We pitched 11 interview ideas over the course of this studio. There was a lot of refinement as we developed the ideas more deeply over time and also because of availability of our contacts. We ended up going ahead with 6 of them. The break down was:
4 live-to-air:
Comedian Juan Miles for #2, Neurologist Dr Hilary Hunt for #8, Game developer/visual artist Marigold Bartlett for #1, Funeral celebrant Libby Moloney for #9 all joined us in the studio at Triple R.
1 pre-recorded in studio
Greek folk dancing teacher Nick Papefthimiou visited us one afternoon to help with #7
1 live-to air phone interview
Classics/Linguistics Prof. Elizabeth Minchin joined us from her Canberra office,
countless site recordings and interviews
Dance students, teachers, enthusiasts, community figures recorded from Greek Orthodox Community Dance Class at St George Church and Cretan Brotherhood dance class in Brunswick
It’s amazing how much we all learned across so many topics from the arts to death and how many people were keen to be a part of our show. Gathering our ideas early was a major benefit as refining and confirming participates early allowed us to establish ties with people we ended up interviewing way later for our feature piece and second show.
Here are all our original pitches from the early weeks in this course, all the changed contacts are in brackets:
1. Video game as art: The unconventional new medium Melburnian writers and visual artist are exploring
Interviewee: Leena Van Diverter (game developer and author)/Marigold Bartlett, game developer who’s also a visual artist
2. So you want to do stand up: On how to get into the Melbourne stand up comedy scene
Interviewee: Local comedian performing at this year’s Comedy Festival.
3. Ancient language studies in modern Melbourne: should they be encouraged?
Interview: Latin/Classical Greek teacher and/or advanced student
4. Singing On The Street: Busking in Melbourne
Interview: 3 international buskers on why they busk in Melbourne and how is it different
5. Eurovision 2016: ESCFAN on being Australian and in love with a European competition
Interviewee: ESCFAN’s (The official Australian Eurovision fan club – founded this year) fan club board members/ members
6. Hot Tub Cinema: A new cinematic concept in South Wharf this April
Interview: organisers about how/where the concept came from and what kind of cinematic event it’s expected to be at South Wharf
7. Folk dancing: The great legacy of multiculturalism in Melbourne
Interview: Teachers of Greek, Baltic, Irish and/or Cypriot folk dance in Melbourne on the significance of these dances and how to participate
8. Cluster Headaches: The worst type of pain human can suffer
Interview: Health professionals and people who suffer from cluster headaches share their insights on the condition in order to generate more awareness for the disease
9. Alternative funerals: Exploring the growing practice of secular and natural death burial rituals in Melbourne.
Interview: Libby Moloney the founder of Natural Grace Funeral Service, who’s also a part of the Natural Death Advocacy Network
10. We Run With Wolves: is a poetry event for high calibre female poets from diverse ethnicities and/or identity as queer or trans that aims to use poetry and storytelling to educate, inspire and build solidarity. <https://www.facebook.com/
Interviewee: Ee’da Brahim. An emcee, spoken-word poet, arts educator and curator, singer/songwriter, cultural innovator and Founder of Sisters for Sisters.
11. Feminist Writer Festival: Hosted in partnership with the Melbourne Writers Festival, the 2016 FWF is a series of public events and workshops that will bring together feminist writers and readers to discuss, connect and strengthen diversity in the Australian writing communities. <https://
Interviewee: FWF Steering Committee member Nikki Anderson