Octapod

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Octapod is a not for profit independent arts and new media organisation based in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Octapod supports a number of projects, community groups and creative types by providing an administrative base and important resources including a large meeting space, web hosting, zine library and project management advice.

1 History
2 Current Projects
3 Past Projects
4 External links

[edit] History

Octapod was founded as an informal collective in 1996 and formally incorporated in 1997. Founders included Damien Frost, Sean Healy and Marcus Westbury. Initially known as The POD, the change of name came as a result of threatened legal action in 1998. 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 2003 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 Festival and the festivals that it incorporates under its umbrella including Electrofringe, the National Young Writers' Festival, National Student Media Conference, Sound Summit and other projects. Octapod is also involved in a project to establish a community radio station in Newcastle, TIN Radio.

In 2000, Octapod received considerably international attention when IDG 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 website Corporate Standover Tactics For Dummies.