News
BAVC Media Announces New MediaMaker Connect Mentorship Program
In the spirit of building the field, supporting nonfiction filmmakers to complete their projects, and facilitating connections between filmmakers at different stages of their careers, BAVC Media is proud to be able to provide 19 MediaMaker Fellowship alumni, along with 11 emerging filmmakers, with 5-months of one-on-one mentorship. Thanks to a generous award from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, 2020 will be the inaugural year of MediaMaker Connect, a new component of the MediaMaker Fellowship. Between April and September of 2020, 30 filmmakers will receive feedback and counsel from industry professionals addressing their unique challenges from story development to post-production roadblocks. [...]
The 13th Preservation Access Program recipients announced!
There is no doubt that recent events have thrown a curveball at everyone’s daily activities. Our team at BAVC Media Preservation wishes everyone a safe and healthy 2020 and we are grateful that our work to preserve and digitize important AV collections continues (albeit with modified workspaces). More than ever, documentation and learning are essential tools to collectively get us through uncertain times. With that, we are proud to name this year’s list of extraordinary recipients whose media is to be preserved by BAVC Media’s 13th Preservation Access Program. This Program is generously funded by the National Endowment of the [...]
BAVC Media Announces 2020 MediaMaker Fellows
BAVC Media is thrilled to announce 2020 MediaMaker Fellows and Alumni Grants. A full list of recipients is below. The MediaMaker Fellowship is an artist development program that provides nonfiction filmmakers with critical mentorship, access to industry contacts, structure for workshopping projects in an inclusive and collaborative environment, and career-long relationships with peers. For the 2020 Fellowship, BAVC Media is awarding $8,000 unrestricted funding to 10 diverse filmmakers in addition to an immersive 8-month experience that includes intimate feedback sessions, all-access travel to True/False Film Festival and the International Documentary Association's Getting Real Conference, learning opportunities with seasoned experts in the [...]
“Crip Camp” to Premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival
Throughout New York State in the 1970s The People's Video Theater was producing documentary programs using Sony PortaPak cameras. At the time, this technology was cutting-edge, and these programs chronicled the counterculture and liberation movements that transformed the politics of America. The collective’s mission was to explore the capabilities of the video medium for creative self-expression and community empowerment. The real-time recording and playback capabilities of this new video medium allowed The People's Video Theater to capture material and play it back for their subjects immediately. This “feedback” capability enabled participants to shape their own stories on-screen, and to initiate [...]
Sailing Skills Not Required! We Launched New Partnerships and MediaMaker Commissions at BAVC Media in 2019!
BAVC Media may have started the year in a sea of uncertainty but I’m very happy to tell you that we had a 2019 to be proud of!
10 Thank Yous + 2 Asks
10 Thank Yous 10. Thank you BAVC Media students - teens making projects, adults building their career skills and portfolios, and seniors learning new things. 9. Thank you 20-year employees Mindy and Innesa, and retired Board members Neil (23 years) and Jason (18 years). Thank you new staff and Board for choosing BAVC Media! 8. Thank you SF Commons producers for pushing boundaries and engaging us in conversations in San Francisco and beyond. 7. Thank you nonprofit film and media partners for dreaming up new projects together, having candid conversations about improving our field, and occasionally "crying in our gin" (or coffee). 6.Thank [...]
Back To Our Roots: A Letter From Paula
Dear Friends of BAVC Media, This week I’m celebrating my 40something birthday (see photo with birthday boots), and it’s a perfect time to recognize that BAVC Media has also been around since the ‘70s and Jimmy Carter’s presidency – committed to connecting communities with tools, resources, and a tricked out facility to tell their stories through media and film. In recent conversations, we heard the painful feedback that more people and nonprofit organizations would like to participate in BAVC Media programs, but didn’t know how to access them, or couldn’t afford them. For the last few months, our team [...]
BAVC Media Announces the 12th Bi-Annual Preservation Access Program Recipients
BAVC Media is proud to announce the recipients of the 12th round of our Preservation Access Program. This program, made possible by a generous grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, helps to subsidize the cost of preserving analog audio and video. This allows us to offer our expertise and services to individuals and artists that would otherwise not be able to afford them! Each round, a panel of local archivists, artists, media producers, and community members is put together to consider the applications that BAVC Media receives. This round more applications were submitted than we’ve ever seen in a [...]
BAVC Media Announces the 2019 MediaMaker Fellows
BAVC Media is thrilled to announce the multiplatform documentary makers and projects that will receive the 2019 MediaMaker Fellowship award. A full list of recipients is below. The 2019 MediaMaker Fellows are: Brenda Avila-Hanna, Libertad (Santa Cruz, CA); Brittany Shyne, Seeds (Dayton, OH); Christian Figueroa, Flowers of May (San Francisco, CA); Debra Schaffner, Curse of the Mutant Heirloom (Oakland, CA); Emily Cohen Ibañez, Fruits of Labor (Oakland, CA); Katy Scoggin, Flood (Brooklyn, NY); Lagueria Davis, Black Barbie: A Documentary (Los Angeles, CA); Rashaad Newsome, Get Your 10s (Brooklyn, NY); Taimi Arvidson, Hossain (Brooklyn, NY); Vicky Du, Light of the Setting Sun [...]
BAVC Media Hires Paula Smith Arrigoni as Executive Director
BAVC Media Board President Jason Kipnis is delighted to announce the 42-year old San Francisco legacy nonprofit media arts center has hired Paula Smith Arrigoni as the organization’s newest Executive Director. Smith Arrigoni brings to BAVC Media a passion for supporting emerging storytellers, and two decades of experience investing in, consulting and managing nonprofit organizations. Most recently, Smith Arrigoni co-founded a grantmaking and mentorship program for emerging, diverse narrative filmmakers in the Bay Area, and served as executive producer on a slate of narrative films, including two premiering at Sundance in 2019. Previously, she was COO at Youth Speaks, a [...]
