2025 Membership Recap
Since joining BAVC Media this spring, Membership & Programs Assistant Zander Constien has helped reshape how members connect and collaborate. Here’s a look at what changed in 2025 and what’s ahead for our members.
I joined BAVC Media as the new Membership and Programs Assistant this March and I couldn’t be more proud of the work the marketing team and I have done in such a short time. This year, our membership program fostered BAVC Media’s mission to serve our community of independent artists by bringing people together and sparking creativity in new and exciting ways.
Though the discounts to classes and workshops remain the same, the refreshed program grants access to our media making spaces, essential resources for grant applications, and networking opportunities so Bay Area artists can meet their future collaborators and inspire each other.
We opened up our Edit Lab as a new member benefit, giving BAVC Media members two free editing sessions per month including access to Adobe suites, Davinci Resolve, and other helpful software all on M2 processors, an incredible resource for any aspiring filmmaker. The Ninth Street Independent Film Center also has a Screening Room that is bookable for our members. It’s equipped with a 4k projector and surround sound, perfect for hosting fundraisers, picture lock screenings, and intimate director Q&As.
For San Francisco residents, we offer filmmaking resources available through SF COMMONS, our public access channel. If you are producing a show with us, you can check out brand new DJI Osmo pocket cameras. They’re compact and gimbal-stabilized for on-the-go shooting.
Not only have we opened up our spaces for community use, our Artist Development team also offers eligibility for professional feedback on grant applications for Producer level members. This guidance can make the difference in securing funding for a project. BAVC Media can also extend Fiscal Sponsorship status to its members, opening up even more avenues for funding.
Anyone who has made a film knows it’s a challenging process and without funders, collaborators, and friends, the project just wouldn’t get made. When I was hired on to revamp the membership program, I noticed that there was so much potential for community among independent media makers. So when our Director of Marketing & Audience Strategy, Daniel Díaz, asked me to come up with some ideas for a new member event, it clicked. What I missed most about film school was screening my work in a room full of creatives and getting feedback.
There are limited options for screening work-samples or rough cuts at film festivals. On the opposite side of the spectrum, showing work to friends and family doesn’t always give filmmakers the perspective they need to take their films to the next level. So I decided to create the Member Montage: Community Screening and Mixer event! A place where film and media makers could bring their work at any stage of the process and share it with the BAVC Media member community.
So far, we’ve hosted two such events and we’re planning a third for February. This screening series has brought together people with similar interests, who might have otherwise never met. Ideas flow, contacts are exchanged, and people leave the event feeling more activated to create with their communities. One of our members who screened his work at the Member Montage in October, Raheem Ballard, commented, “People need to know that they are supported, and that there are spaces which will help them achieve their visions.” Independent cinema bridges the gap between dreams and reality, and BAVC Media is trying to be there every step of the way.
The Member Montage is just the beginning for events coming in 2026. BAVC Media was founded in 1976, marking the new year as our fiftieth anniversary. I’ve been trusted to generate even more events to serve the needs of our member community.
We’ll be hosting structured networking mixers geared toward finding collaborators and pitching projects. We’ll also be taking our members on field trips to other fearless independent film organizations in the Bay Area. There are so many amazing things coming up in the new year, I hope to see you there!
