🎙️Your media arts & culture news 📷 ALLIANCE eBulletin May 2023

🎙️Your media arts & culture news 📷 ALLIANCE eBulletin May 2023

I was completely taken in by the Oakland Museum show Angela Davis: Seize the Time this month and grateful that archivist Lisbet Tellefsen, whose personal collection catalyzed the exhibition, is a friend and inspiration for Alliance programs. I loved how the audio from video interviews with Angela wafted into other rooms, creating a spoken word track for the images in the collection, an unexpected layer of narration like an inner voice coming forward and receding.

The Alliance advocates building in cultural archive strategies to all media projects and programs – and we understand there is not always funding in place to support activating those strategies. In our Innovation Studio, our Open Archive Initiative has led field research and we are currently working with Pamela Yates and Paco de Onis of Skylight and Alliance Board Member Andy Beach, creating a documentary case study for an AI-informed “smart archive.” It is my hope we discover some ways for the archive to be not only smart, but also accountable, responsible, and respectful of cultural legacy as well as innovation.

May was also an exciting month because of Arts2Work development; we supported the first media arts Pop-Up classes at WLCAC in Watts, and got to work with archivist Martha Diaz, founder and chief curator of the Hip Hop Education Center, developing new programs in Watts, Pittsburgh and New York. We look forward to offering a new Arts2Work Apprenticeship pathway later this year for Digital Archivists/Curators. For community organizations, creative agencies, studios, regional and national museums — now is the time to get in touch if you’d like to hire and mentor an emerging archivist (or producer, or editor or multimedia graphic designer!) through Arts2Work. As archiving moves the past into the future, our XR Culture Gallery, AR development and AI tools will also be part of the Apprentice training.

Please join the Alliance and build with us.

~ Wendy

wendy@thealliance.media

Notes from the Field

Youth FX Films Upcoming World Premiere Screening
This Thursday, June 1st at 7pm, Youth FX will display the breadth of work that their programs produce by screening new films at the Spectrum 8 Landmark Theaters in Albany, New York. The films were created by young filmmakers ages 14-18 as part of programs by Youth FX that allowed them to “[explore] the technical and creative aspects of filmmaking and digital media.” After the screenings, there will be a Q&A with the filmmakers. All proceeds will support Youth FX’s upcoming summer programs.

Wide Angle Youth Media Photostory Published by Baltimore Beat
A selection of digital artwork titled “Stigma and Stereotypes in the Media” was published by Baltimore Beat earlier this month. In the series, each student created an artistic response to a chosen piece of artwork from a virtual gallery walk with the aim of using digital media to engage in conversation between the art and artist.

Grants and Calls

BIPOC Filmmaker Grant
Filmed by Bike is seeking filmmakers of color who have short films that include bicycling as a central element to submit to their BIPOC Filmmaker Grant. Filmmakers have the opportunity to receive $1,500 and there is no fee to apply.
Deadline: June 20th

Fast Track 2023
Experienced and first-time filmmakers seeking financing for their projects are wanted for Film Independents Fast Track program. Up to ten fiction and five non-fiction feature projects are selected annually. The program connects producer-director teams with industry leaders, offering meetings with executives, financiers, agents, and more.
Deadline: July 10th

Grants for Arts Projects
Grants for Arts Projects provides comprehensive funding opportunities for arts organizations across the nation in a wide variety of artistic disciplines. Applicants may request cost share/matching grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 and can apply at any stage of their project.
Deadline: July 6

Workshops, Festivals, Convenings

Tribeca Film Festival 2023, June 7th-18th, New York, NY
Provincetown International Film Festival 2023 June 14th-18th, Provincetown, MA
Palm Springs ShortFest 2023, June 14th-19th, Palm Springs, CA

Lighthouse International Film Festival, June 7th-11th, Long Beach Island, NJ

New Media Film Festival, June 7th-8th, Los Angeles, CA Frameline, San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, June 14th-24th, San Francisco, CA

Provincetown International Film Festival, June 14th-18th, Provincetown, MA

Media Policy Watch

by Priscilla Genet  

The National Endowment for the Arts has announced their second round of grants this year. The Grants (Grants for Arts Projects, Our Town, and State and Regional Partnerships) total over $103 million in funding to “support a wide range of projects, demonstrating the many ways the arts enrich our lives and contribute to healthy and thriving communities,” according to NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson.

Last week, Elon Musk withdrewTwitter from the European Union’s Digital Services Act. The act, announced in 2018, is an effort by the EU to crack down on disinformation on social media and subjects all major social media platforms to a strict set of regulation. Euractive theorizes that Musk’s decision not to collaborate with the EU’s Act “might be the first formal step in Twitter’s departure from Europe.”

In announcing his decision, Musk tweeted a graphic containing a quote mistakenly attributed to the philosopher Voltaire, but actually written by neo-Nazi Kevin Strom, according to Insider. This comes directly after efforts by Musk to create a Twitter hosted television show for conservative commenter Tucker Carlson who was recently fired from Fox News.

Job Bank

Artistic Director, Northwest Film ForumSeattle, WA

Director of Communications, New York UniversityNew York, NY

Managing Director, FacetsChicago, IL

Program Coordinator, Manhattan Neighborhood NetworkNew York, NY

Associate Director Finance and Administration, Field of VisionNew York, NY


more jobs on the Job Bank


more jobs on the Job Bank