MESS Ltd

21/06/2026

Synth 101 (Women, Trans & Gender Diverse) in June and July 🔌⁠
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A hands-on introduction for people who want to start making and shaping sound with synthesisers. Working in pairs in the MESS education space, you'll get to grips with the same core building blocks of electronic sound, with plenty of time to experiment and ask questions. ⁠
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Coming up:⁠
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🔊Tuesday, June 30 ⁠
🔊 Tuesday, July 14⁠
🔊 Friday, July 17 ⁠
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No experience needed, no gear needed. Taught in a supportive and collaborative community environment!⁠
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🎟️ Tickets via mess.foundation/school/workshops/
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Artwork by

18/06/2026

Never touched a synth before? Fantastic. 🔌⁠
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Synth 101 is your slipstream into the wide world of synthesis. Designed for complete beginners and taught in the MESS education space, it covers the core building blocks of electronic sound: oscillators, filters and envelopes. ⁠
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Working in pairs, you'll learn to create and shape sound from the ground up, with plenty of time to experiment and ask questions.⁠
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Coming up: ⁠
🔊 Saturday, June 27⁠
🔊 Monday, July 13⁠
🔊 Saturday, July 18 ⁠
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No experience needed, no gear needed. Just curiosity about electronic sound.⁠
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🎟️ Tickets via mess.foundation/school/workshops/
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P.S. We also have a Synth 101 especially for women, trans & gender diverse people. Learn more the MESS website.
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Artwork by

17/06/2026

RIP Vladimir Kuzmin (1953–2026), the Soviet engineer who created the iconic Polivoks synthesiser.⁠
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Built in the early 1980s at a factory in the Urals, the Polivoks came together without access to foreign technical literature, guided instead by experimentation and investigation. Setting out to give Soviet musicians access to the sounds they were beginning to hear across the globe, Kuzmin instead ended up making a synth that sounds like nothing else. Working alongside him was his wife Olimpiada Kuzmina, an industrial designer who gave the instrument its tank-like look.⁠
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The Polivoks is adored for its raw, aggressive filter, which has been studied and cloned by synth-makers around the world ever since, including SOMA.⁠
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"Every musician who uses the Polivoks finds something for their music... In some cases, I myself don't understand how they achieve certain sounds." – Kuzmin⁠
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We're privileged to have a Polivoks synth here at MESS, on the other side of the globe, where it's still played and still finding new sounds.

16/06/2026

But the fundraising is not over!⁠
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Two weeks left until EOFY, and no better moment to back our PATHWAYS education program.⁠
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Every cent goes towards opening the creative process to people kept out of it by cost, distance, or circumstance. ⁠
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🔗 Donate now at mess.foundation/messforall⁠
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All donations over $2 are tax-deductible.⁠
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28/05/2026

WE ARE 76% of the way to our goal with ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT!⁠
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Thanks to you, we have already raised $37,969. That is a PHENOMENAL achievement!⁠
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Now we only need $12,000 to reach our target! ⁠
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We have until THIS SUNDAY, May 31st. ⁠
Every dollar you donate is DOUBLED by Creative Australia, up to $50k. ⁠
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Help us welcome more people into the artistic process. Because access to creativity should not be determined by cost!⁠
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Donate now at mess.foundation/messforall⁠
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All donations over $2 are tax-deductible. ⁠
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https://mess.foundation/about/donate/community-donations/

26/05/2026

ONE WEEK LEFT to have your impact DOUBLED!

Everyone deserves access to a circuit-bent Roland 707!

But seriously… cost, geography and lack of access to technical knowledge should not determine who gets to create with these wonderful instruments.

We’ve watched it change people here, and we want to reach further. Help us supercharge our program and remove barriers to creation for those who need it most. Because we know creative expression can change lives.

Donations doubled until May 31!

Donate now at mess.foundation/messforall

21/05/2026

Research consistently demonstrates that the impact of making music reverberates far beyond the music itself, and we've seen this ourselves from the 1000+ workshops and courses that we've already run.⁠
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With your help, we can do more. We can build our MESS Pathways program to open music-making to those who face the greatest barriers. Help us truly make a MESS For ALL.⁠
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Sustained music education builds creative problem-solving, self-regulation, resilience, discipline and the ability to collaborate and perform under pressure. These are not just creative skills. They are essential life skills that should not be limited to those who can afford them.⁠
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Until May 31st, every dollar you donate is matched by Creative Australia, up to $50k.⁠
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Donate now at mess.foundation/messforall⁠
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📖 Music Australia, The Bass Line (2nd ed., 2026) ⁠
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Creative expression can transform lives. This EOFY, all donations go toward transformative educational programs and launching new youth initiatives at MESS.

20/05/2026

Curious about the history behind our rare collection of electronic instruments?⁠
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We've added extra spots for our MESS Studio Tour this Saturday, May 23!⁠
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Led by MESS Director and Co-founder Byron Scullin, this guided tour takes you through the stories behind the sounds: the utopian manifestos printed in vintage synth manuals, DIY movements that democratised modular synthesis, and the Australian-made instruments whose profound contributions to electronic music history we are privileged to preserve and share.⁠
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Saturday, May 23⁠
11:30am – 12:30pm⁠
MESS studio at .square⁠
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MESS Studio Tours run on the 4th Saturday morning of each month. ⁠
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Strictly limited places. Link here to RSVP: https://mess.foundation/event/studio-tour-26-05-23/

12/05/2026

MESS has always believed that creativity is for everyone. Not just those who can afford it.⁠
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We’re working hard to expand our educational programs and reach people who face real barriers to the creative process, whether that’s financial, social, geographic, or beyond. ⁠
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Until May 31st, all donations are matched dollar for dollar up to $50k by Creative Australia. Every dollar you give goes directly to this work to expand access to the creative process for more people than ever before. ⁠
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Donate now and DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT ⁠

Donate here –> https://mess.foundation/about/donate/community-donations/
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