Agenda – Details, episodes & analysis

For our final episode of Agenda we looked back on the past two years of the show and our previous segments, guests and highlights.

We were joined by FBi Radio's Music Director Amelia Jenner to chat about what goes into bringing so much diversity into the FBi Radio sound, her thoughts on festival lineups and her work with NECTAR, a booking, touring and events agency she founded along with Andy Garvey, Tia Newling and Jemma Cole.

We also heard Larissa Shearman’s Behind The Lens series, which tells the stories of female filmmakers. For episode 2 we met Pauline, a Yaegl woman and a filmmaker with many years in the industry. In this episode, Pauline discussed how her Aboriginality intersects with her filmmaking.

For our second last episode of Agenda, we went a bit rogue with our music selection and played some of our favourite pop songs, from All Saints, Carly Rae Jepsen and M.I.A.

We also heard from writer Quinn Eades about Queerstories: Chosen Family Xmas and the release of the book Going Postal: More Than ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ - a collection of queer marginalised voices on the experience of life during Australia’s 2017 voluntary marriage survey, and in the year since. The book is being launched in Sydney at The Imperial Hotel on December 9.

Plus, we heard from Alex DeGaris one of the co-directors of Sister Gallery, an Artist Run Initiative in Adelaide that recently moved all of their programming online. Sister’s current online exhibition is Xenoblood and we spoke to Virginia Barratt from the collective In Their Interior about the new work.

Who do you look up to or learn from? For Thoughts That Count we talked pros and cons of Father's Day and all kinds of families/relationships, featuring an analysis of some problematic Kanye West lyrics about being a father and what that means to him. 

We were also joined by filmmaker, producer and actor Vonne Patiag, who works across stage, screen and performance to focus on issues exploring queer and ethnic intersection in Australia. Vonne has co-written a queer sitcom called Obviously! That opens as part of Sydney Fringe Festival next Thursday night, he’s also recently created a short documentary calledShading, examining current practices of ‘white-washing’ ethnic skin tones of performers in the film and theatre industries.

Plus, we spoke to Sarinah Masukor and Jaya Keaney about The Watermelon Woman, a film that stars Cheryl Dunye as a movie-obsessed young queer woman working in a Philadelphia video store. She’s drawn to films from the 1930s which feature anonymous black women and decides to make a documentary about actress Fae Richards, known as ‘the Watermelon Woman’. Sarinah from Runway Australian Experimental Art has been working with Jaya Keaney to feature Jaya’s written response to the film, and Runway are hosting a screening happening at Golden Age Cinema and Bar on Wednesday September 12. 

Who's the coolest teenager you know? FBi Radio turned 15 this week and for Thoughts That Count we talked about teenagers doing amazing things, from Marley Dias to Amandla Stenberg.

We were also joined by Emma Rose Smith and Vanessa Lee who are programmers for Unspoken Words, a festival by and for storytellers, with performances, workshops, discussions and special events happening on 7-17 September at various locations around the inner west.

Plus, we spoke to Meriki Hill and Briony Beckett, members of a rollerderby team called Team Indigenous Dreaming who are currently raising funds to go to the Australian National Roller Derby Championships.

This week we were joined by Gayatri and B.T.W.'s Gianna Hayes to chat about Irregular Fit, a night of creating and reclaiming space within the electronic music scene, presented by House of Ayebatonye and MusicNSW on Saturday 25 August at Tokyo Sing Song.

If you're Indigenous, POC, female identifying, non binary, LGBTQIA++ or have a disability and ever felt like you've ever wanted to learn how to DJ from some of Sydney's best and play a set at Irregular Fit, send Ayebatonye an email - houseofayebatonye@gmail.com!

We also spoke to Lane Pitcher and Anna Hush about the fEMPOWER Workshops and their upcoming volunteer training sessions on September 2 at Sydney Uni.

Plus, for Thoughts That Count this week we looked at the power of Facebook groups and heard from Flossy's Melissa Roberts. 

Today at 11am on FBi Radio we've got not one, not two but THREE interviews lined up with some incredible guests: 

• Change.org's Sally Rug, for the How To Be An Activist workshop happening at the Sydney Opera House on September 1st
• Curator Kate Britton and artist Angela Tiatia for The Waves, a new exhibition opening on August 18th at Sullivan + Strump
• Artist Jesse Mullins to chat about Series Concert's first event Tock with Ptwiggs & Andy Garvey on August 25th.

This week we were joined by Karen Therese, Tasha O'Brien and May Tran from PYT Fairfield to talk about their new work Playlist, described as "Beyoncé meets the women’s marches meets Australian Idol" happening from August 2-11.

For Thoughts That Count Tanya and Mari spoke about Lee Lin Chin and what she meant for the Asian-Australian community. We also heard thoughts from Hyun Lee, Reg Harris and Allison Chan on female, trans or non-binary Asian-Australians who have influenced them.

We also spoke to Leah Jing McIntosh who is the editor of Liminal Mag, an online space for the exploration, interrogation and celebration of the Asian-Australian experience.

This week we heard Tanya's conversation with Camp Cope's Kelly-Dawn Helmrich before their performance at the Sydney Opera House on July 25.

We were also joined by Henrietta Jackson, Claudia Platzer and Violette Kirton from YMO Collective ahead of their birthday celebrations at YMO FEST in Marrickville on July 28.

This week on Agenda we heard all about TAFFEE at the Imperial Hotel thanks to Dr Vivienne Linsley, one of the Co-Artistic Directors of TAFFEE, and Dr Grace Sharkey, a Postgraduate Teaching Fellow in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney.

Thoughts That Count: Are you opting out of My Health Record? We spoke about what the new scheme means for sex workers and the trans community. 

Plus we spoke to James Christie-Murray, director of Queer Space Wollongong, to chat about queer communities and the Heaps Gay Queer AF Party happening on July 21st at The Imperial Hotel.

This week we spoke to Georgia Mokak about her work in arts education and outreach, and about Klub Koori happening at Carriageworks.

Agenda content Ohni Blu caught up with Gala Vanting this week to have a chat about the recent FOSTA-SESTA laws that have had a big impact on Australian sex workers.

For Thoughts That Count, Kat Clarke, Miah Wright and Cathy Craigie talk NAIDOC week and the importance of this year's theme: Because of Her, We Can.

Kat Clarke is a proud Wotjobaluk artist, writer and consultant who will be publishing her first poetry book in the coming year. Miah is the Curator for Burramatta NAIDOC day for the City of Parramatta on Sunday 15 July, and Cathy, a Gamilaroi and Anaiwon writer and Aboriginal Affairs expert, will be speaking at the Dyin Nura, Women’s Place at Burramatta.