The Frontier is Here: NAMAC 2007 Conference in Austin
It is with great pleasure that the Austin School of Film @ Motion Media Arts Center and the Austin Conference steering committee invite each and every one of you to Austin in October 2007 to celebrate the 18th NAMAC Conference celebrating the media arts. The Conference’s placement deep in the heart of Texas will give you a sense of how diverse regions are handling the delights and challenges of working within our rapidly evolving field.
“The Frontier is Here: Create, Engage, Act” will take place October 17–20, 2007. The Conference will bring together artists and filmmakers; staff and board members from media and visual arts centers; funders; programmers; distributors; educators; activists; curators; youth producers; members of the press; and policymakers. We’ll hear the most current thinking about the field’s future opportunities, create a national platform for the media arts, and strengthen our networks.
Austin is a perfect place to gather at this critical juncture, as perceptions, technology, content, pedagogy, interfaces and practices are evolving and melding at an exponential speed. Our state will be a perfect backdrop for a national audience to meet and discuss methods for moving forward into this newest frontier for the media arts. Each day of the Conference’s plenaries and panels will deal with one of the subject areas: Create, Engage, and Act.
Now, I know when you think of Texas, you think of horses, rodeos, barbeque, and politics—not media innovation—but this impression encapsulates only one aspect of our state. In fact, when discussing the state of the media arts field, Texas is a microcosm. We are home to myriad nonprofit organizations, community groups, schools, and companies that specialize in the media and visual arts or feature media artists on a regular basis. Media programs for youth focusing on film and video production, game design, and digital arts media literacy have proliferated like wildfire through the community. The next frontier is undoubtedly here.
More and more, Texas high-tech companies are working within the community to bridge the digital divide among all constituencies and are working with city governments to ensure that the Texas workforce is prepared for digital careers in the twenty-first century. Our economy, the second largest in the nation, has traditionally been fueled by the information technology, biomedical research, and energy industries. But more and more, the film, gaming, and entertainment industries are dominating emerging business here, encouraging us to stay at the forefront of innovation and creativity to stay competitive.
Texas is now one of the top filmmaking states in the country, just after California and New York. In the past ten years alone, more than $2.75 billion has been spent here on film and television production, and since the 1980s, the game industry has also been thriving. There are currently more than sixty game-development companies throughout the state, creating games for computers, home consoles, the Internet, and mobile phones. Because of the relatively low cost of living in Texas, as well as the booming job market, we are the destination for new companies specializing in emerging technologies. In fact, the hill country of Austin is now known as “Silicon Hills.”
Texas-based film festivals like SXSW Film, the Austin Film Festival, Cinematexas, and the Dallas Video Festival are internationally acclaimed and growing. We are also home to a number of innovative microcinemas, alternative arts spaces, and theaters featuring independent and experimental work, including the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin and the Aurora Picture Show in Houston.
The Internet is melting away the boundaries that once existed for Austin’s artists and media arts facilitators to create connections and distribute and share work, not just nationally, but globally. As this digital proliferation of work speeds along, issues of copyright and censorship have never been more imperative.
Most importantly, our demographics are rapidly evolving, as in many parts of the country; Spanish-language media is experiencing phenomenal growth in Texas, giving us an opportunity to help chart its future. We can no longer accept being passive consumers of media made by a few—we must facilitate the creation of new and relevant content and art by all generations, which will more accurately define our society.
For Texas, and across the nation, success in all of these areas is not just about improved networking, media literacy, and technological capacity, but is also dependent on conceptual skills and a developed artistic vision. Art matters! Media arts practitioners, educators, and supporters here in Texas are thinking of ways that we can better communicate and coordinate to succeed. We look forward to hosting a gathering of experts, doers, and thinkers to expand the already impressive network fostered by NAMAC.
Austin is a very unique part of Texas—our official city slogan, after all, is “The Live Music Capital of the World.” We are an independent, laid-back-yet-high-tech, hip, happening city where there is something for absolutely everyone. It is not uncommon to see a “good ole boy” with a ten-gallon hat politely opening a door for a thoroughly tattooed lady with a neon pink Mohawk; musicians playing at any time of the day on public patios; or major film productions blocking off city streets. And since Austin is the capital of Texas—our Capitol building is the largest in the country—we are also host to politicos and activists of every persuasion intelligently arguing their points at local coffee shops or major, organized protests. Also, within a 100-mile radius of Austin, you’ll find twenty-eight colleges and universities, including a world-class research institution, the University of Texas at Austin, the nation’s largest public university. Oh yes, we also have the very best Tex-Mex and vegetarian food in the entire state, and you can wear shorts and jeans just about anywhere. Did I mention Barton Springs? Used year-round, this natural spring-fed pool is one of Austin’s most famous landmarks and easily the most popular swimming hole in the city. You feel positively rejuvenated after a swim in its chilly, clear, waters.
When you come to visit us in Austin next year, we will make sure that you positively experience all that our truly distinctive city has to offer. The Conference will take place at the Sheraton at the Capitol, an incredible venue where our focal gathering-point features sweeping views. Walking distance from the hotel is the Capitol, downtown (arts venues), 6th Street District (live music), 4th Street Warehouse District (incredible dining and bars), 2nd Street District (shopping), and the beautiful Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail. You’ll find that we are obsessed with the outdoors and with our parks, so bring some comfortable walking or jogging shoes, too.
The Conference will open on Wednesday night with a reception at a local gallery or museum. And just so that you remember that we are in Texas, we will host an event along with the Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Road Show at The Salt Lick—just about the best barbeque that the hill country has to offer. We will provide tours of our downtown arts institutions—Austin Museum of Art, Arthouse, and Mexic-Arte—as well Austin’s more idiosyncratic, quirky arts studios during the East Austin Studios Tour. You are also invited to visit Austin Studios to see where some of our biggest film productions are taking place. We will close out the Conference with an incredible band, reception, and all-encompassing film installation by renowned visual artist and Austin resident Luke Savisky.
The Austin School of Film @ Motion Media Arts Center is a nonprofit independent film, art, and technology center that supports every aspect of production from idea to distribution. Our goal is to educate, train, and develop emerging artists of all ages to be active participants in shaping our twenty-first-century culture. The Austin School of Film was formed in May 2003 by combining two organizations in Austin dedicated to bringing access to, and training in, small-gauge filmmaking—Austin Cinemaker Co-op and the Center for Young Cinema (CYC). The combined histories of these two award-winning organizations creates an indelible foundation for a media center dedicated educating the public about media arts production.
The Austin School of Film is honored to be part of the steering committee, an extraordinary gathering of Texas organizations dedicated to bringing to Austin the very best NAMAC Conference possible. The steering committee includes: Austin Film Festival; Austin Film Society; Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival (aGLIFF); Cine Las Americas; Department of Radio-Television-Film (RTF) at the University of Texas at Austin; Digital Media Council (DMC); Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services Office of the City of Austin; Film School of San Antonio at Harlandale; KLRU Television; Reel Women; South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival; Southwest Alternate Media Project (SWAMP); and Student Film Showcase (SFS) TV Video Podcast.
See y’all next year!
