- History
- Mission
- VAD Activities
- The Dallas Video Festival
- Summer Film and Video Institute
- Membership Perks
- To Become a Member
History
The Video Association of Dallas is a 501(c)(3) organization formed in 1989 as a result of the success of the Dallas
Video Festival, which in turn grew from an event presented at the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) in 1986, entitled "Video
As A Creative Medium." Independent curator Barton Weiss and Melissa Berry, then Director of Special Programs at
the DMA, collaborated to present two nights of video by selected local and national video artists. The program was
a great popular success, and led to the first Dallas Video Festival in October, 1987, presented at the DMA over a
period of four days, with satellite programs throughout the metroplex.
The Festival has expanded dramatically since then and is now one of the largest video festivals in the United States.
It has evolved into one of Dallas' most enthusiastically supported cultural events. Overall attendance at the 12th Annual
Dallas Video Festival was over 9,000 and attendance grows significantly with each Festival.
Under the curatorial direction of Barton Weiss, the Festival's programming embraces several purposes: to exhibit
works of the highest artistic quality, which audiences do not typically have the opportunity to see; to develop a broad
audience for the media arts, drawn from the many different cultural, economic and special interest groups within the
area; and to cultivate and support the work of artists in the region. In choosing programming for the Dallas Video
Festival, curator Barton Weiss works with other arts and community organizations to present programming that reflects
the breadth and diversity of the community.
The Dallas Video Festival has developed a unique audience through its programming and ticket structure, designed
to encourage attendance by a broad-based public. Admission is structured into day passes or all-festival passes, which
allow access to all programs during one day or for the entire Festival. The Video Festival's diverse programming includes
popular and accessible programs, encouraging first-time viewers attending these programs to sample others they may
otherwise not have come to see. Many programs of the Video Festival are free, and the Association is committed to
maintaining extremely low admission prices for all programs to encourage access to all regardless of income level.
This has proven extremely effective in developing a large grass-roots audience, and it continues to attract new audiences
for the media arts in our region.
Mission
The mission of the Video Association is to promote an understanding of video as a creative medium and cultural
force in our society, and to support and advance the work of Texas artists working in video and the electronic arts. Through
its programs and information services, the Video Association educates and informs artists, students, educators, critics,
video and film producers and an interested public to better understand, appreciate and evaluate the creative possibilities
of the video medium. It also provides a forum for the work of regional video artists, in order to stimulate excellence in their
work and provide the opportunity for dialogue and critical discussion.
VAD’s year-round activities include the Dallas Video Festival, now in its 18th year; Frame of Mind, a 1/2 hour television program of independent video works from Texas artists which airs on KERA Ch. 13; the Summer Film and Video Institute, co-produced with Dallas Community Television; the Texas Filmmakers’ Series, which screens a Texas-made film every 4th Monday at the Angelika Film Center; the original Dallas 24-Hour Video Race, a wacky, fun video production competition; Open Screen Night at the Magnolia Lounge, where independent filmmakers can show new work; and screenings of local, national, and international video works at the Magnolia Lounge. It also publishes an extensive, weekly electronic newsletter relating to film and video related events and issues.
Why video? Back in 1986 when co-founders Bart Weiss and Melissa Berry collaborated to present a weekend of video entitled “Video as a Creative Medium,” they were interested in exploring this emerging medium that was primarily being used by pornographers, political activists, or a few insightful artists who employed it as an art form. What Bart and Melissa saw was the potential of a medium that was more accessible, more affordable, and thus more democratic than film—something more easily created and distributed so that more people with a wider range of vision could create it, and even more people could see it.
Now the rest of the world has caught on to what we always knew. Video has evolved into a technically beautiful, flexible, accessible, and often clandestine medium which can be magic in the hands of artists and storytellers and a powerful weapon for documenting our lives and shaping and interpreting the world around us. It continues to evolve into whole new digital mediums like CD-ROMs, DVDs, websites, streaming video, HD and 24P, so we’ve happily expanded our definition of video since then. We’ve been there on the cutting edge, showing off these technologies as they happen, years before they entered the collective consumer conscious.
By our guess, since then we’ve screened or hosted almost 4,000 different programs—a dizzying bombardment of cathode rays, interesting panels, wacky guests, and mind-blowing performances too numerous to mention here. Suffice it to say, the Dallas Video Festival--the first, the oldest, and the biggest video festival in the nation--has distinguished itself nationally as a veritable vortex of video, a proverbial pantheon of pixels, a place that can make your head spin, your eyeballs ache, your heart soar, and your mind expand.
Our name is deceiving. We’re not just Dallas. We’re not just video. Dallas, well, because that’s where we call home. We love our local artists, and some of the works we show do from down the street. Then again, however, a lot of the works we show come from around the world—Bosnia, Zambia, Sweden, Chile, Israel, Russia.
And video? Well, when the Dallas Video Festival was created, we didn’t know it would still be around 18 years later, nor could we have envisioned at the time a name that would have reflected the new mediums not yet invented. So, it may be time for a new name… stay tuned!
We’re not a film festival. Not that we don’t show things shot on film. Not that we don’t love a good narrative film. We’re just…something a little different. In fact, we’re not even just video—we’re animation, we’re interactive, we’re digital, we’re art, activism, we’re something called “new media” that’s really more about content than about format and genre. Jim Hubbard, in a report entitled “The Coming of Age of Media as Art,” explains it well:
“At least since the 1920s, artists have been exploring various imaginative uses of film. Utilizing surrealistic techniques to explode narrative, painting directly on film, creating abstract animation and revealing the physical and psychological underpinnings of film outside the language of Hollywood, artists have created an alternative art history. Beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the introduction of the PortaPak (the first portable and affordable video camera) video artists began to realize the possibilities of the medium outside of the half-hoiur, commercial-interrupted norm of broadcast television. In the past decade, adventurous media artists have employed computers to make new images and to explore the possibility of interactivity in forging art forms that are utterly unlike anything known before.
These endeavors—video art, experimental film, innovative narrative film and new media art—deserve support because they create something original and thought-provoking. These art forms change our world, making it a more complex and exciting place. They allow us to see ourselves in an entirely new light.” To that, we would add the documentary film, in all its glory as history, activism, documentation of stories otherwise untold, and the archive-based experimental film, as a record of the cultural psyche of past and future generations.
So—that’s a bit about us. Hard to explain. Unusual. Possibly unique. Which is why you shouldn’t miss this year’s Dallas Video Festival. There’s not another one like it.
The 18th one is coming up July 2005.
Summer Film and Video Institute
In association with Dallas Community Television and the University of Texas at Dallas in August the VAD conducts
a multi-week Summer Film and Video Institute consisting of affordably-priced workshops on various aspects of video
production. Taught by working industry professionals, the workshops are open to the general public. Any participant
could in three weeks' time learn skills applicable to all phases of video production, from pre-production to editing,
computer graphics and distribution.
Membership Perks
In addition to discounts at the Dallas Video Festival and the Summer Film and Video Institute, the VAD offers its members
special invitations to movie screenings throughout the year. These include sneak previews and premieres of current movies,
as well as screenings of classic films.
Our electronic newsletter, published every week, gives you the scoop on VAD activities and what's
going on in the film and video community across the state. Look here first for info on screenings and workshops, new
technology announcements, and other items of interest, and links to other organizations across the state.
To Become a Member
Call 214.428.8700 and request a membership application or send your name,
address, telephone, fax number (if any) and email address (if any) to: Video
Association of Dallas, 1405 Woodlawn Ave., Dallas, Texas 75208, along with
your check made payable to the Video Association of Dallas. Membership rates
are: $50 for individuals, $75 for families and $25 for students. Memberships are good for one year.
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