Transmission Project

Media Alliance was founded in 1977 to address common needs of nonprofit organizations providing electronic media programs and services to artists, organizations and the general public in areas including, but not limited to, production, distribution, exhibition, research, preservation, appreciation, and to further development of this field. Media Alliance also has a mandate to sponsor and encourage cultural, and educational activities among media organizations, artists, and the general public, by conducting research, by gathering information, by organizing and disseminating information among the membership, by effectively communicating and cooperating with film organizations and other groups, independent producers, funding sources, and the general public, by responding to issues of concern to the field, by public information programs, and by administering property.

The Sanctuary has developed rapidly as an engaged member of our economically disadvantaged neighborhood, supporting desperately needed independent local voices through workshops, peer training, & internships. We’ve offered media arts, education, production and literacy programs to local groups directly engaged in poverty-related activities, including: Missing Link Street Ministry, North Central Communities That Care, AME Zion, NAACP, Troy Public Schools, the ARK, Troy Bike Rescue, 518 Positive Reinforcement, Nutrition Consortium of NY, NY Civil Liberties Union, TAP, W.D.I. and Independent Living Center. This season our Youth Media Sanctuary project includes:
– “Children Having Children,” directed by a 22 year old mother of an 8 year old
–“Gangs and My Family,” directed by a young man sharing first person perspective of fantasies and realities of gang culture.
–“Bike Rodeo” with safety education, arts and crafts projects
–Youth Media Showcase
–Animation workshop
–Summer camp

In its tenth year, the Urbana Champaign Independent Media Center (UCIMC) is a grassroots organization committed to using media production and distribution as tools for promoting social and economic justice. The UCIMC fosters the creation and distribution of media, art, and narratives emphasizing underrepresented voices and perspectives, and promotes empowerment and expression through media and arts education. To this end, we own and operate a Community Media and Arts Center located in the historic post office building in downtown Urbana, Illinois. The Center includes a radio station, media production studios, a performance venue, art gallery, artist in residence studios, a library, public access computer labs, bike repair center, and meeting spaces. The UCIMC runs a 24/7 low power radio station, publishes a monthly newspaper, operates a daily website, and hosts numerous community listservs, all freely available to the community.

The UCIMC is strongly supported by and embedded in communities with little access mainstream media. The roots of poverty lay in a lack of access to participation in the decisions that affect one’s life, including the decisions about the allocation of resources and power. The UCIMC works to eradicate poverty through empowering residents to “become the media” - amplifying unheard voices, inspiring and uniting those who work for change, and helping to shift and reframe public discourse. For example, residents pressing for the clean up of a toxic waste site in their neighborhood used UCIMC-facilitated investigative journalism and organizing to get the city and EPA involved in cleaning the site.Over 44,000 free books have been shipped to Illinois prisoners through UCIMC’s Books to Prisoners program. The UCIMC is an official Community Technology Center in Illinois and is a key partner in our community’s NTIA application that was just awarded $22.5 million for broadband infrastructure.

WSLR-LP is an innovative, listener-supported, non-profit, non-commercial FM radio station dedicated to serving the Sarasota community.

WSLR features locally produced programming and events that offer cultural, artistic, and political perspectives currently underrepresented in the media. Our goal is to inform and empower listeners to play an active role in WSLR and in their community.

WSLR’s programming promotes equality, peace, sustainability, democracy, and social and economic justice.

We have over 100 community volunteers programming at the station. Many of our programmers are low-income, currently unemployed, and in danger of losing their homes. A number of radio programs serve the interests of traditionally underserved communities in our area, including “Newtown and Beyond”, “Recovery Radio” and “Perspectives”. We offer opportunities to ex-felons and those who need community service hours to satisfy their parole requirements. We strive to reach out to poor and homeless populations to give them a voice in their community. WSLR covers stories that other local news outlets do not. We have participated in the Homelessness Marathon for the past three years putting homeless people on the air to tell their stories. We also partner with All Faiths Food Bank to collect canned goods for hungry families.

Founded in 1992, Termite TV is a Philadelphia-based video collective whose mission is to facilitate the creation and distribution of alternative and activist media for Television and the internet. We work collaboratively with artists and communities to create multi-faceted and multi-voiced media which address social and cultural issues and aim to give voice to marginalized groups, to bring art into communities and to engage them in dialogue.

We support through grants and services, media makers who work to effect social change. We assist in sustaining their work.

Some of project goals are:

To increase access to new communication and information technologies.

To enable media makers access to tools to create work

To breakdown the digital divide, the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all.

To emphasize political change and increase political and social awareness and to raise awareness of the need for media literacy and a more public, democratic access to media.

The lead organization: PIFVA, founded by filmmakers in 1979, mission is to strengthen, promote and serve Philadelphia’s independent media community through programs which provide opportunities to learn, mentor, produce and screen work, advocate for the community and network. PIFVA is dedicated to increasing the creative capacity of Philadelphia media artists, promoting public appreciation of independent media making, and encouraging the talent and ability of the region’s creative community of filmmakers.

We support through grants and services, media makers who work to effect social change. We assist in sustaining their work.

Some of project goals are:

To increase access to new communication and information technologies.

To enable media makers access to tools to create work

To breakdown the digital divide, the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all.

To emphasize political change and increase political and social awareness and to raise awareness of the need for media literacy and a more public, democratic access to media.

Local voices through community media – engage, connect, educate.

Our Vision (as outlined in the Strategic Plan) is to establish Access Humboldt (AH) as an innovative, self-sustaining and trusted media resource for residents of Humboldt County, to reach diverse community members who will utilize local media access resources to engage in meaningful conversations that increase participation in civic life, to support and enhance digital media production as a growing industry that supports a continually improving quality of life, and to enable North Coast residents to be among the most media literate people in the world – sharing new ideas and advanced methods to empower local voices for significant positive impact on society.

AH is committed to providing access to communication tools for all residents of Humboldt County regardless of geography, income or skill level. This principle overrides all of the programs of AH. These programs include the operation of four television channels on the local cable line-up, production equipment & facility use for creation of digital media, public computers for development and distribution of digital media, and classes & workshops in the creation, development, distribution and archiving of digital media.

AH is a founding partner in Digital Pathways, a digital media training project committed to developing sustainable training, skill-sharing and workforce development services in collaboration with the Bay Area Video Coalition, the County Workforce Investment Board, the Northern California Indian Development Council and local education institutions. Digital Pathways provides media production vocational skills and practical work experience opportunities for at-risk youth.

CMAP, Community Media Access Partnership, is a non-profit tax-exempt public, education, and government public access television station and community media center that serves Gilroy, Hollister, and San Juan Bautista.

Our mission is to train residents in using CMAP’s video production equipment so that they can produce non-commercial community-based television programs to be seen on CMAP’s local access cable channels and live and archived via the web at www.cmap.tv.

CMAP provides locally relevant community content on five cable channels. CMAP also offers free technology and video production training, camera equipment, editing suites and a television studio for use by community members.

Access Monterey Peninsula’s (AMP) mission is to enable local non-commercial media programming which benefits the residents of Monterey County through access to media tools, training, distribution channels and local facilities.