Last Friday I was invited to take part in a “creative salon” for the Perth International Arts Festival staff and I was so inspired that I thought the idea was worth spreading.

The idea behind it is very simple – get a few people who are innovators in their field and bring them together in an informal setting to share their passions and stories with a group. For the inaugral event I was invited with two other guests – Caroline Wood from Amnesty International and Ian Weir (Gordon Innocent) artist/architect and photographer to come and talk to Festival staff. Rania Ghandour, who is the media relations manager at the Festival and a person of inspiration herself, put the salon together so we could all stop and think about our passions/what drives us and the contributions we make to our area of interest. It was a fantastic experience and Ian and I have already asked Rania that she invite us to the next one

I learnt a lot as well – both Caroline and Ian are amazing people with the most wonderful stories. I love the way that Ian has this bullish passion for his art and just lives and breathes his ideas. He has an exhibition coming up in Artrage soon and I hope to catch up with him then and do some stories on his projects for the Norg. Caroline has this amazing magnetism and presence and this extraordinary calm and focus that for me is always a sign of a great learnt wisdom. She holds a full time job and is also the head of Amnesty International WA and must come across the worst of our humanity everyday, but she remains hopeful and, better still, is doing her part in making a difference. But the learning didn’t stop there, because the audience was as much a part of the salon as we were. So thanks to all the staff for taking time out of your day to come and share your experiences too.

Lastly, I should mention Festival Artistic Director Shelagh Magadza, whom I could spend hours talking to. I think I may have piqued her interest in Twitter – which somemone pointed out was like an everyday Creative Salon – and I hope that she joins. She has so much to share and is definitely someone to watch and be inspired by. Our Festival is is awesome hands and I suspect it will get better every year under her.

Enough lovey dovey from me – I must resume my battle position in the media war, but really it was a great event that helped me recharge my batteries and remember why I created the Norg in the first place. Now to take aim and fire
We can’t all have TED, so can I suggest a “Creative Salon” INS-TED.

I wrote a post up on the Norgdom blog which may be of interest to others as well about what makes a story “norgworthy”.

It raises some questions about our role as individuals in new media  and what contributions we make as citizen journalists to the “news”.

You can read it here, for those interested

Deborah Leavitt, who is the ABC Local Radio and Online Manager for WA, gave me a ring last week asking me if I knew anyone who may be interested in applying for two online positions they have in Albany and Broome. They have had trouble recruiting through traditional ads, so I said I’d write up a blog post and do a shout out on Twitter. She made the comment that they were finding it hard to attract university leavers to the roles, because they were more interested in creating their own media and setting up their own blogs/podcasts. You can guess what I thought about that

Still I think the roles are worth considering. The ABC has certainly been the front-runner in Australia in understanding and adapting to online media and if you are interested in working for a bigger news organisation then this is the best place to start. You’ll get the experience many other control media journalists are missing out on, by working in a cross platform environment – and that is where most future roles in news organisations will be. Working in a regional office is also a great opportunity – I did my time at the Narrogin Observer, attending pig and sheep auctions among other things. It means really getting to know the community you are working in and allows you to really engage with the people you live among and report on (which has its own challenges, but certainly a challenge worth taking up).

So here’s the job description as advertised (the same role also applies to Albany):

Local Radio Western Australia Broome has a vacancy for a highly motivated, multi-skilled program maker to work in multi media platforms. Based in Broome, working to the Program Director and referring to the Editor Local Radio Online, the successful applicant will have accomplished online publishing and radio production skills. Working as both part of a team and with sound, independent editorial judgement, the online producer will be responsible for the maintenance of the Western Australia Kimberley website with strong editorial contributions in text, audio, pictorial and video formats. There is a requirement to contribute to program planning and participate in operational and administrative activities of Karratha. The successful applicant will have sound production skills and may from time to time be required to produce one of the Broome Local Radio programs.

I couldn’t write the post without adding that I also think the ABC should make a real investment in getting up strong citizen journalism initiatives in these smaller regional areas. There’s a fiesty passion that comes from living in a small community that could be very well harnessed by someone like the ABC. I won’t be surprised if that is what eventually happens.

If you are interested in the roles please contact leavitt.deborah at abc. net.au