National Microphone Association (NMA) Collection

Administrative History

The NMA was founded by Victoria anarchists Blank Space (Alex Murray) & Strong Cottonwoods (Scott Towson) around 2006. They performed together as the Outspoken Wordsmiths and worked to create a federated musical network to distribute their musical and artistic productions. They collaborated with many talented poets, musicians and artists locally that eventually formed a web of creativity that combined their individual art forms with anarchist politics.

Their creativity extended into the names they chose to call themselves and their duos/groups. The performers affiliated with this network were as follows:

a) Outspoken Wordsmiths – Black Space (Alex Murray) & Strong Cottonwoods (Scott Towson)

b) Soapbox Poets – Black Space (Alex Murray) & Random Adjective (Chloe Smith)

c) Odditory Presence – Strong Cottonwoods (Scott Towson) & TemPeStilence (Grace Gale)