LaNCE TV offers free workshops to learn media skills in Warrnambool

Regional Victorian organisation LaNCE TV will establish a free to access online Queer community TV platform.

LaNCE TV's Deb Lord says the project would give LGBTIQA+ people in regional communities the skills to produce content, learn editing techniques and create video storytelling.

A two-day workshop will be held in Warrnambool on May 28 and 29.

"The project will give remote and regional Victorian LGBTIQA+ communities the capacity to share insights, feel connected and have a place of belonging," Lord said.

"Having a dedicated platform for queer regional voices ensures LGBTIQA+ stories can be told without the level of censorship experienced on social media platforms.

"Such platforms are often controlled by impossible algorithms and mediated by countries with much stricter moral perceptions of what appropriate content levels are."

It's a unique broadcasting opportunity not seen before for LGBTIQA+ communities in Australia, Lord said.

"A queer community TV platform offers opportunities for established videographers, sound recordists, visual artists, performers, musicians, script writers and a range of other arts creators to have their work seen, experienced and enjoyed by wider audiences.

"It gives access to new and emerging LGBTIQA+ artists in rural areas who want to explore and develop skills in video storytelling for broadcast, and discover creating video content as a means of storytelling."

Lord said the project would help address the isolation experienced by LGBTIQA+ individuals living in remote and regional areas.

"Isolation and loneliness have been found to have catastrophic consequences for both physical and mental health, but visibility and community connection has been shown to safeguard against these outcomes," Lord said.

"Closures of regional TV stations such as WIN could be replaced by channels such as SKY news, overall further lessening access to rural community voices. LaNCE TV's growing reach demonstrates the need for more locally produced programming.

"The project is based in giving fair and equitable access to all LGBTIQA+ Victorians including youth, trans and gender-diverse people and older LGBTIQA+ individuals.

"It's our duty to ensure access for people whose lives intersect with Aboriginal heritage, disability, refugee/asylum seeker status or with a background that is culturally and linguistically diverse."

LaNCE TV Ballarat is a multi-generational, intersectional television show screening on Facebook Live and Channel 31.

The show is watched by over 20,000 people every Friday across Melbourne and Geelong on Channel 31, and is viewed over 1000 times a month on Facebook.

Repeatedly nominated for the community TV Antenna Awards, it won an Outstanding Technical and Creative Ingenuity award in 2020, as well as a GLOBE Victoria Community Award for LGBTIQA+ Artist of the Year in 2021.

The project received a Regional Arts Fund project grant of $16,453 and $1000 from the City of Ballarat's Creative Inspiration Fund.

The Australian Government's Regional Arts Fund is provided through Regional Arts Australia, administered in Victoria by Regional Arts Victoria.

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