Preservation Assessment and Plan for the California Institute of the Arts Moving Image Collection

FAIN: PG-50042-07

California Institute of the Arts (Valencia, CA 91355-2340)
Karen Baxter (Project Director: May 2006 to September 2008)

Hiring a preservation consultant to assess the film and videotape collection and preservation plan of CalArts, an organization that houses and provides access to experimental and independent moving image animation created from the 1920s to the present.

This grant will support a consulting moving image archivist to assess and draft a preservation plan for a historically significant, at risk, film and older videotape collection that spans the 1920s to the present. The collection is used for teaching, study, research, exhibitions, and institute promotion, and reflects the unique, collective contribution of CalArts to cinematic practice, history, and education. Supporting the curriculum of a premier film, art, and performance college in the U.S., the loss of this critical material would be detrimental to researchers of experimental and independent animation and film and to the education of artists and filmmakers. Goals are to balance access against preservation, to identify immediate needs, and to develop preservation strategy for storage and archival reformatting to mitigate the loss of the collection.