The State of the Field: A Report from 2002 Regional Meetings
In the fall of 2002, the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC) collaborated with the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers (AIVF) to present the Media Arts Environmental Scanning Tour of Regional Organizations (MAESTRO). With support from the National Endowment for the Arts, MAESTRO celebrated the media arts and encouraged connections among regional media arts organizations through a series of screenings, workshops and discussions in San Diego, Denver and Chicago.
As part of MAESTRO, NAMAC convened staff leaders from regional clusters of media arts organizations for a series of think tank discussions. Through these discussions, NAMAC sought to engage organizations in thinking together about the direction of the independent media field, strengthen relationships among regional media arts organizations, and generate information to help evolve NAMAC s programs and service to the field.
Report findings are organized in three sections: (1) key trends and issues in the independent media field, (2) support and assistance needed by media arts organizations, and (3) conclusions and implications for NAMAC s service to the field. Also included is a list of organizations that participated in the think tank discussions.
Three local host organizations contributed greatly to the success of the think tank discussions: Media Arts Center San Diego, Denver Center Media, and Street-Level Youth Media (Chicago).
KEY TRENDS AND ISSUES IN THE MEDIA ARTS
Key trends and issues in the media arts identified by think tank participants included a long-term pattern of decline in arts education, opportunities and challenges due to changing technology, an increase in the number of new media makers and new productions, the emergence of new public spaces, a worsening funding picture, and a continuing lack of widespread awareness and appreciation for the media arts.
Arts education is in crisis.
Participants in all three regions bemoaned the decline of arts education in K-12 schools, recognizing it as a long-term trend rather than a new development. In Denver and Chicago, attendees commented on the intense pressure to prepare students for standardized tests, and the prevalence of high stress school environments that squeeze out creativity.
A Chicago educator linked the decline of arts education in the schools to the decline of visual literacy and critical thinking in the broader culture. He noted, for example, that while his college is seeing more technically proficient productions made by high school aged media makers due to the ubiquity of media tools, "the work is not grounded in critical thinking or agency." The lack of arts education within the public education system impacts not only media arts organizations but also on the future of civil society, attendees said. One San Diego participant summed it up by saying, "The elimination of arts programs undermines the potential for future generations to appreciate cultural practices as integral to society." A Denver educator noted, The media arts can re-inspire classrooms," recalling public education champion John Dewey s proviso that "participatory democracy requires creativity."
Changing technology brings opportunities and challenges.
The media arts are undergoing a time of redefinition that is heavily influenced by changing technology. Participants noted that digital technology has resulted in increased equipment quality at affordable prices for media arts organizations and independent media makers. Cost is less to produce broadcast standard. Innovative forms are being developed through hybridization (e.g. the combination of video, music, websites, DVDs, etc.). According to a Chicago participant, these new forms are helping to bring people together across disciplines.
The Internet continues to strongly influence how media arts organizations conduct their work, participants said. Leading the media arts field in Internet use are youth, who make heavy use of online tools for discussion groups, promoting attendance at screenings, and encouraging participation in programs. A Chicago participant highlighted "self organizing systems," such as transnational activist communities, that are enabled by the Internet. Such systems, he said, "are based on common interests and operate outside of institutions." Attendees also pointed to the availability of new web-based tools for self-publishing and grassroots distribution.
Denver participants noted that while new technology is empowering for activists and independent media makers, the increased availability technology could give a false picture of "broad" access. In reality, many people still lack technology access, tools and skills. Exhibitors highlighted another challenge associated with technological change: Festivals have seen an explosion of formats, and supporting multiple formats is very expensive. As a San Diego attendee said, "We have one foot in each world old technology and new technology." Chicago participants noted that an "interim" period for technology is lingering, and that it is still unclear what the new standards will be.
More media makers are creating more work; new public spaces are emerging.
All three regions have seen growth in the number of media makers and the volume of new productions being created. Chicago participants emphasized that demand for the services provided by their media arts organizations has increased as resources have decreased. They noted, "A lot of exciting work is getting made," and, "More work is getting produced but isn t getting seen." In Denver, participants reported "an explosion of local filmmaking" despite drastic cuts to the film commission s budget. Digital video has aided experienced filmmakers and has been an important factor in the increasing number of amateur productions, participants said. Festival entries are up, and as one Chicago exhibitor noted, "We are seeing an insane variety in the professionalism of entries."
In conjunction with the creation of new work, new public spaces are opening up. The microcinema movement has taken off with an explosion of opportunities for screening and discussing independent work at locations ranging from nightclubs to community centers. "Microcinemas provide an avenue for people to come together and engage in critical cultural activity," one Chicago participant said, while emphasizing that efforts to reach broad audiences and reclaim public media space remain crucial. In Chicago and Denver participants reported an increase in socially engaged media making and media activism, and the creation of activist work that is more sophisticated and less didactic than that of the past. Denver participants said distribution strategies are increasingly combining films with community organizing. They reported that niche distribution is a continuing trend. For example, there is an underground network of venues for black independent work that is generally not seen elsewhere. However, as one Denver participant commented, "Compartmentalization limits us because it keeps people apart."
Resource challenges are deepening.
The recession has exacerbated an already bleak funding picture for the arts. Participants in all three regions noted the following trends: Government funding continues to decline; corporate giving is down and corporate headquarters are increasingly re-locating out of the U.S.; foundations, with their funds tied to the market, are giving less; operating support is urgently needed for basic organizational infrastructure, but most foundation giving is still project-oriented. Participants specifically reported seeing cuts to stage arts council budgets with more cuts on the way.
Some participants emphasized the need to take a long view, working over time to secure additional public funding for the arts. A San Diego participant noted that European governments continue to support filmmakers while the U.S. does not. A Chicago participant pointed out that "arts funding for the City of Berlin is more than the entire budget of the NEA."
With less overall funding available, attendees said younger organizations are struggling even more than usual to find both economic and volunteer support. A Denver participant reported: "People are having difficulty prioritizing volunteering. The community is stressed personally for time and money."
A lack of broad awareness and appreciation for the media arts continues, but some shifts are underway.
Participants reported a lack of awareness about the media arts not only among the commercial media and general public, but also among the philanthropic community, nonprofit organizations, and the public education system. San Diego attendees observed that mainstream media coverage of independent media is lacking, with Hollywood filmmaking continuing to drive the larger corporate culture. The philanthropic community still does not see media arts as arts, Chicago attendees said, noting that foundation funding is increasingly tied to specific social goals. "Other art forms don t have to justify their existence based on solving social problems," one participant commented.
The potential of the media arts to affect social change is still not widely recognized by foundation funders. Denver participants reported that, with some notable exceptions, foundations do not fund media and lack awareness of how media can be a tool to further issues they support. Furthermore, they said, most nonprofits are not aware of how media can be used strategically to advance their missions. A disconnect between the media arts and public school curricula was noted by Chicago, participants. In Illinois, film and media arts are not among the art forms included in state curriculum goals. Therefore, teachers are not supported in using media in their classrooms.
Some positive shifts are also underway, Denver attendees said. For example, progressive funders are organizing to influence their peers in the foundation community and a few foundations are funding independent media organizations. And there has been an increase in public awareness about the dangers of corporate media consolidation. Despite these developments, one participant noted "a lack of broad awareness of the work that goes on in media arts organizations," adding, "We haven t provided creative, consistent, clear messages about our organizations."
SUPPORT NEEDED BY MEDIA ARTS ORGANIZATIONS
After they discussed current trends and issues in the media arts, think tank participants were asked, "What support or assistance would be most useful to your organization in this environment?" In all three regions, participants identified a need to strengthen information sharing and collaboration at the local or regional level. Recurring themes included sharing equipment and facilities, cooperating on program development and strategic marketing, sharing public policy information, and jointly taking part in advocacy and fund raising.
In addition to generating support through greater local cooperation, participants identified four broad areas in which additional support is needed: creating a common advocacy agenda and a greater voice for public media in the public policy arena; technical assistance with the business end of the media arts; critical forums and continuity in the field; and efforts to advance the identity and mission of the field among the publics served by the media arts, as well as with funders.
Advocacy
In all three regions, participants said there was a need to identify and strengthen connections with organizations working at the state and national levels to influence public policy. Attendees recognized the need to lobby on behalf of the arts and public interest communications policy issues. Chicago attendees suggested the development of a common advocacy agenda that would inform local, state and national efforts. One San Diego attendee summed up a key challenge to the field: "Artists are not organized to understand and influence the policy environment." Denver participants acknowledged that increasing public funding for the arts is a long-term strategy rather than a quick fix, and that cultivating an advocacy voice for public media is directly linked to future funding.
Technical Assistance
Technical assistance with the business end of the media arts was identified as a need, ranging from grant writing to marketing to staff leadership development and retention. Participants emphasized the need for assistance addressing sustainability issues, particularly short-term and long-term fund development.
Critical Forums and Continuity
Attendees emphasized the need for more critical dialogue forums, and the importance of keeping the field connected in the near term and across generations. Chicago participants highlighted the importance of face-to-face gatherings. A San Diego participant identified the need for case studies, particularly those operating outside commercial constructs such as "examples that encourage civic involvement through approaching audiences and producers as community members rather than simply as consumers or markets." A Denver participant said, "We need the work these organizations [NAMAC and AIVF] do to connect us," adding "We need to see ourselves as critical nodes in an important larger movement." Chicago attendees noted the urgency of paying more attention to archiving and preservation, stating, "We are losing our stories and histories"; they emphasized the importance of sharing the field s rich media arts histories with younger generations.
Field Advancement
Denver participants identified the need to "present ourselves as a field," including "connecting the dots with issues of public concern." They highlighted the importance of press in the field, such as The Independent, MAIN, and A Closer Look, noting that these publications help the field learn from its successes, failures and models. Articles from these publications also help local organizations to demonstrate the value of the media arts to their communities and funders, participants said. In Chicago, attendees emphasized the importance of clarifying and communicating image and mission, "finding a way to communicate the essentialness of our organizations." Denver participants addressed the need to deepen partnerships with nonprofit organizations and foundation funders, and to work toward expanding foundation funding areas to explicitly include media.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR NAMAC s SERVICE TO THE FIELD
Staff leaders representing more than 50 media arts organizations took part in MAESTRO think tank discussions in San Diego, Denver and Chicago. Participants painted a paradoxical picture: Although technological change has brought challenges, the digital era has empowered both experienced and amateur independent media makers, and created new opportunities for working across and platforms and disciplines. Also, despite a long-term pattern of decline in arts education and a worsening funding climate, the media arts field has seen an increase in new media makers, new productions, new public spaces, and media activism.
The field would benefit from greater support in four key areas, according to think tank participants: public policy advocacy; technical assistance with the business end of the media arts; critical forums and continuity in the field; and efforts to advance the identity and mission of the field among the publics served by the media arts, as well as with funders.
Current NAMAC programs are responsive to the needs identified in the think tank sessions, and many attendees reported direct experience or familiarity with key services such as the A Closer Look series of case studies, the National Peer Technical ssistance Project, the Media Arts Leadership Institute, online salons, and the national conference.
The long-term challenges for the media arts also point to the potential for more far-reaching roles for NAMAC, in partnership with other organizations. Looking to the future, more documentation of the rapidly changing field is needed, including basic data collection about the scope, activities and organizations that comprise the media arts. Such documentation would provide a foundation for articulating the public benefits of the media arts, forging a public identity for the field, and broadening financial support. Another crucial aspect of the foundational work needed to advance the media arts, in conjunction with the larger arts world, is the creation of an advocacy agenda and strategies for influencing public policy.
Finally, perhaps the most fundamental task for the media arts field is to envision possibilities and create a shared vision for the future it seeks to create. The staff leaders who took part in NAMAC s think tank sessions provided many eloquent reminders that the creation of a vibrant public media culture is a long-term project; it is an endeavor that is both supported by thousands of diverse local projects, and dependent on the larger histories, purposes and aspirations that unite the media arts field.
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PAULA MANLEY is an organizational development consultant who works with nonprofit groups and public agencies. She is cofounder of The Learning Commons, devoted to nurturing public spaces and community-based leadership.
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© 2003 National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture. All Rights Reserved.
