Contact Information:
Sara Johnson, Coordinator
Central New York Programmers Group
c/o Cornell Cinema
104 Willard Straight Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone: 607/255-3522
Fax: 607/255-9910
saj8@cornell.edu
The Central New York Programmers' Group was formed in the late 1980s as a professional network for programmers and teachers of film and video from colleges, media arts centers, libraries, museums, and community-based facilities in the upstate region, principally Central and Western New York State. It is funded by the Electronic Media and Film Program of the New York State Council on the Arts and administered by Cornell Cinema.
The rationale behind the CNYPG is to provide a formal, centralized forum for the informal and anecdotal exchange of information that regularly goes on between programmers, exhibitors, teachers, and media arts producers in a given city or area-and to do this on a large (i.e. regional) scale.
There are several benefits in the creation of the CNYPG consortium. Programmers from a variety of media arts sites are able to share a wealth of information and resources setting the stage for joint programming possibilities. In doing so, they help strengthen one another and foster a sense of regional autonomy and identity.
This mutual support and regional identity enable the CNYPG to attract acclaimed independent and alternative film- and videomakers for major tours, which in turn vitalizes the various arts communities in the region.
The
CNYPG's main activities are to coordinate tours of the New York State
region by visiting film- and videomakers and to provide a centralized network
to discuss programming and exhibition opportunities.
The CNYPG marked its 20th anniversary with a gathering at Colgate
University in March 2006. Many of the founding members were in attendance at
the 2006 meeting.
Networking
The CNYPG encourages ongoing
organizational contact among programmers by providing a network for discussions
on issues in the media arts field. Through on-line communication and occasional
meetings, members discuss nuances of exhibition programming, the merits and/or
availability of given works or artists, lesser-known funding sources, and current
developments in the field.
This website is designed to inform members of media announcements, recent CNYPG
tour reviews, upcoming CNYPG tour details, funding opportunities, independent
artists of interest, and media events. Submissions from members and artists
are welcome.
The CNYPG member contact list provides contact information for over 80
regional programmers and media arts professionals. Regularly updated, this list
serves as a valuable communication resource.
The CNYPG e-mail list serve (CNYPG-L@cornell.edu) allows members to communicate
electronically through a single e-mail address. The network provides a quick,
cheap, and easy way to get information to other programmers and builds links
with independent artists and others in the media arts community.
To join the mailing list,
send an e-mail with a blank subject line and the following text in the body
of the message: join cnypg-l "Your Name" (include
quotes around your name!) to lyris@cornell.edu. Send this message
from the e-mail address where you want to receive the CNYPG list messages. Or
simply email the CNYPG Coordinator at saj8@cornell.edu.
By forming a well-organized touring circuit consisting of a number of media arts sites in the region, the CNYPG is able to offer prominent film- and videomakers a major tour opportunity, and, by banding together, reduce members' costs. All transportation and coordination expenses are covered by the CNYPG, and host sites pay an honorarium to each artist. Artists typically present their work at 5-10 venues during a one or two week tour.
Filmmaker Tours
Two to three tours of independent media artists are coordinated each year by the CNYPG. Held in the spring and fall, these tours are valued by audiences, CNYPG hosts, and visiting guests alike. Touring artists have presented screenings, lectured in classrooms, held workshops, as well as installed and/or created media art works.
Tour guests are suggested by CNYPG members and selected through a voting process. Since 1989, the CNYPG has invited a diversified group of highly acclaimed film- and videomakers whose work spans experimental, narrative, and documentary genres.
In the past few years, the CNYPG organized tours for filmmakers Bill Brown, Jem Cohen, James Benning, and Phil Solomon, media activist DeeDee Halleck, Lewis Klahr, documentarian Stephanie Black, performance artist Miranda July, Israeli videomaker Irit Batsry, curator Astria Suparak, West Coast animator Janie Geiser, experimental filmmaker Bill Morrison, Chicago-based documentarians Steve James and Adam Singer, experimental filmmaker Mark Lapore, and Canadian Aboriginal filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin.
Previous years guests have included: critic B. Ruby Rich, Hungarian experimental filmmaker Peter Forgacs, West Coast filmmaker Craig Baldwin, Mexican video artist Ximena Cuevas, animator Chris Sullivan, Sharon Lockhart, Pixelvisionary Sadie Benning, avant-garde filmmaker Jennifer Reeves, documentarian Kirby Dick, Scottish-based videomaker Daniel Reeves, family documentarian Alan Berliner, London-based feminist filmmaker Pratibha Parmar, British filmmaker Ngozi Onwurah, cinema verité pioneer DA Pennebaker, Dutch film illusionists Paul and Menno De Nooijer, San Fransisco-based experimental filmmaker Greta Snider, Yugoslav filmmaker Dusan Makaveyev, political documentarian Annie Goldson, Latina filmmaker Lourdes Portillo, Filipino filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik, Israeli documentarian Amos Gitai, avant-garde film scholar William Moritz, and experimental animator Larry Jordan.
"I enjoyed the entire tour tremendously."
-Alan Berliner
"I am really happy that I undertook
this tour. It left me feeling positive and affirmed as a filmmaker knowing that
there are all these people who have been watching my films and are engaged in
the thematics of my work. I came back to London with renewed inspiration."
-Prathiba Parmar
"The tour was an extraordinary
experience for me all around. It really helped me feel focused, energized and
engaged for the screenings -- knowing that everything was taken care of and
clear, feeling that I was appreciated and connecting with the hosts at the venues."
-Jennifer Reeves
“The CNYPG tour is invaluable, for filmmakers as well as audiences.
We live in a time of increasing corporate media consolidation, when conventional
venues bring fewer and fewer unconventional films to their audiences. The CNYPG
tour breaks the mold not only in regards to the kinds of films it makes available,
but by making it a two-way street. By bringing filmmakers directly to audiences
and territories that they might otherwise never encounter, the focus shifts
from passive entertainment to engaged exchange. I did the tour well past the
date of my film’s initial release in Europe, and initially feared that
I might be tired of talking about it. Instead, I found that the varied geographies
of New York State made for widely divergent audiences, and I heard questions
and comments that gave me fresh insight and excitement about my own work. Furthermore,
CNYPG gives filmmakers the kind of square deal that isn’t so easily accessed
these days, and thereby helps them continue to make work. And it’s a well-organized
program. Would that it would serve as a template more often.”
-Jem Cohen