Octapod was founded 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’ (Healy 2005). Conceived as an incubator and a common infrastructure for a variety of independent projects, Octapod was formally incorporated in 1997.Octapod operated as a volunteer run and project based organisation until 2004 when it received funding from Arts NSW.
Most notably Octapod is responsible for overseeing the management of Newcastle’s annual This Is Not Art Festival, which incorporates several arts and culture based festivals under its umbrella including Electrofringe, the National Young Writers Festival, Sound Summit, Critical Animals and Crack Theatre.
