An Open Letter
What are your thoughts about revitalization, audience development and a summit that brings together nonprofit and commercial interests? Should we advocate for local taxes to support nonprofit exhibition sites, community by community? What is the real possibility for a national Media Exhibition Fund and how would the field develop the resources for it? By naming the issues and her dreams for independent media to be seen everywhere, Lerner lays out a provocative challenge to all concerned with the state of the media arts exhibition and access to public media in this country.
When I made the transition from the performing arts world to independent film and video about eight years ago, I was shocked at how underdeveloped the infrastructure was for media, surely the art form of this century. Foundations that collectively invest millions of dollars to sustain the performing arts have failed to provide consistent, ongoing support for analogous efforts in our field. (There are a few notable exceptions - especially the visionary support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.)
And while the commercial industry - the Hollywood studios, the networks, the cable companies - has supported high-profile events in the field, it has virtually ignored the grassroots media organizations that have spent decades nurturing artists and building adventurous audiences. It could be argued that the commercial independent media industry is so dynamic right now because of the noncommercial infrastructure that has been in place for the past two decades.
I'm particularly concerned about the state of exhibition. Commercial theaters simply can't handle the volume of independent film that is now available to them. When independent work does get booked for a run, it is under tremendous pressure to perform extremely well immediately or it will get bumped. And just at the moment we are experiencing this incredible explosion in independent media production, many nonprofit venues are having to curtail their exhibition schedules. Media centers, museums, libraries, artist spaces, colleges, and universities have all experienced public sector budget cuts. Now even these venues are under pressure to look more carefully at the marketability of the work they exhibit.
Having been a small exhibitor myself, I know that exhibition of important or challenging work often must be subsidized.
Fed up, exhausted by years of censorship battles, and budget cuts, many artists are now being seduced by the charms of the marketplace. And unquestionably it's thrilling to see the new opportunities for independents in cable, home video, and foreign markets. But I think it is important not to confuse the opportunities that are arising forsome independents with the system of support for alternative work that has been in place for almost two decades.
Frankly, much of the work that excites me is not commercially viable in a traditional sense (perhaps contrary to the aspirations of its makers). A lot of it is appropriate for exhibition in noncommercial venues, which is why we need those exisiting venues to be strong and why we also need many new exhibition sites. I still believe in the power of the shared, communal experience of the live event, and I'm absolutely convinced that many more people would be interested in seeing independent media than presently have the opportunity to do so.
I think we've reached a critical crossroads in the life of our field. What needs to happen now?
Relatively speaking, we're a young field. Despite being undercapitalized, nonprofit media organizations have nonetheless nurtured countless artists by providing affordable access to equipment, training, information, and exhibition opportunities.
Now as the field matures, our media organizations need revitalizing; many, including AIVF, have been in the process of reinventing themselves for a changed economic and technological environment.
But we all require - and deserve - increased financial assistance to continue our important work.
We also need to establish brand new exhibition venues in communities large and small. I don't think it's so farfetched to imagine cultivating three to five new media exhibition sites per state per year--at libraries, community colleges, and local arts councils, for example. Media centers could be a tremendous resource in this process, demystifying equipment needs and providing information on working with distributors and building an audience--in effect, offering the kinds of hands-on workshops that have transformed performing arts presenting over the past two decades. After five years there would be at least 750 new exhibition sites for media throughout the country. If each community held just one screening per month, there would be almost 10,000 new screening opportunities each year.
I would also like to see the establishment of a Media Exhibition Fund of several million dollars per year, the primary purpose of which would be to encourage independent media exhibition in communities or neighborhoods that do not have such programs.
I sometimes fear we are running the risk of becoming a society of isolated individuals locked away in our home entertainment fortresses. What is the antidote to this? A lively and diverse public media culture permeating every city and town. I can imagine screenings of independent work every night of the week in hundreds of communities all across the country; I can see audiences engaged, passionate, excited about what they are experiencing.
I estimate that with $6-8 million a year (much less than the cost of one Stallone action film) noncommercial media exhibition in the United States could be radicaly transformed. And everybody wins. Artists benefit. Distributors benefit. The industry benefits. And communities all across the country get access to work they might not otherwise see.
What would it take to make this happen? A summit meeting with representatives from the commercial industry, artist service organizations, independent media exhibitors and distributors, and foundation leaders might be a good place to start. Such a gathering might result in new collaborations between exhibitors and distributors, between foundations and the industry, and eventually, in the creation of a funding pool that will nourish and sustain these dreams.
Reprinted with permission from the January 1997 issue of The Independent Film and Video Monthly.
Ruby Lerner was the publisher of The Independent and executive director of the Association of Independent Film and Video (AIVF). She is currently the Executive Director of the Creative Capital Foundation.
© 1997 National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture. All Rights Reserved.
