Just when I thought this was the year I get to concentrate on one project at a time and work towards a sabbatical of sorts, or at least a decent amount of time off somewhere with someone special... I applied to OPENChannel when a new position within the organisation became available. The next two years will see some kind of intergration with Toy Satellite into Open Channels activities as I head back to the 9-5 treadmill.

OPENChannel appoints new Program Director

We are pleased to announce that Andrew Garton has been appointed as OPENChannel’s new Program Director.

Andrew Garton has 30 years experience as a community focused new media producer and ICT consultant. With a background in television and radio production, he has extensive expertise in new media production, internet and the design and development of on-line publishing systems.

A graduate of RMIT's Master of Arts in Animation and Interactive Media program, Andrew has worked extensively on the establishment of early Internet related services in Australia, the Pacific Islands and South East Asia.

Andrew is Director and Company Secretary of APC.au, an internet technology consultancy firm established in 1997 to serve the education, civil society and cultural development sectors. He is also a co-founder of Toy Satellite, a non-profit new media production collective, which has been developing and producing new media content since 1995. Andrew will commence as OPENChannel’s Program Director on August 15th.

"The Program Director role has been added to OPENChannel's Management team to drive the development of new programs and production initiatives, with an increased focus on new media projects", said Chairperson Leslie Wood. "Andrew's appointment comes at an exciting time for OPENChannel, with the move to our new Docklands venue. We welcome him and look forward to the vision, energy and expertise he will bring to this new role".

"OPENChannel has rare insights and intuitions, living legacies and passion at the heart of its staff and membership. This is what I find invigorating about the organization", said newly appointed Program Director, Andrew Garton. "The challenge for OPENChannel is to broaden the scope of what a screen development organisation does in the 21st century, where the screen becomes just about anything the imagination can project itself onto. I am looking forward to working with OPENChannel’s staff and board to find new ways to successfully meet this challenge."