Express Media provide tailor-made workshops to schools, councils, libraries, festivals and other organisations.

We can come to you with professional tutors best suited to your requirements.

We can provide workshops in these areas and more:
*Fiction
*Poetry
*Spoken word
*Zine making
*Comic making
*Journalism
*Scriptwriting
*Publishing
*Design
*Stencil art
*Filmmaking
*VJing

Or seminars on:
*A career in writing
*Applying for funding
*Marketing and publicity
*Event management

We also work with a number of performance poets and spoken word artists who can perform at your event.

There's more information below or contact Bel Schenk at artisticdirector@expressmedia.org.au for a full brochure, or quote.

"Thank you for publishing my poem in Voiceworks. You made me feel like a real writer not just another angst-ridden teenager.”
Damien, aged 16 Blackwood, SA

The contents of Voiceworks depend almost entirely upon the unsolicited contributions of young Australians. We do not censor the work that we receive unless it contains racist, sexist or homophobic material. We believe that by encouraging young people to read the range of work published in the pages of Voiceworks magazine that we are enabling young people to recognise the difference between literary merit and shock value, between poorly written and well-written.

By giving young people the chance to read widely and well, we empower them, and provide them with the ability to make informed choices for themselves.

In 1998, the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs released a report exploring the portrayal of youth in the media. The report found that young people are constantly vilified by the media, that youth issues are reported in a way that generally denigrates young people, and that the voices of young people are missing from media coverage about themselves. Even when young people are the topic of discussion in the media, all too often they are the subject of debate rather than being allowed to speak for themselves.

Nor is the media solely responsible for such oversights and distortions. The arts community invariably see young people solely as potential audience members rather than equal participants and creators. There are exceptions, such as Victoria's St Martin's Youth Arts Centre, and Corrugated Iron Youth Arts in the Northern Territory, but these institutions are usually dismissed as mere 'training grounds' rather than being home to young people who are practitioners of the arts in their own right.

One of the main goals of Express Media is to ensure that young people receive more than just token representation in Australia's artistic and media communities. Although Voiceworks is our must visible project, we also strive to achieve this goal through the provision of a range of workshops, mentorship schemes and special artistic events.

If you would like Express Media to visit your school or library, or you would like to be added to our events database and be kept up-to-date on all express media workshops and projects please contact the office on (03) 9663 4155 or info@expressmedia.org.au.

Although based in inner Melbourne, we have a range of tutors and contacts in many areas, and would be delighted to assist you in planning a workshop program tailored to the needs of your students.

Workshop topics we have presented in the past have included:

- Zine making
- Poetry
- Spoken word
- Writing and producing a school newspaper
- So you want to write a novel?
- Song-writing
and many other topics of interest to students and other young people.

Express Media's standard rates are very competitive. Some packages include a subscription to Voiceworks and a pack of the last 12 months back-issues, as well as the tutor’s fees and project management costs.

ENCOURAGING CREATIVITY & VALUING YOUNG PEOPLE

“I was most impressed with the high quality of writing in Voiceworks magazine and have used passages as models for my senior English students. Students have also been informed of the possibility of submitting work for publication. Hopefully they will.”
Ms Wendy van Kalken,
S.O.S.E. Coordinator,
Mitchell Secondary College, Wodonga

Voiceworks magazine is an ideal way of encouraging young people to write creatively and well. Instead of their work having nowhere to go other than the short circuit to your desk and back, you can encourage them to submit their best stories, poems and artwork for publication in the magazine. Your students will receive an invaluable boost to their self-esteem by having their work published in the pages of Australia’s leading youth culture magazine. They will also be paid professional rates for their work, showing them that their work is valued as highly as that as their adult peers. Please see the Voiceworks page for our submission guidelines.

Poetry and prose writers are in with a chance to win a share of $4,500 in prize money. You can download the entry form here.... >> read more

BUZZCUTS 2008
Applications are now open for volunteers for this year’s Buzzcuts. If you are under 25 and you would like to write reviews as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival (September 24 –... >> read more