Octapod is a non profit arts organisation based in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It acts as a producer and facilitator of creative projects in the Hunter region.

History

Octapod was founded as an informal collective in 1996 by 'a group of artists and students who liked the idea of a public access media space - where people could create and browse interesting and unusual, non-mainstream media' (Healy, 2005). It was formally incorporated in 1997. Founders included Damien Frost, Sean Healy, Aaron Bristow and

Marcus Westbury Marcus Westbury (born 1974) is an Australian urbanist, festival director, TV presenter, writer and broadcaster. He is based in Melbourne, Australia where he filmed the TV series '' Not Quite Art''. for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation scre ...

. Initially known as The POD ( and officially registered as 'The Platypus Of Deliverance Association' - which won the debate against 'the Prince of Darkness Association'), the change of name came as a result of threatened legal action in 1997. Octapod was conceived as an incubator and a common infrastructure for a variety of independent projects. Octapod operated as a volunteer-run and project-based organisation until 2004, when it took on paid staff as the result of increased funding. Most notably Octapod is responsible for overseeing the management of Newcastle's annual

This Is Not Art This Is Not Art (TiNA) is a national festival of new media and arts organized in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia each year over the October long weekend since 1998. TiNA is dedicated to the work and ideas of artistic communities not genera ...

Festival and the festivals that it incorporates under its umbrella including the

National Young Writers' Festival The National Young Writers' Festival (NYWF) occurs annually in the city of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, over the New South Wales' Labour Day Holiday Weekend in late September/early October. It is the country's largest gathering of young ...

, Crack Theatre Festival, Critical Animals and other special events. In 2000, Octapod received considerably international attention when

IDG International Data Group (IDG, Inc.) is a market intelligence and demand generation company focused on the technology industry. IDG, Inc.’s mission is centered around supporting the technology industry through research, data, marketing technol ...

books threatened the organisation with legal action over the use of the term "for dummiez" in an online screenprinting guide. Members of Octapod responded by posting the correspondence from the company on an Octapod websit
Corporate Standover Tactics For Dummies

Current projects

Festival
Culturehunter
- online arts portal *Access Program - a range of initiatives that connect arts and disability across the Hunter * PODspace Gallery - an artist run gallery - currently experimenting with pop up style exhibitions

Past projects

Newcastle Fringe Festival
( 1998, 1999 )
101 Bikes for Newcastle
(bicycle recycling campaign)
The New Pollution
(Australian zine anthology book and web site)
Evolver (web site)

Virtual Newcastle
- a photographic 'click and wander' tour of Newcastle. * h2w2 (guidebook)
Corporate Standover Tactics For Dummies
Urchin magazine, a creative and design repository

References

{{Reflist

External links

Octapod website
Arts organisations based in Australia 1996 establishments in Australia Organizations established in 1996 Organisations based in Newcastle, New South Wales