What is NAMAC?

The National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC) is a nonprofit association whose membership comprises a diverse mix of organizations and individuals dedicated to a common goal: the support and advocacy of independent film, video, audio and online/multimedia arts.

Collectively, NAMAC's members provide a wide range of services in support of independent media, including education, production, exhibition, distribution, collection-building, preservation, criticism and general advocacy. Our members include media arts centers, production facilities, university-based programs, community technology centers, museums, film festivals, media distributors, film archives, after-school programs, community access TV stations and individuals working in the field. Combined, these organizations serve approximately 400,000 artists and other media professionals nationwide. Please refer to our Member Directory for details.

NAMAC was founded in 1980 by an eclectic group of media arts centers that realized they could strengthen their social and cultural impact by working as a united force. Their idea was as bold as it was simple: to create a national organization that would provide support services to its institutional members and advocate for the field as a whole. Since its founding, NAMAC has worked to raise the profile and influence of the media arts on behalf of its ever-expanding membership.