was the roundtable discussion I was involved in, Page Poetry, which examined the existence of poetics beyond the formal page.

The most memorable experiences? A vivid tour of Auschwitz by Sarah-Jane Norman, which was so descriptive, so chillingly real that I left the reading emotionally moved as though I had been to that death camp in the flesh. Other instances were more comedic though. I missed out witnessing a high profile corporate sponsor, whom had been plied with a wagon of white wine, hitting the dancefloor at one after party hollering ‘Schmooze me, schmooze me’. Tomás Ford’s performance at the Festival Club was dynamite, but not nearly as funny as the taxi driver’s reaction to the job I did of Ford’s make-up that evening. His forehead of googly eyes copped the remark ‘Well, you’re all dressed up for a schooner in the neck on a Saturday night.’ After I had stopped laughing, I explained it was exactly the look I had hoped to achieve.

Most beautiful? Open Office, an outdoor experience which saw youth magazine Voiceworks move its editorial team from Newcastle to the wonderfully sunny location of Newcastle’s Civic Park for four days straight where they produced NWYF anthology Nanoworks. The entire office setting was created from a variety of antique pieces fashioned to create – among others – a ‘zine making station, audio recording station, and an old suitcase transformed into a reading library, simply entitled BookCase. This magical outdoor office was created by Tessa Rapaport and Karl Logge, and Sydney couple who have taken the notion of working in the park to an entirely new level with their wonderful collaboration Makeshift.

I have returned home from NYWF invigorated, assured and excited. Not only by the stash of small press publications I have acquired, nor by the creative talents I was exposed to, but more than anything by the 40 plus contacts I have made. These contacts range from magazine editors to artists I want to publish to individuals who I’d love to collaborate with. The opportunities gained from these five short days in dusty old Newcastle are enough to sustain me for at least the next year, which will be about time to return east and attend the 10th anniversary of NYWF. To all young creatives and writers reading this article, the opportunities available at NYWF and TINA will astound and amaze, so engage. Don’t be afraid. Opportunity is there to excite and ignite, which is exactly what TINA and all it contains will supply. Jump online and visit www.thisisnotart.org and www.youngwritersfestival.org/ and express interest to insure involvement…but only if you have what it takes: a faith and fearlessness to seek out adventure, even if it is in a far-flung seaside town.

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