Positive Core Value: Supporting artists and diverse voices

Visionary leaders in the media arts often strike a balance between creating plans and working with emergent conditions. Perseverance is key. When John Scagliotti’s series for gays and lesbians, In the Life, was turned down by PBS, he created a membership organization to support and sustain the program, which is now available on 120 stations. In describing his motivation, John said, “A 15-year old called the show and said he had been considering suicide, but decided not to after he heard our show…. I understood that we really made a difference in his life.”

Describing Northwest Film Forum’s highly difficult collaboration with a filmmaker in 2003, Michael Seiwerath described “reaching outside our comfort zone” to work nationally as well as locally… resulting in “a new model for a nonprofit organization helping to get feature films made.”

More than a decade after Chicago experimental filmmaker Allen Ross went missing, Chicago Filmmakers organized screenings of some of his films (The Grandfather Trilogy) that had long been out of circulation. The endeavor demonstrated that a distinctive artistic vision could continue to unfold for new audiences over time. According to Patrick Friel, “These works from the 1970s and 80s continue to move people… There is still so much to be discovered in this work.” For 10 years Vikki Dempsey curated the Video Tensions video art series, which was known in Tucson for featuring disenfranchised voices, pushing boundaries, and engaging artists and audiences in dialogue about current social issues. According to Dempsey, the series “began by bringing films to audiences and later brought the artists, too.”

Robin Oppenheimer’s initiation of a groundbreaking conference in 1994, Beyond Fast Forward, was risky for her organization. Although the project stretched the organization's capacity to the limit, it ultimately proved to be crucial in laying the groundwork for a digital future. Her steadfast perseverance was rooted in a belief in the essential role of the artist in an increasingly technological society, particularly at a crucial historical moment—the cusp of the Internet explosion.

Since 1999, the Experimental Sound Station has been directing resources to artists through a residency program. Initially focusing on sound for cinema, artists were able to greatly improve film sound quality, leading to more distribution outlets for their films. Over time the residency program expanded to include collaborations with artists working in different disciplines. The Experimental Sound Station’s Lou Mallozzi described the program’s philosophy simply: “It’s all about the artist.” No Festival Required created opportunities for filmmakers to screen their work—including many makers who were not involved in the festival circuit. According to founder Steve Weiss, many first-time filmmakers realized their work was worth seeing because of their experience screening short films through No Festival Required. Since 2002, more than 700 shorts have been screened.

As an immediate response to the L.A. riots in 1992, Anne Bray and her colleagues sought out and compiled a two-hour production featuring perspectives from Latinos, African-Americans, Koreans and others who lived in the affected neighborhoods. Widely shown on public access television and via community screenings, the program gave the public a “we” point of view in contrast to the “they” point of view found in the mainstream media.

Explore more POSITIVE CORE values:

• Community building and collaboration
• Empowerment and public voice
• Learning and mentoring
• Catalyzing civic engagement and a more just world
• Supporting artists and diverse voices
• Cultural bridging
• Innovating and inspiring audiences across disciplines
• Partnering for greater impact

Fiona Otway drew inspiration from teaching hands-on video production to the participants of Breaking the Silence, who became the first-ever youth in Caribbean country of St. Lucia to create a video that was ultimately broadcast on several national television stations. Fiona witnessed the rapid and powerful transformation of these girls as “they came to realize they have a voice.” find this story on the timeline