With the support of The Rockefeller Foundation, and the collaboration of Howard Klein, Director of its Arts Program, and Herbert Dordick of the University of Southern California, then visiting the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, John Reilly organized Independent Television Makers and Public Communications Policy, a Seminar Conference to Promote Telecommunications Diversity in the 1980's, at the Rockefeller Foundation on June 6-9, 1979. Reilly himself presented a paper on "The Independents, Media Arts Centers and Public Television'; Alan Jacobs, Executive Director of AIVF, contributed "The Independent Mandate"; and Nick DeMartino, an independent producer and editor of Televisions which had published a special issue on "Independent Producers In the Future of Public Television" (Volume 6, No. 4 April 1979), and more recently a Consultant to the Carnegie Commission on the Future of Public Broadcasting, addressed "The Case for a Center for Independent Television."
Events by Year
Barbara Van Dyke organized the first American meeting of INPUT, the International Public Television Screening Conference, in Washington, D.C. on March 23-29, 1980, under the auspices of The Rockefeller Foundation.
The 6th International Video Exchange Directory publication by Satellite Video Exchange, Vancouver. 1979. Resource guide to tapes, distributors, individuals, publications
November 2-3, 1979 Meeting to formalize Media Alliance at Media Study/Buffalo Representatives of Donnell Film Library, Experimental Inntermedia Foundation, Hallwalls, IMAC, The Kitchen, Media Study, Experimental Television Center, New York State Council on the Arts, Portable Channel, Synapse, TV Lab, Video Rainbow, Visual Studies Workshop, WXXI-TV, Women's Interart Center, Young Filmmakers By Laws and a statement of purpose were drafted and distributed. The annual membership meeting was set for January 25, 1980 in New York City. Agenda items included voting on Board of Directors, Discussion of funding for Media Alliance, Report from the Telecommunications Committee.
Media Bus, Lanesville, New York, moves to Woodstock. Operates a post-production facility, distribution and consulting services and produces programming for cable; 1979 members: Nancy Cain, Tobe Carey and Bart Friedman
National Conference of Media Arts Centers hosted by the Foundation for Independent Video and Film at Lake Minnewaska, NY April 25-27, 1979. Known as the Minnewaska Conference. Funding provided by the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Steering Committee: Virgil Grillo (Rocky Mountain Film Center), Alan Jacobs (Foundation for Independent Video and Film), Robert Sitton (Northwest Film Study Center), Gail Waldron (Bay Area Video Coalition), Susan Woll (Boston Film/Video Foundation), Stan Woodward (South Carolina Arts Commission), Robert Haller (Pittsburgh Filmmakers). Representatives of 47 organizations and 12 governmental agencies attended; at the preceeding Pittsburgh Conference it was felt that attendance was limited to larger institutions. This meeting included smaller organizations previously not represented. About 20% of attendees at Minnewaska were from artist-based organizations. The Steering Committee devised a selection process for attendees to keep total attendance to 63 and represent national activity. The issues addressed at the conference included: theatrical and commerical distribution of independent works; new technologies including...
New York State Council for the Humanities begins supporting film and video
New York Upstate Meeting of Non-Profit Media Groups March 9, 1979 at Synapse Video Center, Syracuse, NY. Groups met to continue discussion about formation of an organization eventually known as Media Alliance, representing service organizations and individual media artists in New York State. Groups attending: Richard Simmons (Everson Museum), John Orentlicher (Experimental Studios at Syracuse University), Ralph Hocking (Experimental Television Center), Sherry Miller (Experimental Television Center), Phil Jones (Ithaca Video Project), Gunilla Jones (Ithaca Video Project), Carl Geiger (Innervision Media Systems), Joe Scala (CAST), David Shapiro (Media Study/Buffalo), Nancy Cain (Media Bus), Jon Held (Mid-York Library Systems), John Camelio (Portable Channel), Bob Shay (Portable Channel), Vince Doody (Media Programs at SUNY Oswego), Hal Schlid (WTOP cable at SUNY Oswego), Henry Baker (Synapse), Darrell Westlake (Synapse), Bill Dargie (Synapse), Woody Vasulka (Vasulka Corporation), Steina Vasulka (Vasulka Corporation), Nathan Lyons (Visual Studies Workshop), Arthur Tsuchiya (Visual Studies Workshop), Richard Phillips (Utica), Art Gillick (WCNY-TV), Pat Faust (WXXI-TV), Pat Anderson...
TeleGuide and Proposal for QUBE by Peter D'Agostino. QUBE was a two-way cable TV system in Columbus, OH. Proposal for QUBE was installed at Long Beach Museum of Art (1979).
Report: The 1979 National Conference of Media Arts Centers. Published by Foundation of Independent Video and Film. This conference was also known as the Minnewaska Conference. Includes papers by Virgil Grillo "A Proposal for Audience Development"; "A Proposal for NEA Small Grants Provision to be Distributed by Media Arts Centers"; "Touring Artists and Cooperative Bookings". Robert Haller "Payment to Artists for Exhibitions of Their Work"; "Media Arts Organizations 1966-1978". Alan Jacobs "A Proposal for a National Advocacy Newsletter". Jonas Mekas "Notes on the Preservation of Independently Made Films". Robert Sitton "A National Center for Independent Feature Film?". Susan Woll "Three Proposals for Supporting and Facilitating Production".
Installation by Stephen Partridge at The Kitchen, September/October. "Study in Blue" is a two channel stereo installation, funded by the Arts Council of Great Britian and The British Council.
The Electronic Image workshop. 1980. A travelling workshop by Ralph Hocking and Sherry Miller Hocking of the Experimental Television Center concerning image processing tools and techniques, sponsored by the University Wide Committee on the Arts for 20 colleges and universities around NYS. "The Electronic Image: A Travelling Workshop" at Jamestown Community College, Monroe Community College, Orange County Community College, Sullivan County Community College, Visual Studies Workshop, Mass Productions, (Ithaca), Utica College, Anthology Film Archives. COnducted by Ralph Hocking and Sherry Miller Hocking of the Experimental Television Center and sponsored by the University Wide Committee on the Art. 1979-1980.
The Frontier is a weekly series of 16 programs broadcast on WNED-TV in Buffalo, NY. Series produced by Media Study/Buffalo, David Shapiro Director, which curates the series and WNED-TV which provides technical assistance for broadcast. Series showcases independent video and filmmakers. Support from the New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Canada Council. Producer Lynn Corcoran, Executive Producer, James Blue for Media Study/Buffalo. December 15, 1979 - April 19, 1980. Included AP Ferullo, Marcelle Pecot, Joan Chase and John Hardham, Rick Hancox, Sally Dundas, Paul Cassellman, Michalel Kennedy, Keith Lock and James Anderson, Survival Arts Media, Lorne Marin, Jack Bice, Lynn Corcoran, Kevin Noble, Harland Snodgrass, Halya Kuchmij, Georgiana Jungels and William Jungels, Pat Gruben, Terry Burke, Jennifer Lewis, Ray Broniszewski, Brian Blair, Joseph Steinmetz, Joan Evans, Rebecca Goldfield and Rajin Srikanth.
The Governor's Office for Motion Pictures and Television is established in NYS.
On December 10-12, 1979 at one of John Reilly's conferences, "The Independent Producer, Public Television, and New Video Technologies", held at The Walnut Street Theatre, a regional media center in Philadelphia, Brian O'Doherty, Director of the Media Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts, announced that funds were being directed to regional organizations such as the Alabama Filmmakers Coop and the South West Alternate Media Project, to be distributed to independent makers in those areas.
The International Video Art Symposium, at The Agnes Etherington Art Centre of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. March 5-7, 1979. Transcript includes texts: Wulf Herzogenrath (Video Artists and Television as a Medium); Ian Murray (Support Structures for Artists Working with Videotape; Susan Britton (Video Lunch); Paul Wong (Making Video: Cable Access, Artists Cooperatives, Fees and Rights); Reprints from "Video as a Community or Political Tool", Vancouver Art Gallery; David Hall (London Video Arts); Maria Bicocchi (Video and its Distribution); Kate Craig (Outlets for Video); Michael Goldberg (Free Television); Clive Robertson (TV Art in the Home); Jamie Davidovich (Home Marketing of Video Art).
The Television Laboratory at WNET TV awards 11 grants through the Artists in Residence Program and the Independent Documentary Fund. Artists included Mitchell Kriegman (Door Stories), Dan Reeves (untitled), Warrington Hudlin (Gypsy Cab), Anita Thacher (Small Talk), Ralph Hocking (untitled), Sally Shapiro and Frank Foster (Audio Visual Jazz), Robert Holguin (Crystal: The Brown Out), Ira Wohl (A Woman's Decision), Ross McElwee with Michael Negroponte and Alexandra Anthony (The Disappeared Ones), Robert Van Leirop (The Class of '54), Martha Sandlin (A Lady Named Baybie).