New York State Council on the Arts Annual Report 1985-86. Reports by Film and Media Programs

Total Aid to Localities: $40,300,000, Media: $1,380,000 (1985-86)

MEDIA PROGRAM

Director: Dai Sil Kim-Gibson

Program Analysts: Eugene Matta, Arthur Tsuchiya

Since the New York State Council on the Arts created the Media Program in 1970, it has played a paramount role in the field of video and audio art. During fiscal year 1985/86, the Program renewed its commitment to lead and operated with the following assumptions and objectives: 1) the field is expanding but it is far from being "established" securely; it is fraught with complex questions including those caused by rapidly developing technology and distribution/marketing problems; 2) it is vital that we seek shared leadership with the field; 3) the program should address the question of balance between support for the larger, established and the smaller, developing organizations; and 4) the Council should assist individual artists, both established and emerging, to create new works.

In 1985/86, the Media Program awarded a total of $1,380,000 to 107 organizations for 160 projects, including 40 Production and 3 Media Collaboration awards. Continuing to express the fundamental conviction that production is vital for the field, the Program expended $360,000, 26% of its total allocation, for production of individual artists' works through sponsoring organizations. The awards ranged from $3,000 to Suzanne Frew to produce a video documentary, "Beneath the Safety Net," that deals with the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill in Rochester to a grant of $22,000 to Ed Bowes toward the first episode of an eight-part television series (narrative). A complete list of production awards appears on pages 165-166.

The Program continued its support of Exhibition (25% of the total budget); projects designed for Services to the Field, including distribution (18%); Production and Post-Production Services (6%); Artist-in-Residence and Workspace programs (6%). The Program awarded grants to six writers, ranging from $1,000 to $3,500, under the category of Writing on Media Art, which is designed to encourage critical writing on media art. A grant of $3,500 went to Amy Taubin to write a book tentatively entitled, "Mixed Signals: The Noncomplementary Independent and Television."

Mindful of the assumptions and objectives discussed above, the Program carried out several special projects. In addition to its on-going grant making to minority organizations, projects, and artists, the Program issued a Request for Proposals to address the issue of systematic strengthening of minority participation in the Media Field. As a result, $20,000 was awarded to the joint application from the Film News Now Foundation and the Third World Newsreel for a minority development project.

During the fiscal year of 1985/86, the staff did extensive development work upstate through town meetings, site visits and talking with potential applicants. In the process of this work, it became apparent to us that the need to develop equipment access centers upstate, especially ¾" editing systems, was acute. Consequently, the Program combined its efforts for upstate development and equipment projects and provided support for the following new projects: exhibition of audience inter-active electronic arts works, Arnot Museum, Elmira ($2,500); Western New York Videomakers Forum, Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts, Buffalo ($1,000); and equipment purchases at Hallwalls, Buffalo ($12,000), Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester ($7,500) and Experimental Television Center, Owego ($5,000). In addition, a new grant of $4,500 was awarded to the Bronx Museum of the Arts to install a VHS video editing system in order to serve students as well as Bronx based artists who come to its NYSCA-supported video workshop.

In the context of seeking shared leadership with the field, the Program supported Channel Thirteen's "New Television I and II." This partnership with WNET promises to be a beginning of a new era in that the nation's major public television station is once again, since the demise of the TV Lab, committing itself to producing and showing independent video works. Another example of advancing shared leadership with the field can be seen in the Council's support of regrant programs. Regrant is an excellent means of broadening  production resources and inviting institutions to make a commitment to helping artists raise funds, because it requires a dollar for dollar match. During 1985-86, the Media Program awarded two grants- one to the Film Fund for $17,500, and one to the Checkerboard Foundation for $12,000. This represents twice the amount of support awarded in this category the previous year.

Finally, a grant of $10,000 was awarded to the Whitney Museum to conduct research addressing the questions and issues arising from the new forms of technology and their impact upon the creation, dissemination, and access to various arts disciplines. This project is consistent with the Council's effort to provide leadership in serving artists and arts organizations.

ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE
Bronx Museum of the Arts $8,000
Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester
$1,100

AUDIO ART
Harvestworks; Manhattan $18,500
New York Foundation for the Arts; Manhattan   $10,000
Parabola Arts Foundation; Manhattan   $5,000
Sound Foundation; Manhattan   $20,000

AUDIO DOCUMENTARY
New Radio and Performing Arts; Brooklyn $7,000 

CABLE TV SERIES
Alternative Media Information Center; Manhattan $16,000 
Haleakala; Manhattan $15,000

EQUIPMENT PURCHASE
Bronx Museum of the Arts $4,500
Experimental Television Center; Owego $5,000
Hallwalls; Buffalo $12,000
Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester $7,500
Women's Interart Center; Manhattan $3,000

EXHIBITIONS  
Alternative Media Information Center; Manhattan $5,720  
American Museum of the Moving Image; Queens $7,500  
Arnot Art Museum; Elmira $2,500  
Artists' Space; Manhattan $7,500  
Artmusic; Brooklyn $7,500  
Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts (CEPA); Buffalo $1,000  
Center for New Art Activities; Manhattan $5,000  
Channel L Working Group; Manhattan $6,850  
Educational Broadcasting Corporation; Manhattan $25,000  
Emily Lowe Gallery of Hofstra University; Hempstead $3,000  
En Foco; Bronx $4,200  
Film Art Fund; Manhattan $13,500  
Free Media; Manhattan $4,000  
Global Village Resource Center; Manhattan $15,000  
Haleakala; Manhattan $26,000  
Hallwalls; Buffalo $11,000  
Independent Curators; Manhattan $2,000  
Institute for Art and Urban Resources; Queens $3,000   
Intermedia Foundation; Sparkill  $7,000  
International Center for Photography; Manhattan  $7,000  
Media Alliance; Manhattan  $7,668  
Mid-Hudson Library System; Poughkeepsie  $4,000  
Museum of Modern Art; Manhattan  $18,500  
Museum of the American Indian; Manhattan  $5,000  
New Radio and Performing Arts; Manhattan  $2,500  
New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; Manhattan  $2,000  
Public Art Fund; Manhattan  $6,000  
Raindance Foundation; Manhattan $8,500  
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Troy $2,500  
Soho Baroque Opera Company; Manhattan $4,000  
Sonic Architecture; Manhattan $4,150  
Staten Island Children's Museum $3,000  
Syracuse University  $2,000  
Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester $11,000  
White Plains Cable TV Access $3,500  
Whitney Museum of American Art; Manhattan $17,000  
Women's Interart Center; Manhattan $6,000  
Women's Studio Workshop; Rosendale $2,100  
Women/Artist/Filmakers; Manhattan $3,950

GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT
Asian Cine-Vision; Manhattan $13,500
Downtown Community Television Center; Manhattan $52,000
Experimental Intermedia Foundation; Manhattan $13,000
Experimental Television Center; Owego $31,000
Inter-Media Art Center; Huntington $22,000
Locus Communications; Manhattan $32,500
Media Alliance; Manhattan $20,000
Media Bus; Woodstock $12,500
New Wilderness Foundation; Manhattan $9,000
Portable Channel; Rochester $19,500

MEDIA COLLABORATIONS  
Foundation for Independent Artists; Manhattan  $5,000  
Haleakala; Manhattan $5,000  
Red Wing Performing Group; Brooklyn  $5,000

PRODUCTION/ POST-PRODUCTION SERVICES
185 Nassau Street Corporation; Brooklyn $12,000
Electronic Arts Intermix; Manhattan $7,500
Film/Video Arts; Manhattan $48,000
Harvestworks; Manhattan $2,500
Raindance Foundation; Manhattan $12,000

RADIO SERIES
Center for Community Studies; Manhattan $5,025  
New Radio and Performing Arts; Brooklyn $6,000

REGRANT PROGRAM
Checkerboard Foundation; Manhattan $12,000
Film Fund; Manhattan $17,500

SERVICES TO THE FIELD
Alternative Media Information Center; Manhattan $13,000
American Federation of the Arts; Manhattan $8,500
Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library; Jamestown $3,000
Council of Belmont Organizations; Bronx $3,000
Educational Film Library Association; Manhattan $2,000
Electronic Arts Intermix; Manhattan $35,000
Film News Now Foundation; Manhattan $2,500
Film/Video Arts; Manhattan $5,000
Foundation for Independent Video and Film; Manhattan $32,000 
Haleakala; Manhattan $42,000
Hallwalls; Buffalo $1,500
Harvestworks; Manhattan $5,000
International Film Seminars; Manhattan $3,000
Library Action Committee of Corona; Queens $4,000
Media Center for Children; Manhattan $1,022
Museum of the American Indian; Manhattan $2,315
New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; Manhattan $12,900
Pacifica Foundation; Manhattan $8,000
Parabola Arts Foundation; Manhattan $10,000
People's Communication Network; Manhattan $5,000
Port Washington Public Library $22,000
Video Repetorie; Manhattan $5,000
Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester $6,000
WSLU-FM; Canton $4,000
Westchester Library System; Elmsford $3,500
Women Make Movies; Manhattan $7,500 

SPECIAL PROJECTS  
Camera News Now; Manhattan $1,000  
Film News Now Foundation; Manhattan $20,000  
Film/ Video Arts; Manhattan $8,000  
Whitney Museum of American Art; Manhattan $10,000 

VIDEO ART    
185 Nassau Street Corporation; Brooklyn $13,000    
Artists' Space; Manhattan   $10,000    
Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts (CEPA); Buffalo   $10,000    
Electronic Arts Intermix; Manhattan    $12,000    
Experimental Television Center; Owego   $19,000    
Film Art Fund; Manhattan    $5,000    
Film News Now Foundation; Manhattan    $10,000    
Hallwalls; Buffalo    $12,000    
Harvestworks; Manhattan    $5,000    
New Wilderness Foundation; Manhattan    $5,000   
New York Foundation for the Arts; Manhattan   $7,000   
Parabola Arts Foundation; Manhattan   $15,000   
Performing Artservices; Manhattan   $13,500   
Raindance Foundation; Manhattan   $10,000  
Rensselaer County Council for the Arts; Troy $5,000  
Women Make Movies; Manhattan $5,000 

VIDEO DOCUMENTARY  
Alternative Media Information Center; Manhattan $19,500  
Downtown Community Television Center; Manhattan $7,500  
Film News Now Foundation; Manhattan $10,000  
Now and Then Productions; Brooklyn $12,000  
Out There Productions; Manhattan $4,000  
Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester $3,000 

VIDEO NARRATIVE  
Laboratory for Icon and Idiom; Manhattan $8,000  
New York Foundation for the Arts; Manhattan $22,000 

WORKSHOPS  
Global Village Resource Center; Manhattan $7,000  
Harvestworks; Manhattan $9,500  
Holographic Film Foundation; Manhattan $5,000  
Inter-Media Art Center; Huntington $3,000  
Museum of Holography; Manhattan $5,000  
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Troy $7,000  
Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester $6,500  
Women's Interart Center; Manhattan $24,000

WRITING ON MEDIA ART 
Foundation for Independent Video and Film; Manhattan $7,000  
Hallwalls; Buffalo $1,500  
Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester $5,000

Advisory Panelists:

Mr. Peer D. Bode, Independent Video Artist; Buffalo

Mr. Luis Cancel, Director, Bronx Museum of Art; Bronx

Mr. Tony Cokes, Video Artist; Manhattan

Mr. Collis Davis, Jr., Independent Documentary Video Maker; Brooklyn

Mr. Matthew Geller, Video Artist; Manhattan

Ms. Ronnie Geist, Administrator/Producer, Women's Interart Center; Manhattan

Ms. Julie M. Gustafson, Independent Documentary Video Maker, Global Village Video Research Center; Manhattan

Ms. Jean Haynes, Film/Video Librarian, Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System; Jamestown

Ms. Barbara London, Video Curator, Museum of Modern Art; Manhattan

Ms. Rita Myers, Independent Video Artist; Manhattan

Mr. Phill Niblock, Intermedia Artist, Experimental Intermedia Foundation; Manhattan

Mr. Stephen L. Rabin, President/Chief Executive Officer, Educational Film Center; Annandale, VA

Ms. Helen Thorington, Independent Radio Producer; Brooklyn

Alternates:

Ms. Linda Fisher, Independent Audio Artist; Brooklyn

Ms. Sherry Miller, Experimental Television Center; Owego

Mr. Chris Hill, Video Curator, Hallwalls; Buffalo

Extended Panelists:

Ms. Linda Fisher, Audio Artist; Brooklyn

Mr. Bob Harris, Curator of Video, Anthology Film Archives; Manhattan

Ms. Mary Lucier, Video Artist; Manhattan

Ms. Ginger Miles, Writer/Producer of Radio Series; Manhattan