More than 40 people from 13 countries, including guests from Cameroon and Argentina, came together at the General Assembly of AMARC on 24^th of October 2016 in Halle, Germany. As AMARC Europe was not successful on its efforts to find funding for the meeting, the AMARC board decided to hold the general assembly and board elections at this particular point because of financial opportunities offered by the Radio Revolten International Radio Arts Festival that very generously contributed to the venue and food costs for the participants.

The assembly started with the welcome words and a short introduction into the venue, festival and the agendas of the assembly and conference the nest day. After fixing the administrative matters (minutes, electoral committee) the assembly received the activity report of the executive board and an overview over the financial situation. Francesco Diasio (former AMARC Europe coordinator and current AMARC International Secretary General) presented a summary of the MEDNET project which was the international project AMARC Europe was involved in the last two years. 

Then the assembly discussed steps to move forward especially the question of increasing membership fees to collect at least enough financial resources to cover the annual costs of our organisation (office, accountant, etc.). It was unanimously agreed that the increase of the membership fee would only take place to justify according to services provided by AMARC Europe to our members. Different options were discussed and at the end the assembly gave the mandate to the new board to find the best solution for a fair balanced membership fee according the financial situation of each member.

Then the new board was elected. The nominees were: Isabel Lema Blanco (CUAC fm), Xenia Helms (PiRadio), Eric Lucas (SNRL), Aitor Erazkin (Antxeta Irratia), Chris Wohlwill (Wüste Welle), Michael Nicolai (Radio Corax) and Sylvain Rodison (CNRA) – All candidates were elected and the executive board consists of Michael Nicolai (President), Chris Wohlwill (Vice-President) and Isa Lema (Treasurer), while former President Sally Galiana will be member of the board ex-officio for another year. Xenia will take the responsibility to rebuild the European women network in AMARC Europe.

Some of the issues discussed during the strategic plan meeting included the need to lobby European institutions to advocate for the recognition and sustainability of community radio,

 Radio art is a multi-faceted form of art. To illustrate this by way of celebration, the festival Radio Revolten (translation: Radio Revolts) organised by Radio Corax invited more than 70 artists from 17 countries to Halle (Saale) to present 30 days of contemporary radio art at 15 locations around the city in the form of performances, installations, concerts and live radio broadcasts.

Daily events, for instance live performances, took place in the Radio Revolten Club. Next door at Radio Revolten Central, visitors were experiencing art installations dealing with transmission in all its guises. This was also the home of Radio Revolten Radio, transmitting 24/7 on the FM frequency 99.3 MHz in Halle, reaching further afield on the MW frequency 1575 kHz, and serving a worldwide audience via the festival livestream from the first second of October the 1st to the last second of 30th of October.

Thirty-five radio stations around the world were integrating parts of Radio Revolten Radio into their own programming. Radio Corax’ Radio Revolten was collaborating with the German public service Deutschlandradio Kultur and the Austrian Arts radio OE1 Kunstradio at ORF.

Fiftheen thousand people came to visit the installations, performances, exhibitions of radio art and historical exhibition of radio during the decades of the 20th century and its potential as peoples’ radio.

Connected to the Radio Revolten three conferences took place. One about radio art and two community radio conferences. The German community radio association BFR was organising the Zukunftswerkstatt Community Media 2017 and AMARC Europe organised the “AMARC Conference – Community Media in the Media Landscape” combined with the General Assembly.

A report of Radio Revolten will be published in 2017 as a catalogue in combination with an internet presentation. Further infomation and material about Radio Revolten Festival are to be found on: https://radiorevolten.net/en/

Monday, 24th of October General Assembly of AMARC Europe

Rathausstraße 3-4, Halle (Saale)

1.30 p.m. Registration (membership and proxies)

2.00 p.m. Opening of the General Assembly

2.05 p.m. Election of the electoral committee and secretary to minute the meeting

2.15 p.m. Reports from the Executive

3.00 p.m. MEDNET project presentation.

3.15 p.m. Financial report

3.30 p.m. How to move forward (invite to the open meeting on Wednesday morning).

– Motions discussion and vote for the motions

– Presentation of the candidates and vote (secret ballot)

– Election of the new board.

5.30 p.m. Ends

6.00 p.m. Dinner

Tuesday, 25th of October AMARC Conference – Community Media in the Media Landscape

Hallischer Saal, Universitätsring 5, Halle (Saale)

The discussion and follow up workshops will focus on freedom of expression vs. media responsibility, recognition of community media as the third sector in Europe, fair and balancereporting and hate speech. Guests from academia and Vinod Pavarala, UNESCO Community Media chair

9.00 a.m. Opening and greeting

9.30 a.m.

• Actual state and perspectives – Key note speaker Community Media UNESCO Chairman Vinod Pavaralla, Responses from Judith Purkarthofer CMFE chair, AMARC Europe President. Chair: Sally Galiana.

11.00 a.m. coffee break

11.30 a.m.

• What makes a radio station a community radiostation – “Community Radio Continuous Improvement Toolkit”, Vinod Pavarala – Introduction Michael Nicolai

12.30 a.m. lunch break

1.30 p.m. Community Radio as a tool in the political landscape. Media Literacy, Article 19, diversity and pluralism

• It’s all about the dialogue – between participation, initiation and making it relevant. Alexander Vojvoda

Community Media breaking or creating boundaries? Maintaining an area freedom or a tool for participation with societal impact?

• Media power to the people – get them into it! Perspectives and limits. TBC

Not a mediator, but a medium. This is an open forum where participants can present their experiences on skilling new people into using media as a tool for the development of their communities.– workshop (SMART presentation a.o.) education/training/learning (Eric Lucas, CFME)

3.00 p.m. coffee break

3.30 pm Open Forum. A plan of action for Community Radio. Francesco Diasio (Secretary General AMARC International).

This will allow participants to filter the content of the panel discussions and workshops towards a plan of action. After an initial discussion,participants will be divided in working groups to define a more detailed plan of how to progress in the three areas presented during the conference, and propose new initiatives.

5.30 p.m. Closing Session

8.00 p.m. Radio Revolten Club: Mark Vernon (Performance)

Scotland based radio artist and Radiophrenia head honcho Mark Vernon brings his mix of idiosyncratic documentary and live electronics to the Radio Revolten Klub stage, Rathausstraße 3-4, Halle (Saale)

Wednesday 26th of October Open Board Meeting

Hallischer Saal, Universitätsring 5, Halle (Saale)

9.30 a.m. Open Forum with the AMARC Europe Board. Follow up with the Open Forum.

8.00 p.m. Radio Revolten Klub: SMOO (John Bisset & Ivor Kallin) / The Bureau of Melodramatic Research (Irina Gheorghe & Alina Popa)

Each carry a suitcase of variable contents, with which they improvise extemporaneously ad hoc and off the cuff. You may see them around… Radio Revolten Klub stage, Rathausstraße 3-4, Halle (Saale)

Eric Lucas (SNRL)

My objective will be to reinforce the work and the official recognition at European level of the community and associative educational role and particularly with youth, including European actions under the Grundtvig, Leonardo and Erasmus + funding lines.

Aitor Errazking (Antxeta Irratia)

Aitor ERRAZKIN is a person with a long experience in the world of community radio. Since the reconstruction process AMARC Europe began in Jordan in November 2006, the radio to which it belongs, Antxeta Irratia, was involved in this task.

Antxeta Irratia has been the driving force behind the line of work on minority languages in AMARC Europe and, in the last two meetings of AMARC International (La Plata and Accra), its proposals in this regard have been supported unanimously. Antxeta Irratia is a radio station that broadcasts in Basque Language for the last 15 years. It has participated in numerous projects of European and international cooperation (Ecuador, Haiti, Chile)

Sylvain Rodison (Radio Gresivaudan)

Isa Lema (CUAC fm) Treasurer

Isabel Lema Blanco, Master in Law, is currently a researcher at University of A Coruna (Spain), studing processes of Social Innovations in Europe, and the community media movement in Europe. She conducted the research “youth engagement in the Third Media Sector in Spain” analysing media literacy and social learning processes in community media. She was President of CUAC FM (A Coruña, Spain)- a community radio with 20 years of history-  from 2003-2006 and currently, she is member of the board commitee of the radiostation. She has been member of AMARC-Europe’s working group on minority language.  Lema-Blanco has been an invited speaker in the European Parliament where she and Sally Galiana presented the report ”AMARC’s recommendations to the European Union to support minority languages and local cultures through community media”.

She is founder member of RICCAP (Research Network on Community, Alternative and Participative Communication).

Chris Wohlwill (Wüste Welle) Deputy President

Chris has been very active in the European Community Radio landscape through European Project, attendance to AMARC Europe meetings and supporting the work of the organisation on a voluntary basis. He has great communication and project management skills, as well as an enthusiasm to promote and advocate for community radio at international level.

Chris’ work over the years demonstrate his commitment to the ethos of community radio, to ensure access to media resources and promote diversity and pluralism through his work with radio Wüste Welle, in Tübingen, Germany.

I believe he will bring an important set of skills and, more importantly, uphold the ethos of Free/Associative/Community Media through his input as member of AMARC Europe’s board.

Michael Nicolai (Radio Corax) President

I’d like to continue the work I was involved at the start of the last period of the board, where I held the position of treasurer. As I am the only person left from the executive for the new board, I’d like to candidate for the presidency as a way to ensure the continuity of the board work.

I’d like to go on working on a structure of AMARC Europe facing a situation that compels us to keep up working with almost no resources and I’d like to go on trying to overcome this difficult situation

Community Radio. A Voice and Tool for Solidarity

The next conference of AMARC Europe is approaching. It will take place in Halle, Germany, 24-26 October 2016, coinciding with the Radio Art Festival and German Federation BFR meeting. Alongside the Conference, the new AMARC Europe Board will be elected and the organisation strategic plan will be designed. We want and need your input!

The conference draws its theme – Community Radio. A Voice and Tool for Solidarity – from the fact that now more than ever the community radio movement needs to voice solidarity, human rights and social justice in support of those who want to come to – and are already in – Europe in search of safety and a better life. It is our responsibility to create a new social discourse, that should challenge the political and media discourse of fear, stereotype and dehumanisation.

Today, more than ever, Community radios need to go back to the basis and become a tool of integration, interculturalism and solidarity.

Please, feel free to contact us with any suggestions and ideas.