Monotreme Kickoff
Donation protected
Monotreme Media is Western Sydney's new alternative digital media platform, dedicated to finding and telling our community's lesser-known human stories.
Operating out of the Hawkesbury in northwestern Sydney, Monotreme is named after the platypus and echidna; the Australian animals which are so incredibly unique that they can't be otherwise categorised. The human stories brought to you by Monotreme are a reflection of this approach.
Are you sick of the way old-fashioned media outlets flounder in their own irrelevance, lack of rigour and meaningless fluff? If you are looking for an opportunity to put your support into evidence-based community news that looks a little deeper and aims a little higher, well... you've found it!
Five dollars matters. Fifty dollars matters.
It all matters, and it all helps.
The project's earlier roots are in the two-year experiment known as Diverse Hawkesbury, which produced a cracking range of in-depth videos, oral histories and written articles that explored the diversity of the Hawkesbury community. This not only made news accessible to everyone for FREE in the comfort of their own homes, but challenged existing outlets to improve their game.
Now, Monotreme Media has been born, and is producing its first written stories. With enough revenue generated, the social aims of the platform are to create innovative new opportunities for Western Sydney youth to self-represent in media, in new creative dimensions and out there on the street.
When the community supports startups like Monotreme Media, everyone benefits. In Western Sydney, this is a total gamechanger.
First, we need to stop running at a loss.
This is a grassroots social enterprise story, and it's a story that can only continue with real support from the community.
There are no investors.
There are no rich uncles.
There's not even a working computer.
With only one person so far at the helm and a team of four skilled and qualified volunteers to jump in and lend a hand, Monotreme's most basic of hardware and workspace needs require URGENT attention.
That is, we are currently working WITHOUT any computer capable of video production, and we are struggling to make rent, admin hours and business insurance payments. The kindly-donated preloved Mac once churning out the videos you loved has broken down and cannot be repaired. Video production also comes with expensive file storage needs.
Multiple paid opportunities from formidable clients are now being declined, due to a lack of technical capability to produce video.
Writing effectively about marginalised and underrepresented members of Western Sydney means "it takes one to know one".
In this case, the project is run entirely by a Creative Director who is a single mother, despite being stuck in the cycle of poverty herself, despite enormous childcare costs and despite Centrelink's Parents Next program.
With the purchase of an Apple computer that has the crash-free crunch power for the media-heavy work and software Monotreme demands, revenue can once again be generated to not only pay for more free stories to be produced, but fuel to hit the road and gather sponsors in the Western Sydney business and community sectors.
Three thousand dollars pays for the reliable hardware, storage and software needed to generate revenue that Monotreme can be built upon.
A personal word from me:
I believe in what I'm doing, and I've had to fight hard to be granted the time and mental space to do this important work. Without local media responsibly telling stories of not-for-profits, mums and dads, Indigenous people, social and youth workers, unemployed or under-employed people, people living with disability and chronic illness, young people, new Australians and otherwise underrepresented brothers and sisters.... there is no media. Without advocacy-focused media, there is only a monopoly that serves corporate (not community) interests.
This is how you can help fight the mind-numbing flood of mono-news in your daily consciousness. That help is not just for ourselves, but for everyone around us who is finally heard with every story and every video. That help is meaningful and important.
I humbly ask for it, promise to duly acknowledge and credit it, and will be so very grateful.
Rozzie
Creative Director
MonotremeMedia.com.au
See the beginnings of Monotreme Media's website.
Operating out of the Hawkesbury in northwestern Sydney, Monotreme is named after the platypus and echidna; the Australian animals which are so incredibly unique that they can't be otherwise categorised. The human stories brought to you by Monotreme are a reflection of this approach.
Are you sick of the way old-fashioned media outlets flounder in their own irrelevance, lack of rigour and meaningless fluff? If you are looking for an opportunity to put your support into evidence-based community news that looks a little deeper and aims a little higher, well... you've found it!
Five dollars matters. Fifty dollars matters.
It all matters, and it all helps.
The project's earlier roots are in the two-year experiment known as Diverse Hawkesbury, which produced a cracking range of in-depth videos, oral histories and written articles that explored the diversity of the Hawkesbury community. This not only made news accessible to everyone for FREE in the comfort of their own homes, but challenged existing outlets to improve their game.
Now, Monotreme Media has been born, and is producing its first written stories. With enough revenue generated, the social aims of the platform are to create innovative new opportunities for Western Sydney youth to self-represent in media, in new creative dimensions and out there on the street.
When the community supports startups like Monotreme Media, everyone benefits. In Western Sydney, this is a total gamechanger.
First, we need to stop running at a loss.
This is a grassroots social enterprise story, and it's a story that can only continue with real support from the community.
There are no investors.
There are no rich uncles.
There's not even a working computer.
With only one person so far at the helm and a team of four skilled and qualified volunteers to jump in and lend a hand, Monotreme's most basic of hardware and workspace needs require URGENT attention.
That is, we are currently working WITHOUT any computer capable of video production, and we are struggling to make rent, admin hours and business insurance payments. The kindly-donated preloved Mac once churning out the videos you loved has broken down and cannot be repaired. Video production also comes with expensive file storage needs.
Multiple paid opportunities from formidable clients are now being declined, due to a lack of technical capability to produce video.
Writing effectively about marginalised and underrepresented members of Western Sydney means "it takes one to know one".
In this case, the project is run entirely by a Creative Director who is a single mother, despite being stuck in the cycle of poverty herself, despite enormous childcare costs and despite Centrelink's Parents Next program.
With the purchase of an Apple computer that has the crash-free crunch power for the media-heavy work and software Monotreme demands, revenue can once again be generated to not only pay for more free stories to be produced, but fuel to hit the road and gather sponsors in the Western Sydney business and community sectors.
Three thousand dollars pays for the reliable hardware, storage and software needed to generate revenue that Monotreme can be built upon.
A personal word from me:
I believe in what I'm doing, and I've had to fight hard to be granted the time and mental space to do this important work. Without local media responsibly telling stories of not-for-profits, mums and dads, Indigenous people, social and youth workers, unemployed or under-employed people, people living with disability and chronic illness, young people, new Australians and otherwise underrepresented brothers and sisters.... there is no media. Without advocacy-focused media, there is only a monopoly that serves corporate (not community) interests.
This is how you can help fight the mind-numbing flood of mono-news in your daily consciousness. That help is not just for ourselves, but for everyone around us who is finally heard with every story and every video. That help is meaningful and important.
I humbly ask for it, promise to duly acknowledge and credit it, and will be so very grateful.
Rozzie
Creative Director
MonotremeMedia.com.au
See the beginnings of Monotreme Media's website.Organiser
Roz Chia
Organiser
Kurmond NSW
