HISTORY
Highlights from the This Is Not Art story so far...
1998
This Is Not Art begins life as the National Young Writers Festival and the National Student Media Conference - Supported by and organised from the Octapod Association these two events take place in the week after the Newcastle Fringe Festival. The National Young Writers Festival is comprised of 70 sessions and 300 people from outside Newcastle attend. It attracts major press coverage in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, ABC Local Radio, Triple J, major literary journals and elsewhere and generates major "word of mouth" publicity that leads to a flood of support for the following year's festival.
1999
Having previously been organised by a committee of the Fringe Festival, Electrofringe becomes an independent festival that takes place in conjunction with the National Young Writers Festival and the Student Media Conference. This see's the event effectively double in size and scale, and the audience is increased to over a thousand attendees.
2000
With the addition of Sound Summit - a National Independent Electronic Labels Conference, and an Independent Radio Conference, the term This Is Not Art is coined to explain the five very different but interconnected events. The audience grows further, with two and half thousand people coming to Newcastle for the festivals, selling out all budget and mid-range accommodation in the city. For the first time, the festival includes the Southern Hemisphere’s largest electronic music performance component comprising over 200 acts.
2001
This is Not Art becomes Newcastle’s largest annual weekend tourism event – attracting thousands of visitors from every state in Australia, New Zealand and around the world. The festival brings in over $1.5 million into the Newcastle economy and over 40% of the people attending come from interstate or overseas.
2002
Below is the teaser video from the 2002 website. Clicking on Enter will take you to an error page BUT - you CAN click on Watch to view. When the video finishes you will be taken to an error page - just click back on your browser window.
Triple J becomes a major partner of the festival, providing a full run of station radio promotion, live broadcasts and editorial support. Other new developments include; The 'Asia Pacific Indymedia Conference' - a conference for postgraduate students, A major 'Shopfront Art' program - using empty shops and spaces throughout the inner city of Newcastle, and the rebirth of the Independent Radio Conference.
2003
This is Not Art expandes to include; This is Not Art FM - a local radio station that broadcasted for the duration of the festival, Critical Animals - a post graduate student’s conference and a This is Not Art shop - selling the wares of independent artists. Attendance soars to over 3,000 people.
2004
EAR (Environment Awareness Festival) joins the This Is Not Art program. The Festival Club takes a holiday to the Honeysuckle Precinct and invites along the Independent Press and Zine Fair, and an outdoor solar cinema. EAR hosts a 'Kooragang Island Windmill Party' and a partnership with Newcastle Live Sites is established.
2005
This Is Not Art develops a stronger visual presence in the city with a wide program of exhibitions including; Otakulture, Australia…Where?, and Stuffed. The Festival Club returns to the PAN building and Auckland Street is closed to traffic to host a massive Sunday Fair that includes the Independent Press & Zine Fair, Artist Markets and an outdoor stage. The street is lined with coloured flags to announce the presence of This Is Not Art to Sunday strollers. Strike - a national convention of aerosol artists joins the This Is Not Art Program, and TiN (This Is Not) Radio is broadcast on 100.5 FM for the month surrounding the festival.
2006
Earthling - the National Environmental Activist Forum, takes over from EAR, and attracts national eco-activists networks, luminaries and pot-stirrers. Electrofringe & Octapod present a yearlong program of new media workshops and masterclasses.
2007
Electrofringe celebrates its 10th birthday. The Sunday Fair establishes itself as a festival mainstay expanding its Artist Market and Independent Press and Zine Fair to a full day of events in Civic Park.