The PVT/SAM ARCHIVE
WE WELCOME DOCUMENTARY AND SCHOLARLY INTEREST IN THE WORK OF
PEOPLES VIDEO THEATER AND SURVIVAL ARTS MEDIA
The Peoples Video Theater-Survival Arts Media Archive
is now available
after not being viewable for almost 50 years.
Several hundred 1/2" reel and 3/4" tapes, many of which have been digitized, are now available. The tapes/projects represent a range of cultural and historical themes from that era including: art and performance in lower Manhattan, public health, disability rights, criminal justice reform, race relations, changes in sexual attitudes, public discussion of life, and public debate on issues such as respect for the American flag, gay rights, Puerto Rican rights, interactive music-video performance, and how video and media can play a role in social change.
IMPACT
DISABILITY RIGHTS REVOLUTION
PVT’s work with the Camp Jened community influenced the emerging leadership of the disability rights movement. The video feedback process secured the trust and active participation of the participants with disabilities that catalyzed leadership and encouraged the beginning of the disability rights movement. Our 1971 footage, known as the "Camp Jened tapes,” gave a direct and emphatic voice to the humanity, intelligence, and desires of youth with disabilities and became a launching point for Co-Directors James LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham to tell the story in their film, Crip Camp (https://cripcamp.com).
From Executive Producers Michelle and Barack Obama, Crip Camp won the 2020 Sundance Audience Award for Best American Documentary and is now streaming on Netflix.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
A PVT video feedback documentary about crime in South Orange, New Jersey for the Department of Justice resulted in the retraining of the entire police force and removal of a corrupt police chief.
PUBLIC HEALTH OUTREACH, EDUCATION AND INNOVATION
Work with major health institutions and unions resulted in their ability to deliver health care to hard to reach constituencies as well as environmental testing, awareness, and political action.
Examples of innovative public health initiatives made possible by the collective's creative use of an art process approach to address pressing health issues:
· A sickle cell anemia project with Harlem teens sponsored by Cornell Medical School and the March of Dimes Foundation
· An STD survey for Rockefeller University
· An air pollution health survey and education program for the Bridge and Tunnel Workers Union and Scientists for Public Information
· Community Health Information with St. Vincent's Hospital
· A comprehensive hospital-community project with Bellevue Hospital
· Video feedback therapy with heroin addicted Vietnam veterans in the South Bronx at Lincoln Hospital
PUBLIC ACCESS - COMMUNITY TELEVISION - BROADCAST TELEVISON
SAM Co-Director Howard Gutstadt organized the Public Access Celebration, which coordinated New York video groups for a rollout of Public Access on Cable Television.
PVT/SAM productions were among the first to broadcast on American & European television opening the door to a generation of programming on the needs and feelings of real people, not corporate entertainment models.
ELECTRONIC VIDEO ART
PVT/SAM analog Electronic Video Art and Feedback tools and techniques were the foundation for interactive performances in major venues, such as planetariums and art museums. These stimulated the subsequent development of digital video tools.
The Survival Arts Media Collective produced interactive music theater events with early video analog tools developed by SAM engineer Dan Bucciano. Using voltage-controlled oscillators synched to music waveforms and mixed and energized with video feedback, a collaboration with Bob Rutman and Central Maine Power Music Company grew into a major performance tour. Howard Gutstadt led our collaboration with Bill Etra and his Rutt-Etra Synthesizer. This was the basis for Howard's subsequent work which helped pave the way for the development of digital video tools that today define the digital workplace.
REVITALIZING INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE & CULTURE
The documentary and video feedback methods developed by PVT/SAM have been adapted by Speaking Place for work in reviving endangered languages in North American and Mexican indigenous communities over the last 20 years.
ACCESS:
We welcome inquiries about the work of PVT/SAM, its philosophy, history, and methods.
The archive was not accessible for viewing for almost 50 years until the original 1/2-inch reels of tape started to be digitized by the Bay Area Video Coalition (BVAC) several years ago. Crip Camp is the first major project to utilize the extensive video stories and resources in the collection.
The PVT-SAM archive has recently been accessioned by the Special Collections Library at New York University. It will soon be accessible to researchers.
For information about PVT-SAM, its history, methods, specific projects, or access to the archive, please use the contact information below or drop a note here.
EXHIBITION HISTORY:
Peoples Video Theater work was presented and performed live at our lofts on 6th Ave and in Soho and screened at installations and on cable and broadcast media during the period the collectives were active between the years 1970 and 1976.
Screenings also occurred on:
PBS, NYS BOCES broadcast, cable Public Access Television in Manhattan, on European and Canadian television, and in museum and art venues, including the Museum of Modern Art Video Pioneers series, Boston Museum of Contemporary Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Lincoln Center, Damrosch Park Bandshell, Syracuse University, Baltimore Theater Project, Maine Public Broadcasting, The Kitchen, the World Trade Center, NYU, Mass College of Art, SUNY Buffalo, Rhode Island School of Design, Fredonia State University, Jamestown Community College, Global Village, Video Free America, (The Videofreex), Lanesville TV and the Strasenburgh and Hayden Planetariums in Rochester and Boston, respectively, Portable Channel, the Visual Studies Workshop, The Experimental Television center in Binghampton, NY, the New York City Public Library, and the Chautauqua Institute.
Several early People’s Video Theater programs are available at the Video Data Bank and on Vimeo.
Overview: Peoples Video Theater was founded by Ken Marsh and Elliot Glass in 1970, who with Elaine Milosh, went on to other endeavors by late 1971. Howard Gutstadt, who had been working with them and Ben Levine, who had been doing therapeutic video feedback at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx, joined in 1971. They continued developing the video feedback - community documentary approach, and in 1973 evolved an expanded collective into Survival Arts Media, subsequently located in SoHo, adding Richard Milone, Dan Bucciano, Molly Hughes, and Gail Edwards. The collective ceased its work in the late 1970’s.