For those of you who don’t know, I recently moved to Austin, and I very much wanted to attend the recent NAMAC conference. But, just starting a new job and getting settled in my new place made that a tall order. The National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture is a service organization for media arts organizations, with “a diverse mix of organizations and individuals dedicated to a common goal: the support and advocacy of independent film, video, audio and digital arts.”

Here is the first of the reports from the conference from Susi Walsh of the Center for Independent Documentary.

NAMAC co-director Helen De Michiel set the tone for the conference with her welcoming remarks. She challenged us to think about the ethical use of new technologies in our work; about how to take action, collaborate and build our communities with concern for the common good. An old theme to be sure, but one that needs deeper consideration as we move into a media landscape that favors increasingly more solitary media. “Do It With Others”, she said “connect, communicate, collaborate”.

Richard Linklater (FAST FOOD NATION, BEFORE SUNSET, SCHOOL OF ROCK) gave the opening keynote—it was more of a conversation really—and talked about the history of the Austin Film Society and its relationship to his own work. He started the film society in the 1960’s because he just wanted other people to watch films with- and over the years, they’ve grown to making films together as well as funding them. Did It With Others. Read the rest>>