Stephen Stockwell Final Blog
The end, or another beginning?
As I sit here typing out my last few words as a Catalyst I’m given time to reflect on my journey the concrete palace known as The Edge. It’s been a wonderful ride; I’ve worked with some amazing people and been involved in some awesome projects. I’ve also contributed to and been privy to some pretty clever ideas, if I say so myself.
Am I sad to be leaving? Actually, not really. It’s not because I’ve had a bad time here, quite the contrary; I’ve had an absolute ball. I’m just not sad because in a way I don’t feel as though I’m really leaving. There are still many things I want to do with the space (no, not that) and so many people to work with (not like that either). I can’t imagine I’ll really be able to escape.
I hardly consider that a negative though. The space has tricked out facilities, cool people and a proximity to coffee that makes it’s the sort of place I like to hang. It’s also got a pretty rocking view.
But enough about what I’m going to do, let’s talk about what I’ve done here. I admit when I arrived here I felt in over my head. There was this incredible facility, some incredible ideas and a lot of it came back to the Catalysts to make it work. If I didn’t have such impressive bowel control I would have crapped myself.
I do love a challenge though and I embraced the freedom offered by The Edge to try and get some pretty cool stuff off the ground. During my time here I’ve managed some pretty cool projects: Citizen Journalism and Multi-everything Journalism workshops, the 2700 second workshops with Brisbane Youth Service and Albert Park Flexi-School and the Open Sauce GIMP workshops. They were all great and the participants were awesome.
That’s just visible part of my work though. Behind the scenes I’ve been working on establishing groups to come in a document the goings on within The Edge. I was bringing in students from USQ and Griffith Film School to work with 4ZzZ volunteers on documenting projects and producing videos to show the world what we do. Great people to work with, it was all great fun.
There was also the MC-ing a few of the events we held in the space too. Journalism isn’t much of a performance art but my time in broadcast has taught me how to talk so The Edge took advantage of that by throwing me behind a microphone at any given opportunity. I have to say one of the highlights of my time here was the opportunity to commentate Robowars: Full Metal Carnage. Sure, getting people excited about fighting robots isn’t hard but it’s definitely awesome fun.
I’ve learned heaps here too. When surrounded by some of Brisbane’s best creative minds it’s actually kind of hard not to. I leave here with motion graphic skills, more audio skills, considerable social media prowess, a penchant for innovation and a passion to develop new ideas. It sounds like a whole bunch of wank but I’m actually serious.
Now I’m off back into the real world. I don’t think my bevy of projects will give me time for a proper 9-5 job but I’ll definitely be getting myself into all sorts of fun little things (and trouble). The life of a creative might not be a financially beneficial or secure one, but by god it’s fun. I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. If you do what you love, you’ll enjoy it no matter what you earn. I have a theory: Never accept payment for something you wouldn’t do for free.
I suppose that it’s for my time as a Catalyst though. It’s been six months of thinking big thoughts, running workshops, engaging with all manner of people from all over the world and managing broadcast teams. As it all draws to a close I look back on it all very fondly.
I’d like to take the opportunity to say a big thank you to everyone I’ve worked with during my time here: The full-time staff in the bunker, the Catalysts, the Residents, the VSOs and, of course, all of wonderful punters. It has been an honour to work with such passionate people and I’ll take away more than most of you can imagine.
And there we have it. I would like to dedicate the words of Edward Murrow to The Edge and everyone involved: ‘Good night and good luck.’
Ladies and Gentlemen, it has been a pleasure.
… *sniff* I promised myself I wouldn’t cry.
Filed Under: Journalism
Such a great read, Stephen.
I’ve applied to be one of the next Catalysts, so it has been really great to read some inside snippets of how your time has been working at The Edge.
Hopefully will see you ’round sometime all going to plan!
Chrissy