Transmission Project

The Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) was founded in 1976 by a coalition of media makers and activists who wanted to find alternative, socially relevant applications for a new technology - PortaPak video. Since then the technology has radically changed, but BAVC’s mission to inspire social change by enabling the sharing of diverse stories through art, education and technology, and our belief that telling compelling stories is powerful for both maker and audience, remains unchanged. Over the last 34 years, we have developed an entrepreneurial web of programs and services that bring together a multi-generational mix of artists, experienced media professionals, educators, low-income youth and adults, and industry partners in this pursuit. In 2009, BAVC acquired operations of San Francisco’s public access television station. We envision public access as a suite of community services which include broadcast channels, as well as a robust online service with numerous channels and tools.

BAVC has a long history of serving Bay Area low-income youth and adults. Currently, we engage 300+ low-income and at-risk youth per year through fully-subsidized digital arts training programs and paid externships, providing them with college credits and postsecondary employment opportunities. We also offer state-subsidized technical training to thousands of qualifying adults. Through public access television, we provide a public service that draws participation from all walks of life. In our first few months of operations, we supported multiple producers with disabilities, senior citizens, after-school groups, faith-based groups, homeless producers, veterans, activists, artists, and countless unemployed and low-income members of our community, and increased producer membership by over 35%. We seek to diversify and expand the producing community and audiences, and to encourage media literacy and journalistic standards among San Francisco’s diverse community of citizen journalists.