History of BAVC

BAVC was founded in 1976 by a coalition of media makers and activists who wanted to find alternative, civic-minded applications for a new technology - PortaPak video. While the technology has since continued to change radically, BAVC’s mission to bring increased cultural and economic participation to underserved communities through media, and our belief that telling compelling stories is powerful for both media maker and audience, remains. Over the last 30 years, BAVC has developed an entrepreneurial web of programs and services that brings together a multi-generational mix of artists, experienced media professionals, educators, low-income youth and adults, non-profit organizations and industry partners in this pursuit.

Take a look at some of our highlights . . .

BAVC Historical Highlights

2007
With core funding from the MacArthur Foundation, BAVC launches the first project of its new Community Innovation Lab, the Producers Institute for New Media Technologies, creating a space for independent producers, entrepreneurial public broadcasting entities, and the Bay Area’s digital media industry to generate cross-platform companion pieces for independent media. BAVC closes its linear online suite and launches a Community Innovation Lab. Ken Ikeda becomes BAVC’s new Executive Director.


2006 (download the annual report)
Youth Sounds merges with BAVC to create BAVC Next Generation Programs, a comprehensive new model of youth media training and development. In partnership with Podshow, Adobe and SF Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Digital Media Advisory Council (DMAC), BAVC Next Gen presents True2Life: Everyday Activities and Youth Changing the World, showcasing youth as innovative cultural producers and the Bay Area as a model in linking youth to community and industry change. BAVC works with the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU as well as The Getty Research Institute and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company to help develop video preservation curriculum and training resources for their students and staff.


2005
BAVC produces PREPUT, a training seminar for public media professionals from around the world.  BAVC, Film Arts Foundation, and KQED team up to produce Truly CA. Jennifer Reeder becomes BAVC’s first HD artist in residence.  BAVC and Rearden Studios host a screening and reception with internationally acclaimed video artist Bill Viola. Beyond the Dream, a four-part documentary series for PBS, is onlined at BAVC.  BAVC more than doubles the amount of our Mediamaker Awards from $3,500 to $8,000.  My Job Path, an interactive, online tool for job seekers is launched.


2004
The Weather Underground, onlined and close-captioned at BAVC, is nominated for an Academy Award.  BAVC updates the linear online suite with a Chyron Duet PCI Character Generator, and the Digital Audio Suite gets a Pro Tools HD system with ProControl/EditPack console and 96 and SYNC I/O interfaces.  Brainglow, an interactive storytelling DVD produced by BAVC, has a launch party on both coasts. Spark, a KQED/BAVC co-production, garners four Northern California Emmy nominations.  BAVC is called “the best place to make media” by the San Francisco Bay Guardian.  BAVC and the Community Technology Foundation of California (CTFC) launch the Zero Divide Digital Storytelling Institute. BAVC presents the SF Youth Media Showcase at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.  BAVC begins preserving audiotape in addition to videotape, thanks to a generous grant from Richard and Pamela Kramlich’s New Art Trust.


2003
Electronic Cafe co-founder Kit Gallaway partners with BAVC to preserve historic video piece, Hole-In-Space. SPARK, a KQED/BAVC co-production about the Bay Area arts scene, premieres.  BAVC begins offering Sonic Solutions Fusion DVD design and authoring service.  Lost Boys of Sudan is completedin BAVC's online suite.  Judy Holme Agnew becomes Executive Director.  BAVC becomes one of only 21 organizations in the nation to receive a Leadership and Excellence in Arts Participation (LEAP) grant from the Wallace Foundation.


2002
BAVC celebrates 25 years by hosting a huge bash – 800 people attend! The second DVD of BAVC's Interactive Learning Series, DVD Two: Flash MX Basics is released and goes into national distribution. BAVC staff attend the Sundance Film Festival and South by Southwest (SXSW). Education adds 20 new classes and now offers over 600 classes. BAVC becomes the only training agency in the region certified by Apple, Avid, and Digidesign. A new mobile G4 Titanium Powerbook Lab is created. The Employment Training Panel (ETP) contract is renewed. Education and JobLink merge. BAVC contributes to the production of over 300 independent and noncommercial projects. Over 1,200 hours of videotape are preserved through our video preservation services. BAVC develops an artist-in-residence program and Polish video artist Pawel Kruk is selected. 


2001
Captioning grows by 500% and is certified by the National Association for the Deaf and the U.S. Department of Education. Over 500 videos are preserved from archives and major museums across the country, including the Kitchen and the Smithsonian Institution. Five executive productions are created, two of them winning awards for excellence. The Cinewave Final Cut Pro suite is added, along with Apple's DVD Studio Pro, allowing BAVC to perform basic DVD services for clients.  Apple selects BAVC to be an Apple Certified Training (ACT) Center. The BAVC Guide doubles in distribution. DVD One: HTML Basics, the first in a series of interactive learning tools, is created. Bridgespan, Roberts Enterprise Development Fund, and Stanford University Graduate School of Business study the BAVC model.  Sally Jo Fifer departs after nine years as Executive Director to head up ITVS. Tamara Gould becomes BAVC’s new Executive Director. 


2000
The new Annex Computer Lab is built out. The Avids are upgraded to 9000 and Symphony, a new captioning system is purchased, sgi donates the Octane, discreet donates smoke*, 2 Mac Labs are upgraded to G4s, and 12 new workstations are built.  Education delivers over 600 workshops. BAVC produces TechArcheology: A Symposium on Installation Art Preservation as well as Where Media Collide, a speakers series on the convergence of digital medial.  BAVC publishes From Promising Practices, Promising Futures, the Ford-funded national study of tech workforce development.  Two national meetings are held on Building a Digital Workforce.  The BAVC enews is born. BAVC is awarded the Smithsonian Laureates Award and the Audrey Nelson Community Development Award.


1999
YouthLink is launched, Compaq donates the NT Lab, education now offers 500 workshops a year and a contract is awarded from the state Employment Training Panel (ETP).  BAVC executive-produces Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and wins the 1999 Best Practices Award from the U.S. Dept of Housing and Urban Development. Heather Weaver, BAVC’s online staff editor, trains at PBS and can now offer clients PBS technical evaluations.


1997
BAVC moves to its current home at 2727 Mariposa, tripling in size. JobLink is launched and the first annual MediaMaker Handbook is published. The BAVC website is launched and the quarterly publication Video Networks is re-designed and renamed Media Front. A year later, BAVC upgrades the facility with 4 Avid 1000 Media Composers, two Media 100XS systems and ProTools 4.1.1.


1996
The Getty Research Institute and the Andy Warhol Foundation support Playback '96, an international symposium on video preservation at SFMOMA.


1995
Dubbing services are created and a year later, the Digital Online suite is installed (through a grant from Irvine and support from Accom). Apple donates the first Mac Lab.


1994
BAVC is awarded an NEA Challenge Grant to develop a video preservation center. The captioning program is established with funds from the NEC Foundation of America and Toyota USA Foundation.  Education expands to 250 workshops a year; Avid authorizes BAVC to be their Northern California Training Center.

1993
BAVC acquires a ProTools system (thanks to the Irvine Foundation) and completes Brothers, the first interactive video program aimed at slowing the spread of HIV among African Americans.

1992
Sally Jo Fifer becomes Executive Director.


1991
BAVC sets up its Technical HelpDesk, purchases a Betacam SP camera and a Video Toaster, initiates the Artist Equipment Access (AEA) program – now known as the Mediamaker Awards,and co-publishes Illuminating Video: An Essential Guide to Video Art.


1989
The only video facility in town not damaged by the Loma Prieta earthquake, BAVC provides postproduction services for all Red Cross relief reports.


1986
David Bolt becomes Executive Director.

1985
The first large-scale seminar, Frugal to Fantastic, about new technologies, is produced by BAVC. The artist-in-residence program is born with the Capp Street Project, sponsoring Mary Lucier, Daniel Reeves, and Francesco Torres.


1983
The Grass Valley Switcher is installed in the Online suite, Morrie Warshawski is hired as the new Executive Director, and BAVC produces The Life and Times of Rose Maddox, a documentary about the country western singer.


1982
BAVC moves again, this time to 1111 17th Street in Potrero Hill, and receives the last of the seed money from the Rockefeller Foundation. As Executive Producer, BAVC produces The Stand In, directed by Bob Zagone and starring Danny Glover.


1980
The BAVC Job Center opens--a space for students, job seekers, and industry pros to network and share opportunities.


1978
The nation's first (non-profit) broadcast-level suite that meets PBS standards is created at BAVC. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funds BAVC to begin production of Western Exposure, a series of six diverse programs by Bay Area independents. The first workshop – Color Production – is taught with a Hitachi FP-1020 camera and JVC portable recorder. The following year the CMX Edge is installed, giving BAVC the most sophisticated edit controller of any media arts center in the country.


1976
The Rockefeller Foundation gives BAVC seed money to launch the nonprofit. The BAVC offices are located at 50 Oak Street in San Francisco. One year later, BAVC relocates to 2940 16th Street (the Redstone Bldg) and initiates the Membership & Fiscal Sponsorship programs. Gail Waldron is hired as the first Executive Director.  The first BAVC intern is trained.