HELP US PRESERVE OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE with our collection care, digitization, and access projects.
Please consider supporting our projects through a donation that helps us maintain our overall operations or donate to a specific archive project or to one of our member-artist’s fundraising pages.

Our collective history expressed through stories, memories and performances captured on videotape are 'in crisis' . Access to viable video playback equipment is becoming more difficult and the video tape medium itself is 'breaking down' and disintegrating. We need to immediately start to archive and preserve independent programming and documentaries that will eventually be lost.

Minnesota Media Arts is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to preserve, catalog, and provide improved access to Minnesota's media arts programs recorded on magnetic media as documentations, performances and creative expression. We were founded in 1983 as the Twin Cities Cable Arts Consortium to promote and distribute arts programming on Cable TV systems throughout Minnesota. We are continuing to work with Minnesota's creative communities, both individuals and organizations, to better manage and stabilize their media collections to preserve our rich and expressive Minnesota cultural heritage. We do this by offering educational resources, research, media archive collection care management, and archival quality media preservation and digital conversion services.

Your donations will help us maintain our services as we:

1 - Build a DIGITAL ARCHIVE repository and support cataloging of legacy digital media assets
2 - Provide affordable archival quality PRESERVATION and DIGITIZATION services for the arts and independent producer communities through our media preservation labs.
3 - Explore and research new DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGEMENT solutions that provide a “database” to make your media stories more accessible through online search tools.
4 - Create a 'FUNDING PLAN' for our 2024 OFFICE FACILITY SPACE (we were forced to consolidate into smaller remote offices during the Covid-19 Pandemic) to enable us to better engage our target audiences through our preservation media lab, presentations, as well as educational events such as COMMUNITY MEDIA ARCHIVING WORKSHOPS.

Questions? Contact Mark at MN Media Arts 612-801-7355

Let us know, via our Contact Form to reconnect with you if you prefer to contribute by check, PayPal or volunteer your services and/or donate equipment.

Minnesota Media Arts is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.Your donation may be tax-deductible based on your tax filing status and applicable laws.

You can DONATE anytime via our secure GIVEMN.org online portal

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Current projects under development include:

1 - Melisande Charles, Video Artist Media Archive and Planned Documentary (1972-2016)

In 2023 MN Media Arts received a MNHS Legacy Grant to start the important Collection Care phase to preserve her collection through a visual inventory and finding aid process. We are continuing with our cataloging and metadata efforts while preparing the collection for further digital conversion funding. MNMA is also starting the research and script development for a documentary program based on collection assets and historical footage, including video interviews conducted with Ms Charles in the year before her death, September 2, 2017 at age 86.

2 - Cable Arts Consortium Archive (1985-1993)

With generous support through a Legacy Fund Grant through the Minnesota Historical Society, we successfully completed the initial metadata cataloging and digital conversion of the Cable Arts Consortium Archive collection. The video collection consists of 60+ programs from the early to late 1980s, features artist programming, produced by arts and cultural organizations in Minnesota, and was originally assembled for distribution on Cable TV systems throughout Minnesota. Your continued financial support will continue to help MNMA create a web access portal to share these programs online.

3 - University Community Video/Intermedia Arts "Changing Channels Series" (1974-1978)

UCV/Intermedia Arts was a pioneer organization in the community media and "Guerrilla Television" landscape of the 1970's, introducing portable video "portapak" production training and producing the "Changing Channels" series featuring community focused content broadcast on KTCA-TV Channel 2, in St. Paul Minnesota. These innovative programs were one of the earliest examples of a weekly alternative media broadcast program in the United States that was produced and edited using “portable location video tools” as a groundbreaking technology.

MN Media Arts is continuing to further develop the Changing Channels series metadata, broadcast timeline, confirming program titles, length, producer and copyright information. Our goal is to secure funding to expand the digitized collection and make it available for research purposes via an online catalog finding aid. Your support will help with these efforts to bring the series out of "deep storage at MNHS" to start the digital preservation process before the original media further degrades. The Changing Channels series and other early UCV program series like "Everybody's TV Time" and subsequent Intermedia Arts video programs were donated to the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) back in 1994. MNHS received a 2022 Council on Library Information Resources (CLIR) grant to digitize the ¾” Umatic programs, donated by Intermedia arts in 1994 currently stabilizing the collection and has made some of the programs accessible on their website.

4 - Improved Media Lab Digital Conversions Support (2016-2024)

MNMA is continuing to expand its media preservation and conversion capabilities utilizing legacy video equipment formats with test and signal monitoring and digital conversion cards. We are fulfilling our goal to offer “Made accessible in Minnesota” cost effective media conversion services to Artists, Media Producers, Arts/Cultural institutions, community, broadcast media centers and tribal nations. Our video formats include, EIAJ 1/2" Open Reel, 1" Type C Open Reel, Hi8/8mm, VHS/SVHS, 3/4" U-matic videocassette. Betacam-SP videocassette, Mini/DV and DVCAM cassettes. We have also improved our tape preparations to include de-hydrolysis to handle the problematic sticky shed syndrome (SSS) impacting “in crisis” vintage "" videotapes from poor storage solutions.

Questions? Contact Mark at MN Media Arts 612-801-7355

Let us know, via our Contact Form to reconnect with you if you prefer to contribute by check, PayPal or volunteer your services and/or donate equipment.

Minnesota Media Arts is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.Your donation may be tax-deductible based on your tax filing status and applicable laws.

You can DONATE anytime via our secure GIVEMN.org online portal

THANK YOU!

Contributing and Supporting MN Media Arts through technology donations.

We also are very grateful for the donations of 'legacy' video equipment. Our Media Lab has received numerous donations from the following; Medtronic, Saving Tapes-Cargill, City of Rivers Falls WI, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, Northwestern University-St. Paul, Eagan Community Television, Legal Eduction Services, U of M, Hendlin Communications, St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN), Wayne Potratz, Craig Sinard Productions, Tom Grotting- Digital Pictures, Greg Stiever Productions, Big Bang Productions, Robert Hanson Video, The Ray Conover Estate, Mark Stanley-4insight LLC , Ron McCoy-McCoy & Associates.

We are very interested in “functioning” computers, hard drives, servers and video monitors. We are continuing our search for legacy video format recorders/players: EIAJ 1/2" reel-to-reel VTRs, Betamax, Hi-8, S-VHS, 3/4" U-matic VCRs and operating Digital Betacam, Betacam-SP, DV-Cam and Mini-DV VCRs, TBC's, Proc Amps, test scopes, manuals etc.

Most importantly, we are seeking people who know how to repair and maintain legacy video equipment. Referrals and Volunteers would be greatly appreciated.

updated 2023-11-10