Preservation Client
Preserved Media: Artists and Craftsmen Anthology
Artists and Craftsmen Anthology BAVC Media has worked with Survival Arts Media and the Peoples Video Theater through several grant-funded preservation projects. Howard Gutstadt and Ben Levine provided the Camp Jened videos for the Oscar-nominated film Crip Camp as part of the People's Video Theater / Survival Arts Media Archive, and was preserved by BAVC Media! And there’s more where that came from. Between 1976 and 1978, Survival Arts Media produced the Artists and Craftsmen Anthology in cooperation with the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library system. These mini-documentaries were produced using early black and white ½" video portapaks, and U-matic color camera recorders. The New York State Council on the Arts provided funding for the [...]
Now Available On YouTube: Exploring the VSW Archive – Early Video Art & Community Media in Western NY
On August 5th, 2020, BAVC Media streamed a video event with Visual Studies Workshop (VSW), and we're happy to announce that the recording is now live on YouTube! Over the last two years BAVC Media has been working with VSW in Rochester, NY to preserve their archive of early video recordings. The VSW Film and Video Collection holds more than 4,000 video tapes, many of which were made between 1970-1990 by artists, activists and collectives throughout New York State. This fascinating collection includes over 1,500 ½” open reel recordings from community access programs such as Portable Channel, SYNAPSE, [...]
Now Available On YouTube: From Video Activism to Early Immersive Media
Stills from: Crip Camp (left) Mind of Universe (right) On June 3rd, 2020, BAVC Media streamed a video event highlighting the history of early video collectives The People’s Video Theatre (PVT) and Survival Arts Media (SAM) through their archive of preserved analog video. From their roots as video activists to their mind-expanding experiments with video art and early immersive media performances, the story of PVT and SAM is the story of early video’s growth into its own distinct form of expression and storytelling. A video recording of the streaming event is now available for viewing here! In these [...]
“Crip Camp” to Premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival
Throughout New York State in the 1970s The People's Video Theater was producing documentary programs using Sony PortaPak cameras. At the time, this technology was cutting-edge, and these programs chronicled the counterculture and liberation movements that transformed the politics of America. The collective’s mission was to explore the capabilities of the video medium for creative self-expression and community empowerment. The real-time recording and playback capabilities of this new video medium allowed The People's Video Theater to capture material and play it back for their subjects immediately. This “feedback” capability enabled participants to shape their own stories on-screen, and to initiate [...]
Preservation Access Program 2018
We are excited to announce the participants in the upcoming round of BAVC Media’s Preservation Access Program! From video artists to unique regional collections, the group is representative of the wide variety of artists and institutions this unique program serves. The following is a brief overview of the clients we will be collaborating with to preserve their precious magnetic media over the coming months: Visual Studies Workshop is a non-profit educational and research organization located in Rochester, NY. Their mission is to support makers and interpreters of images through education, publications, exhibitions, and collections. The GLBT Historical Society collects, preserves, [...]
Meet Emmanuel Te: Preservation Intern
At BAVC Media Preservation, I gained experience in video conversion of older video formats. I learned the basics in how to maintain playback equipment and handle client's tapes, document conversion progress on SalesForce, work with time based correctors to set audiovisual levels to maintain original video quality, and spot errors during quality control. While at BAVC Media, I always felt like I was working and walking among “living history,” at times flavored with some San Franciscan culture. Though the physical tapes and the equipment used to transfer them are still playable now, they are slowly moving towards their eventual obsolescence. [...]
Preservation Access Program Client: CET Films
Written by: Hannah Franklin, Preservation Department Intern, Summer 2017 My summer internship with BAVC Media’s Preservation Access Program has been a challenging yet incredibly rewarding experience. My tasks have centered around the digitization of works from the Center for Educational Telecommunications (CET), a small cultural heritage institution based in Berkeley, California. Now known as CET Films, the Center is a non-profit organization responsible for producing and distributing educational films, focusing on Asian American history. PAP is made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This year, CET Films has submitted [...]
Preservation Access Program Featured Artist: Charles Woodman
A clip from Dance Tracks (1990-1996), an early work by Charles Woodman, mastered on ¾” video at the Experimental Television Center, Preserved by BAVC Media At the end of 2016, we will have celebrated three years of continuous support from the National Endowment of the Arts for our Preservation Access Program (PAP), having provided affordable digitization and preservation services to nearly 100 artists and organizations whose latter-century works are locked into obsolete media formats. In celebration of reaching that milestone, we will be highlighting those participating artists whose dedication to preservation and access is exemplary. Featured this month is Charles [...]
Preservation Access Program Recipients Spring 2016
The Preservation Access Program, or PAP (pronounced p-a-p and not pap like the funny ladies in the Finance department like to say), is our popular, ongoing relief program for artists and small arts organizations seeking to preserve their works recorded to magnetic media. Thanks to a generous subsidy provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, BAVC Media is able to digitize and provide other preservation services at heavily discounted rates. PAP holds two application rounds per year, the latest one ending on January 14th, 2016. We’ve just told some amazing artists and organizations that they will be receiving the [...]
