Transmitting Community proposes that radio be a freely accessable medium for the broadcast of personal rather than commercial content.
I perform the piece in public spaces, wandering in response to the attractions and repulsion's of the urban environment. During my wandering I will invite the people I encounter to broadcast their messages using my transmitter. My presence is both entertaining and performative. Simply wearing these homemade electronic devices as extensions of my body is entertaining and works to engage passersby in the piece. My strange costume and friendly, public persona invite people to approach me. I can then engage people in conversation and offer them the opportunity to be heard through the public medium of (live) radio. Broadcasts will consist of ambient noise as I wander through the streets, my subjective commentary as I move through the city and personal and noncommercial messages from people I encounter. Transmitting Community proposes a unique opportunity to broadcast content not heard on commercial stations, specifically, emotional and personal content. Ideally, the transmitter will be used as a message in a bottle to disseminate anonymous messages to unknown recipients.Some examples of messages people have transmitted during the performance of Transmitting Community in Regina this summer were: a young woman vented her frustertion with coworkers in her training session who make fun of those who learn slower than others; an Italian grandmother visiting Canada sent out a messaged directed to one particular recipient, "Sofia, when I get home I'm going to buy you a hat."; a man sang ma song about bees that he wrote for his son; a poet took me to the park and improvised a spoken word in response to his environment. These broadcasts can be picked up on any analog FM radio.
The content of Transmitting Community is not limited by the station's concerns for profit.  This lack of accountability to a sponsor or regulatory body should not be abused.  Although I am not establishing specific rules, I am proposing an ethic of kindness and consideration.
Ideally, Transmitting Community will provide a forum where people can exchange music, thoughts and feelings. This project is dialogical and creates a social conversation in much the same way as an internet chat room. Each transmission contributes to a pool of thoughts and opinions that build upon one another to form a multifaceted representation of the community accessing the project.