Regional Report 2011

In 1992 three Temple University graduate students, Jim Ospenson, Merle Perlson and Michael Kuetemeyer, were so blown away by Manny Farber’s 1962 manifesto, "Termite Art Vs. White Elephant Art," that they formed the Termite TV Collective.

With a motion picture tax credit law passed in 2007, Boston has been attracting Hollywood films, creating jobs for a wide range of industry workers and benefiting smaller independent filmmakers as well. When the tax credit was threatened 2010, the community mobilized with the help of Facebook. Founded in 2005, the Massachusetts Production Coalition was the first and foremost industry group to work with the legislature and the governor toward passage of the Massachusetts motion picture tax credit.

Philadelphia’s independent film and video community has a flavor all its own, driven by community activism and a thriving creative culture. The emergence of PhillyCAM, after a decades-long grassroots campaign for public access television, typifies Phildadelphia’s community spirit.

The story of recent innovations at the Center for Asian American Media is the story of how the right organization, at a critical turning point, with the willingness to experiment and the support of the right funders, can repurpose itself to engage rapidly changing technologies and build new, deepened relationships with its audience.