New York State Council on the Arts Annual Report 1986-87. Reports by Film and Media Programs

Total Aid to Localities: $44,300,000, Media: $1,512,129 (1986-87)

MEDIA PROGRAM

Director: Dai Sil Kim-Gibson

Program Analysts: Eugene Matta (until July 1986), Jerry Lindahl, Arthur Tsuchiya

The Media Program entered fiscal year 1986-87, not so much with different objectives and assumptions from the previous year, but rather with the goal of improving upon earlier efforts. The program advanced production and audience development as priorities 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 as well as distribution and marketing problems; 2) it is vital that we seek shared leadership with the field; 3) it is important to maintain the balance between support for the larger, established and the smaller, developing organizations; and 4) individual artists, both established and emerging, should continue to be assisted to create new works.

As the program renewed its commitment to assume a leadership role in the media field and to evaluate its role, applicants were invited to conceive and review their own projects in conjunction with their assessments of the field including its accomplishments, failures and needs as well as future direction. The program stressed the importance of demonstrating a clear aesthetic and conceptual grasp of video and audio as art; of going beyond addressing needs to the question of artistic quality/standards; and of showing sensitive and imaginative ways of developing audiences, always mindful of social and cultural diversity. In response to ever-increasing needs and demands of the field, and in light of the budgetary constraints, the Program conducted a more comparative review of applications than before.

In 1986-87, the Media Program awarded a total of $1,512,129 to 87 organizations for 150 projects, including 31 production awards administered by the Individual Artists Program. Reflecting our strong conviction that production is vital for the development of the field, the Program expended $400,129, a little over 26% of its total allocation, for production of individual artists' works through sponsoring organizations. See the Individual Artists Program for a listing of media artists and projects.

In addition, regrant awards increased from $29,000 in 1985-86 to $54,000 last year with two new programs in Manhattan and two upstate, adding over $100,000 to the independent production pool in New York State. Every regrant program must be matched dollar for dollar.

The Program continued its support of exhibitions (about 21% of the total budget); projects designed for services to the field, including distribution (17%); general operating expenses (15%); equipment and workspace access, including production and post-production services and equipment purchase (10 %); special projects (4 %); and artists-in-residence (3 %). Finally, the Program awarded grants to four writers, ranging from $1,500 to $3,500, under the "Writing On Media Art" category which is designed to encourage critical writing. In advancing audience development, the Program stressed the importance of cultural and aesthetic diversity in American society, upstate development, and experimental as well as major projects. Squeaky Wheel, a new association of Buffalo area media makers, received a grant of $2,000 to present an exhibition entitled "Narrowcasting: Native American and Eastern European Video." The Program supported "Democracy in Communication," ($10,000) a travelling exhibition of independent video and film produced recently in Central and South America, and curated by New York independent producer, Karen Ranucci. The Program awarded $25,000 to the Museum of Modern Art toward an exhibition, "From Day to Night: Installations and Videotapes by Bill Viola." As the second major retrospective of an individual video artist after that of Nam June Paik at the Whitney Museum in 1982, the show marks a significant event in the field.

If the Program considers the individual artists vital for the development of the field, it also recognizes the importance of assisting organizations that present media activities and support artists. The Program made special grants to organizations that are at a critical juncture in their development and needed one-time assistance. A grant of $11,000 went to the Global Village, a fifteen year old, pioneering media center, to help institutionalize development as an on-going, high priority activity. Another grant of $10,000 went to Squeaky Wheel in Buffalo to help strengthen its administrative structure. Finally, an award of $8,000 was made to be matched dollar for dollar to the newly organized Association of Independents in Radio (AIR).

ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE
Art Awareness; Lexington $3,000  
Bronx Museum of the Arts $5,000  
Global Village Resource Center; Manhattan $7,000  
Emily Lowe Gallery/ Hofstra University; Hempstead $7,600  
Library Action Committee of Corona-East Elmhurst/ Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center; Queens $4,000  
St. Augustine's Center; Buffalo   $7,000    
Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester   $2,500    
WNYC Foundation; Manhattan    $8,000 EQUIPMENT PURCHASE
Catskill Center for Photography; Woodstock $1,000
Center for Community Studies; Manhattan $4,600
Experimental Television Center; Owego    $3,855
Hallwalls; Buffalo    $14,500
Queens Council on the Arts    $4,000
Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester     $6,000 

EXHIBITION    
Altermedia; Staten Island    $2,000     
Alternative Media Information Center; Manhattan     $4,000     
American Museum of the Moving Image; Queens     $9,200     
Artists Space; Manhattan     $8,000     
Artmusic; Brooklyn     $7,500     
Barnard College; Manhattan     $1,850     
Black Filmmaker Foundation; Manhattan     $4,000     
Black Maria     $3,000     
Bronx Museum of the Arts     $10,000  
Catskill Center for Photography; Woodstock $2,500  
Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts (CEPA); Buffalo $4,842  
Center for New Art Activities; Manhattan $5,000  
Channel L Working Group; Manhattan $7,000  
Council on the Arts for Cortland $5,000  
Educational Broadcasting Corporation; Manhattan $25,000  
Exit Art; Manhattan $3,000  
Franklin Furnace Archive; Manhattan $2,500  
Friends of the Davis Center; Manhattan $6,000  
Global Village Resource Center; Manhattan $15,000  
Haleakala/ The Kitchen; Manhattan $34,000  
Hallwalls; Buffalo $11,000  
Institute for Art and Urban Resources/PS 1; Queens $8,000  
International Center for Photography; Manhattan $9,000  
Katonah Gallery $3,500  
Mid-Hudson Library System; Poughkeepsie $4,000  
Museum of Broadcasting; Manhattan  $4,000  
Museum of Modern Art; Manhattan $33,500  
New Radio and Performing Arts; Brooklyn $9,000  
New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; Manhattan $2,860  
Olean Public Library $2,962  
Raindance Foundation; Manhattan $11,800  
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Troy $3,000  
Squeaky Wheel; Buffalo $2,000  
Syracuse University $3,000  
United Block Association; Manhattan $1,000  
Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester $11,000  
White Plains Cable TV Access $3,500
 Whitney Museum of American Art; Manhattan $18,000  
Women Make Movies; Manhattan $10,000 

GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT    
Asian Cine-Vision; Manhattan   $16,300    
Downtown Community Television Center; Manhattan   $55,100    
Experimental Intermedia Foundation; Manhattan    $13,000    
Experimental Television Center; Owego    $32,800    
Harvestworks; Manhattan    $20,000    
Inter-Media Art Center; Huntington    $20,000    
Locus Communications; Manhattan    $34,400    
Media Alliance; Manhattan    $24,000    
Media Bus; Woodstock    $10,000 

PRODUCTION/ POSTPRODUCTION SERVICES    
Electronic Alts Intermix; Manhattan    $7,900    
Film/Video Arts; Manhattan    $50,000    
Raindance Foundation; Manhattan    $25,000    
Roulette Intermedium; Manhattan    $4,000

REGRANT PROGRAM
Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts (CEPA); Buffalo    $2,500    
Checkerboard Foundation   $12,000  
Educational Broadcasting Corporation; Manhattan   $20,000    
Niagara Council of the Arts; Niagara Falls     $6,000
Writers Guild of America East; Manhattan    $13,500 

SERVICES TO THE FIELD            
Alternative Media Information Center; Manhattan   $14,636     
American Federation of the Arts; Manhattan    $6,000     
Association of Independents in Radio; Manhattan     $8,000     
Black Filmmaker Foundation; Manhattan     $4,000     
Camera News; Manhattan    $2,000     
Electronic Arts Intermix; Manhattan     $26,500      
Film News Now Foundation; Manhattan      $4,000      
Film/Video Arts; Manhattan      $5,000      
Foundation for Independent Video and Film; Manhattan      $37,500      
Giorno Poetry Systems; Manhattan      $2,000      
Haleakala/ The Kitchen; Manhattan      $45,000      
International Film Seminars; Manhattan     $3,500      
Media Alliance; Manhattan      $10,000       
Museum of the American Indian; Manhattan       $2,425  
National Alliance Media Arts; Staten Island  $4,000  
New Wilderness Foundation; Manhattan $3,000  
New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; Manhattan $12,000  
Niagara Council of the Arts; Niagara Falls $3,000  
Parabola Arts Foundation; Manhattan $12,000  
Port Washington Public Library $17,450  
Video Repertoire; Manhattan $6,000  
Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester $7,500  
WSLU-FM; Canton $5,000  
Women Make Movies; Manhattan $12,870

SPECIAL PROJECTS      
Bronx Council on the Arts      $10,000      
Film/Video Arts; Manhattan      $8,000      
Global Village Resource Center; Manhattan      $11,000      
Mid-York Library System; Utica      $3,000      
Squeaky Wheel; Buffalo     $10,000      
Staten Island Council on the Arts; Staten Island      $8,000      
Whitney Museum of American Art; Manhattan     $7,350

WORKSPACE    
Samaya Foundation; Manhattan  $5,000     
Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester     $7,000     
Women's Interart Center; Manhattan    $24,000

WRITING ON MEDIA ART     
Black Filmmaker Foundation; Manhattan $2,000     
Foundation for Independent Video and Film; Manhattan  $3,500     
Port Washington Public Library     $3,000     
Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester    $1,500

Advisory Panelists:
Mr. Peer D. Bode, Video Artist, Experimental Television Center; Owego

Mr. Luis Cancel, Director, Bronx Museum of the Arts; Bronx

Mr. Tony Cokes, Video Artist; Manhattan

Mr. Collis Davis, Jr., Independent Producer; Brooklyn

Mr. Matthew Geller, Video Artist; Manhattan

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

Ms. Julie M. Gustafson, Independent Producer, Global Village Video Center; Manhattan

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

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

Ms. Rita Myers, Video Artist; Manhattan

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

Mr. Stephen L. Rabin, President and Chief Executive Officer, Educational Film Center;

Annandale, VA

Ms. Helen Thorington, Independent Radio Producer, New Radio and Performing Arts; Brooklyn

Alternates:
Mr. Louis Daniel Giansante, Independent Radio Producer; Manhattan

Ms. Chris Hill, Video Artist, Video Curator, Hallwalls; Manhattan

Mr. Joe Steinmetz, Independent Producer, Lockport Community Cable Commission; Lockport

Ms. Robin White, Director, Media Alliance; Manhattan