The Cascade Media Convergence is a regional gathering of community media organizations, media makers, journalists and artists happening this weekend, September 19 – 21, at the University of Oregon’s Turnbull Center in downtown Portland. The purpose of the event to help create ties between media activists in the Northwest and stimulate discussion and action around building stronger networks.
Several workshops and sessions are specifically focused on radio. The big day for these is Saturday, which hosts two sessions and an open break-out discussion.
I’ll be helping present at the first session, Radio Renaissance: From the Ground-Up at 10 AM, along side two fantastic folks from XRAY.fm, Jefferson Smith and Jenny Logan. Jenny will tackle some important legal issues that particularly vital for new LPFMs. Jefferson will cover fundraising, speaking from the success that XRAY had in completing a Kickstarter for its launch this year. I’m going to pose some questions about establishing and building station culture that I hope are useful and maybe a little bit provocative.
The next session at 11:30 AM is about building community radio coalitions. An impressive group of community radio rock stars has agreed to lead discussion in this topic: Sakura Saunders, formerly Prometheus Radio Project; Connie Saldana from Oregon Community Media and KSKQ; Gavin Dahl from Alternative Radio, Open Media Foundation and KGNU; Sabrina Roach from Brown Paper Tickets.
There are also plenty of great looking sessions on topics like Building a 21st Century Newsroom, Oral History for Movement Building and The Promise and Pitfalls of Radical Print Media. Throughout the Convergence KBOO community radio is hosting a Community Newsroom Hackathon, working on an open software platform for community members to submit news tips for verification and broadcast.
A dinner and movie night kicks off the event on Friday night. On Saturday evening there is a screening of the film Authority and Expectations, directed by Ken Lori, followed by a concert titled, “Music Is the Weapon.”
Wrapping things up on Sunday will be a closing plenary strategy session to discuss or propose future action.
Registration is open, and you can also register at the door. A donation of $35-$50 is requested to attend, and sliding scale levels are available, too.
If you go, please say, “hi.”