2007 NAMAC Conference
In October, NAMAC presented its eighteenth annual conference in Austin Texas. For three days participants engaged in thoughtful panels surrounding the three conference tracks of Create, Engage, and Act. From a multitude of inspiring conversations on the conference floor to a giant, Texas-style BBQ followed by films projected beneath a Texan starlit sky, this year's conference was a one of a kind experience.
Post Conference Reflections and Pictures
As part of that experience, select conference attendees contributed their thoughts, musings and photos to NAMAC. Below you will find links to their writing and a few of the member contributed photos in NAMAC's Flickr group.
Photos from the Official NAMAC flickr group
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Have any other images or links from the conference to send us?
Contact Morgan Sully, Online Community Manager at:
morgan[at]namac[dot]org If you're a contributing elsewhere online, just
be sure to tag your content with 'namacconference2007'
BAVC at NAMAC Conference: The Frontier is Here, Part I
by Jazmin Jones
of BAVC
Last Monday, I boarded a plane to Austin, TX so that I could attend the
NAMAC Austin Conference: The Frontier is Here. Yianeth Saen, a fellow
young filmmaker and member of BAVC’s Factory video program, was my
travel companion and roommate for the week. Yianeth and I arrived at
the Sheraton in Austin just in time to meet up with some of the other
young adults attending the conference.
NAMAC 2007 - Day 2
by Patric Stillman
of The Media Arts Center San Diego
Patric Stillman of the Media Arts Center San Diego shares his
conference thoughts and experiences of Austin, NAMAC and people in a video.
The NAMAC Conference at Austin
by Yianeth Saenz
of BAVC
I don’t know if it was the conference, the city or the wonderful people
I met, but I left Austin with the intention and hope that one day I
would return. The NAMAC Conference was the first I attended in my life.
I had no idea what to expect when I left Oakland. Both the conference
and the humid heat were all new to me. But besides a few problems here
and there, I’m glad the conference went the way it did.
Distributing with Abundance
by Katy Chevigny
of Arts Engine
Media distribution, and its quicksilver changeability over the last few
years, dominated the conversation on a wide range of NAMAC panels at
last month’s conference. It started the first morning, when Rick
Linklater, asked by Janet Pierson to assess the state of affairs today,
conceded that it’s both the best of times and the worst of times for
independent makers.
Out At the NAMAC Frontier
by Susi Walsh
of Center for Independent Documentary
I’d never been to Texas before, and I’ve since learned while I was in
Austin that it isn’t much like the rest of Texas. It’s a fast growing
city which wears its old sections well, and seems to be proud of its
much more liberal reputation than the rest of the state. We were
staying at the Sheraton hotel downtown within a quick walk to the
beautiful state capitol building and what seemed to be an unlimited
number of bars (many of them out doors) featuring live music of all
kinds...
NAMAC, Austin, October 2007
by Ben Sheldon
of CTC VISTA Project
This was my first NAMAC conference and my first time Austin. On
arriving I was really excited by the energy of the people there:
everyone had a project they were working on and their eagerness to
share was evident on faces and in the glossy literature passing from
hand to hand...
Austin Frontier Creates New Encounters
by Nettrice R. Gaskins
I arrived in Austin ready to explore the state of the media arts in a
mostly uncharted territory. I had no idea what to expect, as no NAMAC
conference has ever taken place below the Mason Dixon line. The theme
of the 2007 NAMAC national conference is “The Frontier is Here”. For
me, someone who is often seen as being on the “bleeding edge” of
education, art, and technology, this frontier is both political and
geographical in nature.
A VISTA From the Frontier: A Field Report
by Morgan Sully
of NAMAC
Being a dilettante professional relatively new to the field, this
conference was a great view from the frontier. From meeting other media
makers and supporters from the ‘old school’ to hanging out with fellow
VISTAs working at NAMAC’s member organizations, I was thoroughly
ecstatic to have attended. In going forth with my work here at NAMAC, I
feel better informed as their new Online Community Manager...
