Category Archives: In The Dark

ITD #2 Wrap Up

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The second In the Dark at St Stephens church in Newtown turned out to be a really great night with around 50 – 60 people wondering down to the cemetery on a very cold and drizzly night.

 Wine, beer and muffins were sold by donation and the sound (engineered by Steven Tilley himself) was magnificent.

Jesse Cox curated the first half the night which featured selected stories from FBi’s All the Best program which plays short features about Sydney made by emerging story tellers.

The second half of the night feature Jane Ulman and Steven Tilley’s ‘A Green Thought in a Green Shade’ which was the inspiration for holding the event at St Stephens.  The piece was about the church itself and the idea was: what would it be like to listen to a site-specific feature in the actual space the story is referring to?  I hope we achieved something with this idea… anyway Jane gives the background on the piece in the audio which we played just before the feature (Jane was over at the Prix Italia awards so couldn’t be there on the night).

In the Dark #2 – St Stephens Church Newtown

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So excited to announce the second Sydney In the Dark event at Stephens Church in Newtown!  This will be an extremely unique listening event where a piece will be heard in the location it was recorded.  This time local artist Michael chick donated his skills and designed the poster and FBi’s All the Best are officially on board as supporters.  I could tell you more but it’s all in the press release which I’ve copied below.  If you need any more details/ideas please get in touch with me!

ABC Radio National, 2SER 107.3 and FBi’s All the Best presents the second In the Dark listening event in a unique location in the heart of Newtown. After a very successful debut, In the Dark is back again.

In the Dark offers a unique way for people to gather, turn off the lights and simply listen to audio/radio features, documentaries or soundscapes for pleasure.

This time the event will be all ages and take place inside St Stephens Church in Newtown, a 137 year old building considered a masterpiece in gothic revival architecture.

This will be an extra special In the Dark because the feature piece is specifically about St Stephens Church, Camperdown Cemetery and Newtown itself. Jane Ulman and Steven Tilley are two of the most experienced radio makers in Australia. In the late 90’s they constructed “A Green Thought in a Green Shade”; an engaging feature around the stories, history and poetry of the inner-west suburb.

The night will also feature a selection of short audio stories from Sydney’s own dedicated feature show All the Best. All the Best, broadcast on community radio station FBi 94.5, is a weekly radio show made by emerging story tellers that looks at Sydney and its people.

What: In the Dark: A night of stories told through sound

When: Saturday 24th September, listening starts at 7.30pm

Where: St Stephen’s Church, 189 Church St, Newtown Tickets: $8

Contact:  Organiser; Mike Williams – 0421 882 285

In the Dark – A Tribute to Tony Barrell

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I first heard about In the Dark while I was at uni last year, it was a website my radio lecturer, Virginia Madsen had suggested we check out – it seemed like an awesome idea.  I’d been wanting to organise it here in Sydney ever since and about a year later I finally raised the idea to some people at RN, they were really keen to help and it actually seemed like it could happen.  I got in touch with Nina Garthwaite who started In the Dark and asked if I could start it here – she was also very enthusiastic to make it happen.

A lot of organising later, with the help of Radio National as well as 2ser the first event finally took place on June 17.

Around 70 people fit into GoodGod Small Club on Liverpool St to hear pieces by Tony Barrell selected by producer and sound engineer, Russell Stapleton.  It was so great (and also a relief) to have so many people come to experience some of Tony’s work – great to be listening as a cohort and great to be hearing conversations about radio features in the break and after.  I’m really glad with how it went and hope to help put on many more in the future and feature a wide variety of audio makers and lovers.