Independent Community Radio Network (2022-ongoing)

This year I co-founded the Independent Community Radio Network (ICRN); a transnational initiative connecting and supporting like-minded radios across Europe with the shared goal of establishing more sustainable and long-term futures in the field of community radio.  

Currently, ICRN exists as Palanga Street Radio (Vilnius), Tirkultura (Riga), IDA (Tallinn), IDA (Helsinki) and Cashmere Radio (Berlin).

Activity

In April the Independent Community Radio Network was awarded a short-term networking grant from the Nordic Culture Point which supported a summer of networking activity across Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn and Helsinki that took place between July and September of the same year.

During these visitations the network were joined by members of Cashmere Radio (Berlin), NTS (Manchester), Resonance FM (London) and radio researcher Ieva Gudaitytė. Alongside communal broadcasting activity such as a temporary radio station in Svencioneliai, a fundraiser for Ukraine in Vilnius and guest shows in our respective cities, the network were awarded further funds from Reset! Network (Brussels) to produce a manifesto about the needs and future of community radio for a future publication on policy making for independent media in Europe.

In September the network created a live broadcasting performance in collaboration with James Prevett at his exhibition ‘Twenty-Three Sculptures and a Painting’ that was later broadcast on Cashmere Radio (Berlin, FM).

In October I was invited by Reset! Network to speak on behalf of the network at the European Media Conference (Brussels) organised by Sphera Network. I spoke on the panel ‘Connections, Exchanges, Empowerment: The Role of Networks for Independent Media’ alongside co-founder Linas Cekanavicius (Palanga Street Radio, Vilnius), Gunta Sloga (Baltic Centre of Media Excellence, Riga) and moderator Anastasia Vaitsopoulou (Popaganda, Athens).

ICRN members regularly co-stream on one another’s radios as part of our Content Sharing initiative, alongside developing open-source resources for the wider field of independent community radio.

More soon.