Octapod


Octapod is a non profit arts organisation based in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. 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'. It was formally incorporated in 1997. Founders included Damien Frost, Sean Healy, Aaron Bristow and Marcus Westbury. Initially known as The POD, 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 Festival and the festivals that it incorporates under its umbrella including the National Young Writers' Festival, Crack Theatre Festival, Critical Animals and other special events.
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 .

Current projects