tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20939395760531842302024-03-12T20:41:39.521-07:00First SparkFirst Sparkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03603424710399352121noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2093939576053184230.post-65679676575362716712014-01-13T22:37:00.000-08:002014-01-13T22:47:09.424-08:00<div lang="zxx">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>First Spark Radio Festival 2014</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Various venues in South Devon UK </b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">On Soundart Radio 102.5fm or at <a href="http://www.soundartradio.org.uk/">www.soundartradio.org.uk</a></span></b></div>
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We made it through Christmas and New Year's Eve and we
can't wait for Spring now. We want to get outside - not too much
though - stretch our legs and try something new.</div>
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Welcome to Soundart Radio's First Spark Festival
2014... every year we do a bunch of different things, to celebrate
this awkward, in-betweeny time of year, the forgotten fesival of
Imbolc that marks the midway point between the Winter Solstice and
the Spring Equinox.</div>
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It is our firmly held belief that such an obscure and
difficult festival should be heralded with difficult and obscure
music, art and radio works...</div>
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This year the focus is on live events - come along,
listen, watch and take part. We have excelled ourselves and overcome
our natural desire to curl up indoors, by planning three very different live events. Come along to a bit of one, to all of one, to all three for an ear-changing weekend of music, noise and experimental radio... both silly and serious at once.</div>
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<b>Friday 31st January </b></div>
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<b>Totnes Nonclassical at the Barrel House</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhajPAsYQjuaS8NsKPOeHAg78q71SLO59WJw2JKWYuPcq4df2hlT3dxg1fG-VeGYiei5PxLUAOsYl8azhBbO2851Dj44Sk02suSKnbh3A29suI61by0ZQ1yCWw6eJjgAIl-VQIe87WlSZM/s1600/Nonclassical_Jan14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhajPAsYQjuaS8NsKPOeHAg78q71SLO59WJw2JKWYuPcq4df2hlT3dxg1fG-VeGYiei5PxLUAOsYl8azhBbO2851Dj44Sk02suSKnbh3A29suI61by0ZQ1yCWw6eJjgAIl-VQIe87WlSZM/s1600/Nonclassical_Jan14.jpg" height="640" width="449" /></a></div>
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Together with our friends at Totnes Music Now, we bring the well-loved, London orignated <a href="http://www.nonclassical.co.uk/">Nonclassical</a> night to the Barrel House, Totnes. This is the first of many -- or at least four a year.</div>
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New music live, electroacoustic works and DJ sets.</div>
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This will be recorded for broadcast on Sunday evening</div>
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<b>Saturday 1st February </b></div>
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<b>Creative radio day, for people over 50</b></div>
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A day of trying out new skills, having fun, being creative and making some work for broadcast. </div>
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Free workshops all day from poet Lucy Lepchani and sound recordist Tony Whitehead. Supported by<a href="http://www.daisi.org.uk/news/350-arts-wave-devon-launches.html"> Artswave Devon pop-up events</a>. </div>
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Dartington, Studio 4 (find us in 'Space' on the lower drive)</div>
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Pop in for a session or two or stay all day. </div>
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The workshops:</div>
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Sound Recording, with Tony Whitehead</div>
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Tony Whitehead is a sound recordist and owner of <a href="http://veryquietrecords.blogspot.co.uk/">Very Quiet Records. </a></div>
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He will be bringing a variety of specialist sound equipment for capturing sounds of birds, water and more, and will lead walks around the gardens. A chance to try out some interesting equipment and make recordings for broadcast.</div>
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Sessions at 10 am, midday and 2pm</div>
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Poetry with Lucy Lepchani</div>
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<a href="http://lucylepchani.wordpress.com/">Lucy</a> writes for performance, publication and short fiction. She will support participants to create new individual and group poems around the 'First Spark' festival themes. At the end of each session we will record the poems to create a new radio programme, where listeners will hear them woven through with the sounds from the recording workshops.</div>
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Sessions at 11am, 1pm, 3pm.</div>
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All sessions are free of charge and take place at Studio 4, Dartington Space.</div>
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<b>Sunday 2nd February </b></div>
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<b>Marbling - live stream from the House of Marbles, Bovey Tracey</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.houseofmarbles.com/about/images/IMG_3944.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.houseofmarbles.com/about/images/IMG_3944.jpg" height="219" width="640" /></a></div>
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We were intrigued by the sounds of <i>Snookie</i> the huge and beautiful marble run created by Alex Schmidt at the <a href="http://www.houseofmarbles.com/">House of Marbles</a>, and felt that it deserved it's own radio show. We will be streaming live from around 10am, then in the afternoon an ensemble of string and recorder players will join the voice of the marble run in a new composition by Sam Richards. Come along to the House of Marbles to witness the performance live, or tune in throughout the day... rattle, rattle, ding, whoosh, clonk.</div>
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Sunday evening - tune in to hear highlights of the weekend, including Friday night's performances and work produced during Saturday's workshops.</div>
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First Sparkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03603424710399352121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2093939576053184230.post-46416336610973808382013-02-03T01:55:00.000-08:002013-02-04T02:07:31.444-08:00Winners AnnouncedSo, the winning documentary in the under 18s category is...<br />
The World of Internet Radio, by Emma Norman<br />
<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F77637409" width="100%"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
Here's what the judges had to say about her piece:<br />
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<i>Brilliant piece well researched, clear engaging beautiful use of other audio/radio. Winner for me!</i></div>
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<i>A
lovely, warm, professional 'World Service' tone, clever use of audio
captured online to give it pace and real, campaigning subject matter.
You could play this one out practically anywhere right now. Loved it.</i></div>
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<i>An
interesting production brought to life by the incorporation of the
snippets of radio from around the world. A well planned, well thought
out and concise script with an upbeat and enthusiastic delivery that
holds the listener's interest.</i></div>
<br />
Emma produces a fortnightly show at Soundart Radio on Saturday mornings. She has also been involved with her school radio station, at Coombeshead College, Newton Abbot for several years.<br />
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And in the over 18s... we have a tie.<br />
The World's Longest Score - Juan Villalba<br />
<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F77637821" width="100%"></iframe>
The judges said: <br />
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<i>Dreamy.
Left me wanting to know more. Sound design is really lovely - different
tones/qualities/levels separates sources nicely.
<i>Excellent
production - dynamic, thought provoking, fantastic use of music and
effects. I liked the background voices in foreign languages, it builds
really nicely to the break in the middle.
<i>I really enjoyed this -simple idea but you really used the sounds and music to tell the story. </i><br />
</i></i><br />
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Juan Villalba is a journalist from Mendoza, Argentina. He says:<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Three years ago, </span><span style="font-size: small;">the world knew the Ángeles Duran story. A Spanish woman said she was the owner of the Sun.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;">I
talked to her in a radio program. She told me she had another idea: a
musical score with phone sounds. Actually, she never did. I talked to
her again and she explained her idea. She is the female voice in
Spanish in the piece, recorded on the phone in my home studio. The
female voice in French is a friend of mine, a French teacher, Lola. And
the male voice is mine.</span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-size: small;">Starting
from this idea, I thought of combining the sounds of cell phones with
conventional instruments, as the piano or violin. I am fascinated by the
sounds of new technologies. </span></i><br />
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Would we Survive? - Helmi Wolff<i><i></i></i><br />
<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F77638959" width="100%"></iframe>
<i><i><br />
</i></i>The judges said:<i><i></i></i><br />
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<i>Ooh.
Tantalising. Packs a lot in to 60". Gorgeous voice tells half the story
on its own, before you even get to the events. Additional sounds just
right - could easily have been overdone. Very emotional stuff.</i></div>
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<i>It is great as piece of oral history and it is
given atmosphere and brought to life through the understated use of
sound effects.</i></div>
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<i>Fantastic historical record. Very active piece</i></div>
<i>I was with her in the bunker-a script packed with detail, emotion and memory</i><br />
Helmi Wolff is a Somerset based artist, who is part of the Ignite Somerset project at The Engine Room, Bridgwater.<i> </i></div>
First Sparkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03603424710399352121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2093939576053184230.post-35542041732547647842013-02-02T06:48:00.000-08:002013-02-02T06:48:32.247-08:00We're announcing the winners this evening...<br />
...so here are the top 5. First the Under 18s category:<br />
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Rocking Robins - Bidwell Brook School, Dartington<br />
Childhood Obesity; It's a Pet's Life; Life of a Snail - all by the Grove School, Totnes<br />
The World of Internet Radio - Emma Norman<br />
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and the over 18s:<br />
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World's longest musical
score - Juan Villalba</div>
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Would we survive -
Helmi Wolff</div>
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1 to the power 21 -
Di Cunningham</div>
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Fishing the seas dry - We don't know who you are! Please get in touch!</div>
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Time Lapse Peepers - Rob Rosenthal</div>
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Ther were 68 entries overall, and lots of stunning, surprising and moving audio amongst them. Others we specially noted were:</div>
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A moth by any other name - Helen Swan</div>
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No Chinese Opera Today - Monica Ruud</div>
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Less a bolt of lightning than the lightning of Bolt - Paul Stones</div>
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Marcus and the Christmas snake - Janine Klara</div>
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Standing on a Moving Train - Kim Fox</div>
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Kosma Tales - Kosma Tales</div>
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Picachito- Bontxar</div>
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All pieces broadcast tomorrow, Sunday 3rd, from 4pm</div>
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First Sparkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03603424710399352121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2093939576053184230.post-3013048918906704712013-01-28T14:57:00.003-08:002013-01-28T14:57:55.869-08:00Competition results... coming soon...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfz1s4E-PDcP8zt1Veyu5w8FXD8EoO8GGASdnOVi60yiUrGyR_fcyl5Dii2qiB1al55o9mRD_f4mUZ91rFNunKg7IGCEQBrC0OMDjsvyQ1aWkRBZeogi5BxDSNUWXpAmqaRAEF1YY4Aa4/s1600/first_spark_broadside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfz1s4E-PDcP8zt1Veyu5w8FXD8EoO8GGASdnOVi60yiUrGyR_fcyl5Dii2qiB1al55o9mRD_f4mUZ91rFNunKg7IGCEQBrC0OMDjsvyQ1aWkRBZeogi5BxDSNUWXpAmqaRAEF1YY4Aa4/s1600/first_spark_broadside.jpg" height="640" width="452" /></a></div>
<br />First Sparkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03603424710399352121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2093939576053184230.post-91058261414939582772013-01-07T14:36:00.003-08:002013-01-07T14:36:36.484-08:00Let's hear it...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5_Jt0ClAwsy-L-jCQXZ25V_BWSEyjKCUrYL4W95-YH08ytz35HUX72TfqBjcWM7T-wUaYSiX8IMkhHjU4652iBwuKzQ9XKRqKE2GbYdgE_pTgpiOe59geBXhTQrps03zCcyFR9P4O-Qo/s1600/1_min_audio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5_Jt0ClAwsy-L-jCQXZ25V_BWSEyjKCUrYL4W95-YH08ytz35HUX72TfqBjcWM7T-wUaYSiX8IMkhHjU4652iBwuKzQ9XKRqKE2GbYdgE_pTgpiOe59geBXhTQrps03zCcyFR9P4O-Qo/s640/1_min_audio.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />First Sparkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03603424710399352121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2093939576053184230.post-8092898374719703752013-01-01T02:30:00.000-08:002013-01-01T02:30:09.621-08:00How to enter<span style="color: #666666;">Those rules and guidelines in full:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #666666;">The
deadline is 5pm on Friday, 18<sup>th</sup> January</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #666666;">
Your radio documentary can be on any theme and told in any format, so
long as it is audio only. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #666666;">It should be within a hair's breadth of 1
minute (let's say between 55 and 65 seconds)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #666666;">Give it a great title as no other information (eg pictures,
explanatory text) will be taken into account by the judges.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #666666;">It must be entirely your own work,
though could be an edit of something you have made before. Don't use music unless it was composed for the piece and credited properly.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #666666;">You can
enter as a team or as an individual. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #666666;">You can enter as many times as you like, but don't try to tell a story in a series of episodes! Each minute should stand alone.</span></li>
<li>
<span style="color: #666666;">Submit
your work at <a href="http://soundcloud.com/firstspark/dropbox">http://soundcloud.com/firstspark/dropbox</a></span></li>
<li><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #666666;"> Just
tell us the title, an email address and if you are over or under
18. </span>
</div>
<span style="color: #666666;">
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<span style="color: #666666;">.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">Poems, songs, field recordings and surprises all welcome, so long as they convey a true story.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">Happy recording!</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #666666;"> </span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
First Sparkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03603424710399352121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2093939576053184230.post-34270564064117745472012-12-30T04:19:00.000-08:002012-12-30T04:19:11.318-08:00We're very excited to announce the competition judges
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<span style="color: black;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Steve
Bowbrick, Tamar Millen, Caroline Mitchell and Mark Vernon are
all offering their expert ears.</span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="color: black;">Less
than 3 weeks to go for submitting your 1 minute radio documentaries,
but we reckon anyone who wants to could make one in an afternoon. We'd rather have lots and lots of slightly rough audio than just a few very polished ones.</span>
</div>
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</div>
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<span style="color: black;">Steve
Bowbrick has been making a living from the Internet for twenty years,
participated in the dot.com boom (and the crash) and survived to join
the BBC as head of digital for Radio 3, the corporation’s arts and
culture radio station. He’s been a radio nut for decades, curates
audio at <a href="http://audiolibre.ne/">audiolibre.ne</a>t, blogs at <a href="http://bowblog.com/">bowblog.com</a> and tweets at
@bowbrick. </span>
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<span style="color: black;">Tamar
Millen is an advocate of the power of collaborative approaches to
community, media and arts. Having worked in DIY media since the late
1990s, where the roles of artist, producer and consumer are
increasingly blurred she believes close collaboration between the
arts and community media will increase the quality and quantity of
arts broadcasting and also address ways in which arts organisations
respond to emergent broadcasting platforms and audiences.<br />Currently
Tamar is Arts Co-ordinator for the Community Media Association based
in Sheffield UK <a href="http://arts.commedia.org.uk/">http://arts.commedia.org.uk</a>/ you can follow her
on Twitter @tamarmillen</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
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<span style="color: black;">Caroline
Mitchell has been active in community radio for the past 30 years and
in 1992 co-founded Fem FM, the first women's station in the UK. She
is part time senior lecturer in radio at the University of Sunderland
and an researcher/consultant/trainer/evaluator in community media
working in UK and Spain. At Sunderland she launched the UK’s first
Masters course in Radio Production and Management. She is a fan
of all things experimental on the radio and enjoys listening to radio
features and documentaries that ‘push the boundaries’. </span>
</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<span style="color: black;">Mark
Vernon is a sound artist and radio producer based in Glasgow,
Scotland. He was a founding member of art radio collective, 'Radio
Tuesday' and has produced programmes and features for stations
including WFMU, RADIA, Resonance FM, CKUT, VPRO and the BBC. His
radio productions range from documentaries and radio plays to more
experimental audio collage and soundscape pieces.
<a href="http://www.meagreresource.com/">http://www.meagreresource.com</a>/</span></div>
<br /><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;">Submit
your work at <a href="http://soundcloud.com/firstspark/dropbox">http://soundcloud.com/firstspark/dropbox </a></span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;">Just
tell us the title, how to contact you and if you are over or under
18. </span>
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: black;">The
deadline is 5pm on Friday, 18<sup>th</sup> January.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
First Sparkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03603424710399352121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2093939576053184230.post-61306772620853449722012-12-15T01:45:00.001-08:002012-12-15T01:45:19.958-08:001 minute radio docsInterest in the competition growing, with the call out on the <a href="http://arts.commedia.org.uk/">Community Media Association arts page</a> now<br />
And the first submission is in, all the way from Lisbon. Keep them coming!<br />
<br />
Email us all any questions you have, to firstsparkradio@gmail.com<br />
<br />
What is a documentary anyway? Let's stretch the boundaries a bit. I think so long as it tells of real human experience, the way we shape the audio is open to experimentation. How about a poem? Or 1 minute of captured, raw sound? So often these initial recordings turn out to be as rich as a well edited piece, as cars drift by, people chat, a plane passes overhead.<br />
<br />
When you submit your piece, could you let us know if it's for the under or over 18s category, and make sure we have the right contact details for you.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />First Sparkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03603424710399352121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2093939576053184230.post-70131406864366197282012-12-04T13:01:00.000-08:002012-12-15T01:46:00.819-08:00First Spark 2013 at Soundart Radio 102.5fmThe <i>First Spark Radio Festival</i> began in 2009 when we relaunched <a href="http://www.soundartradio.org.uk/">Soundart Radio</a> under our new Community Radio Licence for South Devon after a couple of years as a student station for Dartington College of Arts.<br />
We were interested in celebrating our rural location and the delights and challenges of producing radio art here. We wanted to engage with and question the multiple faiths of our local community and the sense of nostalgia for a farming heritage. <br />
<i>First Spark</i> is part of a programme of work at the station around the sometimes-forgotten fire festivals of Beltane, Lammas, Samhain and Imbolc, as we seek to find new ways to celebrate these turning points of the year.<br />
<br />
It seemed that Imbolc, which falls on 2nd February and is known as Candlemas in the Christian calendar, was particularly ripe for this. Imbolc marks the midway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, and is a time of the very earliest signs of Spring, small buds peeping up through the snow, or maybe just howling winter storms. It is the least appropriate time for any kind of cultural gathering and our events typically have a low turn out, though plenty of radio listeners.<br />
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So <i>First Spark</i> is the earliest sign of spring, but to us this also means the beginnings of new ideas, or a spark of electricity at the heart of a performance. New music, new ideas in radio, transmission art and electronic arts all seem to sit comfortably at Imbolc, and the theme grows richer and more interesting each year.<br />
We generally make time for a live on air discussion. So far we have had <i>Why Transmit?</i> and <i>Why Improvise?</i> with artists responding to these questions in their own manner, and a room of people discussing the issue for a couple of hours. 2012's improvisation theme was also explored through live music and dance.<br />
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For 2013 we find ourselves in a post Leveson society, quietly reasserting Soundart Radio's original intention to not be 'the media'. We are not a team of trained journalists, we are a bunch of damaged and creative people, finding our own ways to tell the stories of our own lives. So First Spark 2013 has the subheading 'Alternatives to Journalism' as we explore many ways to tell the stories that cross our path or affect us from far away. There will be a one day event, various playlists, time set aside for a 24 hour radio installation if the right thing comes along, a discussion (called something like <i>Why Report?</i>) and, the bit we're most excited about, a competition for 1 minute radio documentaries. <br />
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Your radio documentary can be on any theme and told in any format, so long as it is audio only. It should be within a hair's breadth of 1 minute, and have a great title. It must be entirely your own work, though could be a reworking of something you have made before. You can enter as a team or as an individual. No other information (eg pictures, explanatory text) will be taken into account by the judges. The deadline is 5pm on Friday 18th January.<br />
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We'd really like to play them all on Soundart Radio during the first week of February, though anything that is in breech of our guidelines will not be broadcast. The winners (one over 18 yrs, one under) will be announced at the First Spark event on 2nd February 2013. More details on this to follow soon.<br />
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Happy recording! Do email us any questions to firstsparkradio@gmail.com<br />
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Post your audio submissions here:<br />
<a href="http://soundcloud.com/firstspark/dropbox">http://soundcloud.com/firstspark/dropbox</a><br />
<br />First Sparkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03603424710399352121noreply@blogger.com0