Artists' Television Access

Artists' Television Access
Name	Artists' Television Access
Formation	1984
Location	San Francisco, California
Type	Nonprofit artist-run space

Artists' Television Access

Artists' Television Access is an artist-run nonprofit exhibition space and screening venue in San Francisco, California, founded in 1984. The organization operates within the contemporary art and experimental media ecosystems, presenting video, film, performance, installation, and community programs that intersect with institutions such as San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of the African Diaspora, Contemporary Jewish Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and Oakland Museum of California. It occupies a profile among alternative art spaces alongside The Kitchen, Electronic Arts Intermix, Anthology Film Archives, LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions), and White Columns.

History

Artists' Television Access was established in the context of the 1980s Bay Area art scene that included actors and artists associated with New Langton Arts, Fort Mason Center, SFMOMA Artists Gallery, Alternative Exposure, and Southern Exposure. Early founders and contributors intersected with networks surrounding Paul Marioni, Ruth Asawa, David Ireland (artist), Bruce Conner, Timothy Leary, and activists from ACT UP and Queer Nation. The venue developed programming in dialogue with film festivals and curatorial projects such as Sundance Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, Rotterdam International Film Festival, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, and Ann Arbor Film Festival. Over decades its chronology parallels institutional and community changes like the rise of Bay Area Video Coalition, the influence of New Media Arts Programs, and policy debates involving San Francisco Arts Commission and National Endowment for the Arts.

Mission and Programming

The organization's mission emphasizes support for independent artists, experimental filmmakers, and media practitioners linked to communities represented by Tenderloin, Mission District (San Francisco), SoMa (South of Market), and Castro District. Programming has featured retrospectives and new works by figures such as Nam June Paik, Bill Viola, Shigeko Kubota, Pipilotti Rist, Chantal Akerman, Maya Deren, Kenneth Anger, John Waters, Harun Farocki, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Imogen Cunningham, and Todd Haynes. The venue curates series and festivals in association with entities like SF Cinematheque, BERGamot Station Arts Center, Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles Filmforum, Pacific Film Archive, and The Walker Art Center. Collaborative programs include partnerships with Southern Exposure, Headlands Center for the Arts, Creative Time, Eyebeam, Rhizome, New Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and De Young Museum.

Facilities and Technical Resources

Facilities include a storefront gallery, screening room, projection booth, and production resources that appeal to artists working with analog and digital media formats relevant to archives like Pacific Film Archive, British Film Institute, UCLA Film & Television Archive, Library of Congress, and Museum of the Moving Image. Technical resources have supported formats associated with practitioners such as Gus Van Sant, David Lynch, Stan Brakhage, Angelo Badalamenti, and technologies from firms and projects like Sony, Panasonic, ARRI, Blackmagic Design, Adobe Systems, and Avid Technology. The space has hosted equipment workshops and rental programs in collaboration with Bay Area Video Coalition, Signal Culture, The Lab (San Francisco), Grey Area Foundation for the Arts, and Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Notable Exhibitions and Projects

Notable projects have included solo exhibitions, group shows, and premieres by artists and filmmakers such as Mike Kelley, Chris Marker, Pina Bausch, Cindy Sherman, Garry Winogrand, Nan Goldin, Laurie Anderson, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Ellen Harvey, Hito Steyerl, Kara Walker, Pauline Oliveros, Ana Mendieta, Santiago Sierra, Barbara Hammer, Ragnar Kjartansson, Gillian Wearing, Oliver Stone, Marlon Riggs, Maya Zack, and Tania Bruguera. Projects have extended into community-driven initiatives akin to programming by Project Row Houses, Theaster Gates', and festivals like Frieze Art Fair, Art Basel, Documenta, Whitney Biennial, Venice Biennale, São Paulo Art Biennial, and Berlin Biennale.

Community Engagement and Education

Community engagement initiatives mirror efforts by organizations such as Precita Eyes Muralists, 826 Valencia, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, GLBT Historical Society, Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, La Raza Centro Legal, La Comunidad, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, El Tecolote, and Bayview Opera House. Educational programs have collaborated with higher-education institutions including California College of the Arts, San Francisco State University, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Davis, Stanford University, Columbia University School of the Arts, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and Rhode Island School of Design. Public workshops, youth programs, and artist residencies align with practices at Headlands Center for the Arts, The LAB, ArtSpan, Museum of Craft and Design, and California Institute of the Arts.

Organization and Funding

Organizationally, the nonprofit model situates the venue among peers like Creative Time, Fractured Atlas, New Music USA, National Performance Network, MAP Fund, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and National Endowment for the Arts. Funding sources have included private donors, institutional grants, membership drives, and benefit events similar to practices at SFMOMA Contemporary Initiatives, Inter/Media Arts Alliance, Knight Foundation, Ford Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, Getty Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Kresge Foundation. Governance and volunteer structures relate to boards and committees mirroring those at Creative Capital, Board of Trustees of the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Arts Commission Cultural Equity Grants Program, and municipal cultural policies from San Francisco Board of Supervisors and state funding frameworks like California Arts Council.

Category:Art museums and galleries in San Francisco