Octapod first started producing digital stories in September 2008, when it partnered with TAFE Outreach to deliver a short digital storytelling course. Course participants learnt interviewing and video production techniques, and acted as Octapod's media team at the This Is Not Art Festival in early October: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgV-UTFUFT8

In 2009 we followed up with another digital storytelling course in partnership with TAFE Outreach. This time we focused on the issue of youth homelessness. In 2009 we also assisted the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) to produce a short digital story about responses to natural disaster. The DVD was used as a resource in schools.

In 2010 we received a grant from the Community Relations Commission to work with young people from cuturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to produce a digital story about friendship. This project was run in partnership with the Multicultural Neighbourhood Centre and Waratah High School:. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2cPWRrSLPA

In 2010 Octapod's volunteer media team produced a short digital story about 'walkARTbout', a public art project that took place as part of the This Is Not Art Festival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjwdcn_WiLg

In 2011 Octapod offered a small grant program called SeedPod. Tara Jones was one of the grant recipients and she ran a short filmmaking course at Penola House (a refugee resettlement service) with women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, called 'In A Minute'.

In 2012 Octapod received a grant from the Australia Council to fund a digital storytelling project called 'Memory Room Narratives'. This project is due to commence in January 2013 and will run for nine months.

Octapod is interested in partnering with community organisations on digital media projects. If you have a story to tell, contact us to see how we can collaborate.

For more information:

Christina Robberds, Octapod Coordinator

Email: admin[at]octapod.org

Phone: 0415 699 227