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Announcing the Artist Development Donor Circle
BAVC Media is proud to announce our newly launched Artist Development Donor Circle. We’d love to share more about this opportunity with you. Why now? Since BAVC began in 1976, supporting artists has been at the core of our work. In 1991 we launched our MediaMaker Fellowship (formerly the National MediaMaker Fellowship and the BAVC Producers Institute), and since then we have served hundreds of independent artists working on social-issue film and multimedia projects, with a particular focus on supporting emerging artists from underrepresented communities. MediaMaker films have premiered and won awards at festivals that include Sundance, Tribeca, Hot Docs, [...]
Support BAVC Media this Giving Tuesday
Dear BAVC Media Community, As we come to the end of 2023, BAVC Media is steadfast in our commitment to creating accessible and participatory mediamaking opportunities. To continue this work we need you. Please support BAVC Media today so that we can continue to invest in our broad, intergenerational community of mediamakers in the Bay Area and across the country. All of our programs, from the BAVC MediaMaker Fellowship for first- or second-time documentary filmmakers, to Reel Stories for girls and gender-expansive youth, and our preservation team that preserves and digitizes AV media for independent artists and arts and cultural [...]
BAVC Media statement in support of a ceasefire in Gaza
BAVC Media is a pluralistic organization that exists to support independent media makers who have often been marginalized as storytellers, working professionals, and citizens who deserve equal and fair treatment and opportunity. We exist to advance social justice by serving media makers - through their craft, courage, bridge-building, risk-taking, and personal sacrifice. With this commitment, we write to express BAVC Media's support of a ceasefire to create free passage of humanitarian aid, an end to the deadly violence and the dehumanization of innocent lives in Gaza and Israel, and the release of all hostages. We seek an end to the [...]
Our vision for a Bay Area media hub
Dear friends, supporters, and colleagues, We recently moved into a new space at the Ninth Street Independent Film Center in the heart of SoMa. We did this to follow a vision: create a Bay Area media hub where makers can gather to produce new work, form connections, preserve community memories, and build their skills through hands-on practice. Across our many programs, we are offering in-person workshops to young people, emerging makers, and established professionals; convening documentary fellows from throughout the Bay Area and across the country; establishing a local media archive and preservation lab that will be open to the [...]
Morgan Morel: Farewell BAVC
 For the past 5 and a half years I’ve had my dream job at BAVC Media. From my very first week up until my last I’ve had the opportunity to work with so many amazing people, organizations, and collections. I’ve been moved to the brink of tears countless times while digitizing images and sounds containing memories of art, activism, history, and culture. Since the 90’s BAVC’s Preservation Department has been instrumental in advancing the state of audiovisual preservation, and advocating for the preservation of at-risk tape media. BAVC has also been very good to me. The growth I’ve experienced [...]
BAVC Media to lead national field-building initiatives in 2023
Over the next couple of years, BAVC Media will be leading new and/or expanded national projects to advance the field of independent media making and preservation, and arts organization leadership overall. We're committed to these projects because we believe that by sharing information and resources, we can help create a stronger and more equitable field. Our success proposition relies upon collaboration and leveraging our collective resources. Specifically, BAVC Media was selected to lead the following projects over the next couple of years: A Nation-Wide Survey of Audiovisual Preservation (National Endowment for the Humanities) A project to conduct a national study [...]
I got my start at BAVC: Yeelen Cohen
Stories from our community For 45 years we have been opening doors for emerging media makers and professionals in the Bay Area, through training, artist development, apprenticeships, funding and more. As we look forward to 2023 and celebrate the work we've done, we asked members of our community to share how BAVC Media has impacted their careers. Check out 2022 MediaMaker Fellow, Yeelen Cohen's BAVC story below! Your contributions help us deliver programs, pay instructors, and offer subsidized classes to support our local media-making community. While we continue to rebuild revenue loss from the pandemic, [...]
An inspiring Pitch from the 2022 BAVC MediaMaker Fellows!
2022 MediaMakers: Pitch Event Photo Credit: reflect light Photography On Tuesday, December 6, the exceptional cohort of 2022 BAVC MediaMaker Fellows were gathered for one final time in San Francisco where they presented their works in progress to an intimate audience of friends, peers, industry supporters, and potential funders at the KQED Headquarters. Executive Director Paula Smith Arrigoni welcomed us in and introduced Fellowship Co-Director’s, Dawn Valadez and Rodrigo Reyes who hosted the show. They began the night by talking bout the power and importance of mentorship. Each fellow then shared a new sample and pitched their project to [...]
I got my start at BAVC: Elizabeth Herrera
Stories from our community For 45 years we have been opening doors for emerging media makers and professionals in the Bay Area, through training, artist development, apprenticeships, funding and more. As we look forward to 2023 and celebrate the work we've done, we asked members of our community to share how BAVC Media has impacted their careers. Check out our program assistant, Elizabeth Herrera's BAVC story below! Your contributions help us deliver programs, pay instructors, and offer subsidized classes to support our local media-making community. While we continue to rebuild revenue loss from the pandemic, [...]
I got my start at BAVC: Rachel Holbrook
Stories from our community For 45 years we have been opening doors for emerging media makers and professionals in the Bay Area, through training, artist development, apprenticeships, funding and more. As we look forward to 2023 and celebrate the work we've done, we asked members of our community to share how BAVC Media has impacted their careers. Check out our newest board member, Rachel Holbrook's BAVC story below! Your contributions help us deliver programs, pay instructors, and offer subsidized classes to support our local media-making community. While we continue to rebuild revenue loss from the [...]
