BAVC is a community hub and resource for media makers in the Bay Area and across the country, serving over 7,500 freelancers, filmmakers, job-seekers, activists, and artists every year. BAVC provides access to media making technology, storytelling workshops, a diverse and engaged community of makers and producers, services and resources. BAVC advocates for those whose stories aren't being told, an
d provides the resources for anyone to create and share, and amplify their stories and those of their communities. BAVC's diverse, innovative programs lead the field in media training for youth and educators, technology and multimedia focused workforce development, visually-driven new media storytelling and audio-visual preservation. BAVC has been a trusted community educator, collaborator, incubator, community builder and resource for the media arts world since 1976. BAVC began when a group of media makers and activists met in January of 1976 to devise practical ways to encourage independent video-making in the Bay Area. With a small grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to conduct a needs assessment and feasibility study of the region’s media-making community, that small group spent the summer collecting information about what the region’s environment looked like for independent videomakers. Among that study’s conclusions was a recommendation for “a regional video resource center with multi-faceted programs that concentrate on improving all aspects of video production and exhibition…” That video resource center came into existence when BAVC was incorporated on December 10, 1976. As new technologies have been introduced over the past four decades, BAVC has responded with dynamic programs and new training strategies, while remaining committed to our mission of serving independent media makers.
