Waygood is Changing -
Press Release
Waygood's Amateur Radio Rally
Grainger Market
Friday 29 February & Saturday 1 March 2008
10am-5pm FREE
Amateur Radio ‘hams’ and members of Waygood's Amateur Radio Club for Artists will share their enthusiasm for all aspects of two-way radio communication with the public at Waygood's Amateur Radio Rally in Newcastle's Grainger Market on Friday 29 February and Saturday 1 March between 10am - 5pm.
Inspired Radio Rallies across the country where Amateur Radio hams come together to share information, Waygood has invited Amateur Radio Societies from across the region to join its very own Amateur Radio Club for Artists to give practical demonstrations of all things amateur radio related to the general public. So if you want to learn morse code or learn how to communicate with passing satellites, learn from the Amateur Radio ‘experts’.
The two day event will also include an exhibition about the history of radio on Tyneside where one of the first radio broadcasts was made by Marconi on Newcastle's Town Moor.
Before the internet, there were people who chatted to each other on the radio. These amateur radio`hams' (the UK has 65,000 licensed radio amateurs) formed a worldwide community and a pool of communications expertise. Many of them are still out there and some of them will be attending Waygood's Radio Rally.
Waygood has started its own Amateur Radio Club for Artists (believed to be the first in the world) to explore the creative possibilities of the medium. Ideas discussed include knitting patterns inspired by morse code messages broadcast from a remote Finnish island. Members are currently studying for their foundation Amateur Radio Licenses.
At the Radio Rally, people will be able to put faces to the voices they hear on air. The Radio Society of Great Britain's mobile radio shack, the GB4FUN bus, will be on hand to enable the uninitiated to get some hands-on radio experience. The bus will be located outside the Grainger Market on Nun Street on Friday and near Monument on Saturday. It will also be present on the evening of Thursday 28 February between 6-8pm outside Waygood on High Bridge, as part of the opening night of AV Festival 08, an international festival of electronic arts, music and moving image taking place in Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland and Middlesbrough between 28 February and 8 March 2008.
Ben Jeans Houghton graduated in Fine Art from Northumbria University in 2007 and went on to exhibit his sculptures in Trauma Queen, a group exhibition in Athens, running alongside the Athens Biennale. Since November his films have been screened in the Jet Season at Waygood's Little Jewel Cinema, along with a film by Matthew Giraudeau and a collaborative film by the pair, 'Cyclic' which runs from 23 Feb - 7 Mar 2008. He is also part of ‘plusminus’ and continues to practice in the North East.
Interview opportunity (by arrangement):
Helen Smith, Creative Director, Waygood
Carlos Eavis, GB4Fun bus
Members of local Amateur radio groups
Media Contact: Cait Read
07811 320447 or 0191 265 6857
Download pictures from http://waygood.org/contact/pi_radio_club.html
Follow the Radio Club blog at http://waygood.org/blog/radioclub.html
or via www.waygood.org www.waygood.org
Part of AV Festival 08: Broadcast.
International festival of electronic arts, music and moving image
Newcastle Gateshead Sunderland Middlesbrough
28 February - 8 March 2008
www.avfestival.co.uk
Media Contact: Cait Read
07811 320447