Johanna's Blog
The Red Room Company is a not-for-profit organisation based in Sydney, Australia. We create, promote and publish new poetry by Australian writers, in unusual ways. Through a range of forms such as radio, podcast, live performance and collaboration with artists and designers, we broaden the public's definition of and experience with high quality Australian poetry. Our projects focus on commissioning new work and developing imaginative contexts in which this poetry can be creatively and critically explored. We focus on supporting the work of young and emerging writers through individual projects, and are increasingly interested in engaging with regional and remote Australian voices. In 2007, we piloted our national poetry education program, Papercuts, which will be launched nationally in March 2009.
The Red Room Company gratefully acknowledges its previous and current project supporters and our in-kind and private donors for their interest and investment in The Red Room Company and Australian poetry.
We would also like to thank our network of volunteers for their passionate contributions to our projects.
The Red Room Company grew out of the Red Room Radio Show on 89.7fm Eastside Radio. Produced and presented by Johanna Featherstone, Red Room Radio began in 2001. The show broadcast original poetry, writing, reviews and interviews with Australian writers to a local Sydney audience. Its focus was on bringing new poetry and writing to a wide audience that included poets, poetry lovers and those listeners not normally familiar with poetry.
In 2002, the Red Room Epic project was created, commissioning 30 writers under 35 years of age to write poetry for national community radio broadcast and online. Poets were interviewed and an audio epic poem was crafted. This project won the prestigious 'Best New Innovative Radio Program' at the 2002 National Community Radio awards run by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.
By the end of 2002, the Red Room Radio show and the Red Room project had developed a network of poets and poetry supporters Australia-wide. In order to continue creating original poetry inspired projects for the public in a free and creative environment, Johanna Featherstone established The Red Room Company and is its current Artistic Director.
Since 2008, Mr John B Fairfax AO has acted as Patron to The Red Room Company.
2010
The Red Room Company is comprised of a small core staff, a tier of freelance and contract employees, and casual and volunteer members who assist on a project-by-project basis. In addition, Red Room engages a growing advisory board of Australian poets selected to assist with the development of our projects. The team is a source of advice, feedback and judgment in relation to poems submitted to our projects, and encourages suitable poets to submit their work to the Company. All team members have been or are participants in a Red Room Company project. Our permanent core staff is profiled below.
Artistic Director
Johanna Featherstone
Johanna established the Red Room Company in 2003. Her poetry has featured in journals such as Quadrant, and the Best Australian Poems. In 2006 she created a series of literary TV shows, The Wordshed, in partnership with The University of Western Sydney where she is a research associate. Johanna is an honorary associate of The University of Sydney's School of Letters Arts and Media. Johanna received a fellowship from the St James Ethics Center in 2008.
Administrator & Programs Manager
Tamryn Bennett
Tamryn Bennett is The Red Room's Programs Manager, helping to co-ordinate live events, managing general administration and designing hand-bound books and small objects for the 'hand held' series.
She is a PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales where she is developing 'comics poetry' in practice and as a lens for critical investigation. Her poetry orbits around collaboration with visual artists and the creation of exhibitions which reflect this interdisciplinarity. Tamryn's poetry was short-listed of the John Marsden Poetry prize and has appeared in Five Bells and numerous university publications.
Education Officer
Fiona Curran
Fiona is the Red Room's Education Officer, responsible for the co-ordination of our national high school poetry programme, Papercuts. She is currently a PhD candidate in the School of English at the University of Sydney, where her area of expertise is the use of self-reflexive techniques in contemporary fiction. Fiona has previously worked in administrative and co-ordinator roles at the University of New South Wales for a large cross-institutional research project. Her poetry has been published in several journals.
Grant/Copywriter
Joel Scott
Joel Scott is the Red Room's Copywriter and Grant Writer. He is a PhD candidate at Macquarie University writing a thesis on translation and contemporary writing practice, which puts Benjamin's writings on translation and language into conversation with more contemporary French theorists, such as Levinas, Derrida and Deleuze. His poetry has appeared in Overland and Heat.
Website
Michelle Craig, Ether Multimedia
Education Consultant
Tony Britten
Tony Britten is an English teacher at SCEGGS Darlinghurst and co-writer of our education program, Papercuts. Tony has presented workshops for Papercuts at English Teachers Association of NSW conferences and is recognized in his field as an innovate educator. He is currently writing a chapter for a Years 7-8 textbook of the English National Curriculum (Cambridge University Press).
Design
boccalatte
Original Site Design and Illustration
Michelle Moore
http://www.cyanlovesmagenta.com/
Directors
Bret Walker
Chairperson
Bret Walker SC is the Red Room Company's first ever Chairperson. He has practised as a barrister mainly in Sydney since 1979. His principal areas of advocacy and advice are public (Constitutional and administrative) law and commercial law. Appointed Senior Counsel in 1993.
Libby Davidson
Libby Davidson is Deputy General Counsel Corporate for Lion Nathan Limited, an international beer, wine and spirits company. She specializes in intellectual property and general commercial/corporate law and has also worked for Clayton Utz and PepsiCo.
Matthew McCarron
Matthew McCarron is a Senior Manager in KPMG's Middle Market Advisory practice. Based in Sydney, Matthew provides transaction advisory services across a range of industries including consumer and industrial markets, property and construction, and agriculture.
Elliott Wheeler
Elliott Wheeler is a Sydney based composer for film, television and advertising and is the creative director of Turning Studios. Elliott's awards include the 2004 Tropfest for Best Original Score, St Kilda Film Festival for Best Original Score and multiple winner of Best Score for Award, ATV, APRA and Kodak Gongs. He was musical director of Nylon studios from 2002-2007. Listen to Elliott's work here :
http://www.myspace.com/elliottwheeler
http://www.turningstudios.com/
http://www.myspace.com/myrtlestreetconnection
Jane Thorn
Jane Thorn (alternate director for Henry Ergas) Jane has worked as a librarian in the public and private sector, as a researcher for Telstra, general manager for Network Economics Consulting Group (NECG) and CRA International (Australia), and chief operations officer for Concept Economics.
Johanna Featherstone
Patron
John B Fairfax AO
John B Fairfax AO began his career in 1961 as a cadet journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald, coming to join the Fairfax board in 1979. He is Chairman of Marinya Media and a director of Fairfax Media, and former Chairman of Rural Press. John is President of The Girls & Boys Brigade, and a Councillor of the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW. He has acted as Patron to The Red Room Company since 2008.
