Creative Media Institute at Hampshire and on PBS

Earlier this week Tom Roston, filmmaker and blogger for PBS at Doc Soup, posted a very nice piece on his blog about the newly revived Creative Media Institute. The rebirth of CMI has been the work of many hardworking people but we were pleased to see our own former Manager of Media Services Andrew Hart be noted for his work as program director (Roston describes Andrew as “the kind of guy you want running a program like this, pushing limits, going for the best, but also with an outside-the-box approach.”)

The original 1971 Summer Institute on Media Arts was established as, “an experiment in providing the public with access to film, video, and photograph courses led by well-known artists and practitioners, the Summer Institute on Media Arts was launched in the summer of 1971. Lasting for ten years, the Summer Institute played a major role in the development and growth of the creative independent media community of the 1970s and early 80s. At a time when Media Studies was just beginning to emerge as an academic course of study, institute participants were encouraged to experiment with a single medium, learn new skills, and develop individual and innovative directions for expression. Filmmakers Jean Rouch, Helen Levitt, John Marshall, Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas, Hollis Frampton, Shirley Clarke; photographers Elaine Mayes, Diane Arbus, and Charlie Meyer; screenwriters Frank Daniel and Eleanor Perry, video pioneer Peter Campus and Ann McIntosh, and animators Derek Lamb and Robert Breer among many others took part in the Institute.  Together, Leacock and Liebling brought a wide range of well known and emerging artists working in nonfiction and experimental film, photography, video, screenwriting and early computer animation.”

The new 2014 Creative Media Institute is a 4-week program that immerses participants in deep study during the Screening Seminars and provides space for reflection, experimentation, and an opportunity to gain new skills during the Creative Labs. The CMI is for undergrads studying film/video production and media studies, artists with works-in-progress, media educators, film/video programmers, and critics and professional appreciators (see also, FANS) of film, video, and new media.  The structure of the institute alternates each week of the four-week program.

The CMI is one of the many great programs and events happening at Hampshire this year and it’s exciting to hear those outside of our community to recognize the promising things happening here (as well as the hard work that’s put in!). You can read Roston’s post by clicking here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *