Farewell OPEN CHANNEL

A lovely piece composed by Catherine Leos and Ian Dixon, published in the 20 August 2007 issue of OPENLine:

We bid a sad farewell to Andrew Garton, after two years at the helm as OPEN CHANNEL’s Program Director.

Andrew Garton is the kind of guy whose passion and wry humour precede him; a man who dedicates himself to “the cause” – whether that be promoting OPEN CHANNEL or quoting from Kirkegaard. In short, Andrew is a Dude – from his Thunderbirds car to his unending quest for the right hairstyle – we will miss him swanning into our office on the breath of his latest witticism.

Whether sharing his genuine wisdom or squirrelling away in his office, his secret to life is to plough ahead with quiet determination. His voice, his ideas, and his intelligence will leave good ol’ SHED 4 just that little bit emptier…

Andrew’s last day will be Thursday 30 August.

“Dreams, creativity and wisdom are at the core of what keeps OPEN CHANNEL rockin’, and what challenges it every day. There are no key performance indicators for dreams, creativity and wisdom… there is only ‘hope’, ‘gratitude’ and dare I say, ‘trust’ that are the intangible and precious drivers that sustain everyone that has not only helped to keep OPEN CHANNEL running, but ensured it be kept open for everyone.”

“It has been a great honour and privilege to have been of service to an organisation that has endeared itself to the hearts of so many Victorian filmmakers and screen artists… and to have made a contribution to the legacy left by the countless who had come before me, who had stockpiled our archive with well over 2000 titles in the pursuit of public and open access.” Andrew Garton / August 2007

Speech: OC Launch

Prepared for and presented at the OPEN CHANNEL Launch, SHED 4, celebrating just over 3 decades of public access video and independent film production and development in Victoria.

OC Relaunch

This Thursday OPEN CHANNEL re-launches, or in otherwords, celebrates near on 4 decades of service to community and filmmakers in Victoria… some of the OC crew and I have been working round-the-clock on this event which is the largest the organisation has ever thrown… man, I will sleep for a decade at this rate! The pace of this life of mine just won’t let up!

Why care about rights online?

During Arts Law Week OPEN CHANNEL had also organised the Rights Online forum drawing much from the previous years Free Screen Culture and my work with APC.au. PhD student, Seth Keen, blogged the forum. I’d prepared an introductory paper and presentation based on the APC Internet Rights Charter.

Video Slam

(Illustration by Mushon)

Video Slam is a unique event in that it not only provides a forum for the open content philosophy, it’s host to a hybrid form of production where people from across many arts disciplines can meet, network and make something… together! It’s certainly the earliest of production initiatives solely devoted to Creative Commons licenses in Australia that I’m aware of…

How video got online

Preamble prepared for FRAMED #02, lunchtime seminar series from OPEN CHANNEL in association with AFTRS and Digital Harbour.

Questions on ICT Policy

I was recently interviewed on my thoughts on ICT policy advocacy and the work of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Extracts from this interview, conducted by APC, refer more to my political views than that of ICT policy itself.

Love Your Work! 2006

Prepared by Melinda Maillard and myself for OPEN CHANNEL’s Love Your Work! Short Film Audience Choice Awards, 20 Dec, 2006, Cinema Nova.

Welcome! My name is Andrew Garton. Im the Program Director at OPEN CHANNEL and I would like to thank you all very much for joining us here tonight at our annual members short film festival and audience choice awards, Love Your Work!

A Media Culture Centre

A 2006-2010 statement drafted for a revision of the OPEN CHANNEL Co-operative, as a Media Culture Centre based at SHED 4, Docklands.

RAW NERVE 2006

Introductory speech, 15 November 2006, Raw Nerve screening event, hosted by Popcorn Taxi, Greater Union Theatre, Melbourne. All up, 159 attended, of which 38 were comps.

Graeme Sward is a gentle hearted, blustery and passionate man in his mid-50s. Graeme grew up in Tasmania and began working in TV around 1974. He went on to become a Director and Producer finally settling into his present position as CEO of the Film and Television Institute, OPEN CHANNEL’s sister screen development agency in Perth.

Graeme was standing on the streets of Perth one afternoon as skateboarders fanged their boards across footpaths, weaving through passers-by and he thought how great it would be if he could offer these kids the opportunity to make a film… a short film with a small budget, mentoring and equipment… This was the genus of Raw Nerve, a production support initiative funded by the Australian Film Commission and managed by the five screen development centres spread around the country.

Raw Nerve provides entry level filmmakers with the resources to realise their first government funded film. Graeme doesn’t like to use the term emerging… as he asks, emerging from what?

Raw Nerve encourages experimentation, team building and collaboration to filmmakers who have often come from unlikely sources to find expression in the moving image in a rigorous production environment, tight budgets and tight schedules and the obligatory addled nerves and sleep deprivation… good, wholesome, natural ingredients found in every great film… including stock standard Raw Nerve sweat, tears and angst, pride, passion and determination… and you will see all this in the 5 shorts we will screen here tonight.

Of 72 scripts, of the 72 applications (I’m told far more than any other SDA in the country) Alice Daley, Nicki Johnson, Natalie Faulkner, Paul Anderson and Anthony Noack, along with their Producers and crews, have completed a compelling body of work… a body of work that would not have been possible without the support of OPEN CHANNEL staff, in particular Supervising Producer and Mentor, Suze Houghton. They would not have been chosen were it not for our script readers and assessors: Jan Sardi, Chris Ryan, Natascha Stellmach, Suze Houghton and Ness Alexandra.

We would also like to thank LEMAC, Music & Effects, Kodak, Digital Pictures, Complete Post and Popcorn Taxi.

The call-out for Raw Nerve 2007 will be made in December… so drop in on site at Docklands, visit us online at openchannel.org.au and cast your eyes on screen as we introduce Raw Nerve 2006, so hot off the hard-drives of some are as fresh as a few hours ago!

Thank you…