Bay Area Video Coalition

Related records

• The National Video Preservation Center - A Brief Overview Groups

  BAVC proposed a nonprofit preservation unit at its facility to clean and transfer open-reel 1/2" and other videotape formats to Betacam SP or D2, using Recordtech cleaning machines and reconditioned decks; services included subsidized transfers, workshops and documentation. BAVC planned engineering collaboration with High Peak Engineering and archival partnership with the Pacific Film Archive, conducted outreach using the AFI directory, and named key personnel including Sally Fifer and Luke Hones; the Preservation Facility launched in 1993 with support from the San Francisco Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation.

• Luke Hones People

  Luke Hones is associated with the Bay Area Video Coalition and is known for work in video restoration and preservation; BAVC established the first professionally-equipped, non-profit preservation center and organized Playback 1996: Video Roundtable, the first international symposium to bring together conservation, museology and media arts to address technical and ideological issues in video preservation. Playback: A Preservation Primer for Video (1998) provides recommendations for storage and cleaning, discusses procedural issues, and includes a glossary and bibliography.

• Bay Area Video Coalition Chronology

  Bay Area Video Coalition receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts to establish a center for re-mastering obsolete formats of videotape, under the leadership of Sally Jo Fifer and Luke Hones.

• Bay Area Video Coalition: Harboring Independents Bibliography

• Operating a Remastering Facility Preservation

  BAVC operated a remastering center transferring obsolete formats such as 1/2" open-reel tape; transfers involved cleaning machines, playback decks and manual procedures that could take several hours and required trained technicians (early pay noted as $15/hour) and a 20% income reserve for maintenance. The center secured preservation funding and organized Playback 96: Video Roundtable, partnered with NIPAD to train dance companies, and sought support from sources such as the NEA Heritage and Preservation Program. Staff proposed research into tape baking, integrated cleaning/playback machines, magnetic transfer methods, uncompressed nonlinear workflows (Avid Symphony/D1), archival data formats (DLT/D1) and collaboration with WGBH's Universal Preservation Format Initiative.

• Introduction Preservation

  Sherry Miller Hocking's February 2002 introduction surveys efforts to preserve independent videotape and electronic media from the 1960s to 2002; it documents institutions and initiatives including the NEA and AFI, F/TAAC/AMIA, MoMA's 1991 symposium, Playback 1996, BAVC's remastering facility (1995), IMAP (1999), TechArcheology (2000), Preserving the Immaterial (2001) and the Looking Back/Looking Forward symposium (May 31–June 1, 2002). It identifies technical and organizational problems—videotape deterioration, obsolete equipment, dispersed collections and lack of a union catalog—and lists recommended actions such as compatible cataloging, remastering research and facilities, public and educational programs, and broader funding and coalitions.