Transmission Project

MACSD seeks to incorporate and expand its strengths in exhibition, youth media education, digital story creation, and border region digital filmmaker workshops via a timely and needed program re-structuring process. This re-positioning includes a new program that MACSD tentatively calls the “Media Arts Lab”; a neighborhood-based storefront, media arts learning and entertainment center for children, youth, seniors, and families.

This Project is Timely because the relevancy of media arts organizations nationwide is shifting, as technology capabilities and community economic and cultural realities continually evolve. That is, former media models are disappearing or finding they need to reposition themselves to survive. In 2007, to address sustainability and to frame the discussion of future programming, MACSD’s Board of Directors engaged in analysis of programming areas to strategically tie programming to community needs, funding and new facilities in a neighborhood Media Lab setting. These areas include: Research, Consulting, Video/New Media Production, Technology Innovation, Training, Exploration-Exhibition, and Media Distribution.

The Need for this Project is Being Determined by:

1. As a unique and innovative media arts non-profit organization in the San Diego border region, MACSD is carrying out media technology needs assessment surveys, online and during recent MACSD events. Some 2000 surveys are providing community input about future Media Arts programming needs in San Diego, based on how the community and clients are using today’s technology in their lives.

2. Greater flexibility for revenue generating programming will help sustain the organization, and better engage and increase access to the media arts for all ages.

3. This compelling “neighborhood media lab” idea comes at a time when nonprofit organizations must seek new avenues to meet community needs for cultural participation, news gathering and communication, and also enhance the organization’s financial stability.

4. A wide diversity of population throughout the San Diego region necessitates emphasis on multi-cultural understanding, authentic images and representations, and cross- cultural dialogue to empower social change.

5. A Media Lab setting ensures MACSD’s deeper rooting into the community it serves, creating attractive ways to increase engagement of new audiences.

This project relates to other activities of MACSD by:

1. Enabling exhibition of Latino and all border-region independent films at year-round venues;

2. Enabling community digital stories to be created and shared in multiple imaginative formats for self/group expression, education, community news, history and advocacy;

3. Providing more under-represented local youth from economically distressed communities (Latino immigrants, migrant teens and refugee youth from Somalia, Ethiopia and other war torn African regions) training by professional media artists to learn media literacy, communication and digital production skills, that culminate with screenings of their own produced short documentaries. Throughout this media production and literacy process, youth’s academic growth enables high school completion, pursuit of higher education and productive job readiness skills.

The VISTA project and member will help build capacity for this new “Media Lab” project by:

1. Using the tabulations and narratives of the recent “Future of Media Arts in San Diego” surveys to identify and help the MACSD leadership team analyze the basic digital media uses and needs of the community in specific neighborhoods, gaining a diversity of ideas that reflects enriching differing points of view.

2. Using the survey results as community indicators to help create a business plan; determine cost-effective venue location(s), design and furnishings, staffing, needed media technology hardware and software and ancillary materials; plus, culturally relevant media arts entertainment, creativity, education- student media arts training; digital stories and news programming directions.

3. Working with MACSD’s Board of Directors, leadership team and long-term networks of collaborative community partners (listed below) to gain local motivation and support for this capacity-building initiative.