Scribe Video Center

ABOUT US Scribe Video Center was founded in 1982 as a place where emerging and experienced media artists could gain access to the tools and knowledge of video making and work together in a supportive environment. Scribe provides training in all aspects of film, video and audio production. We also offer classes in computer-based interactive media to individuals and community organizations as well. We give emerging and mid-level video makers the skills and opportunity to use video and film as tools for self-expression and for representing and supporting their communities. In the three decades since its inception, Scribe has established eight ongoing programs designed to meet the needs of the general public and media artists: We annually offer over 50 professional level Workshops for novice, emerging, and established artists, in addition to offering Master Classes with important nationally recognized media makers. Our workshop participants are of all ages. In addition, we offer afterschool and summer youth workshops taught by media makers who have experience working with children and teens; Community Visions is a free ten-month video production program for members of community groups. In this program, participants learn to produce short documentaries about issues of importance to their constituencies. The Documentary History Project for Youth is a program in which middle and high school students work with experienced filmmakers and historians after school and during the summer to research, plan, and produce documentaries about issues of local historical significance. Each year the documentaries focus on different topic exploring the social, environmental, cultural, and/or political history of the region. The Precious Places Community History Project is an on-going community media program that has teamed over 70 neighborhood groups with experienced filmmakers and humanities consultants to make oral history-based documentaries that explore the political and cultural history of public spaces in their neighborhoods. Muslim Voices of Philadelphia is a collaborative community history project documenting the history of varied Muslim groups in the Delaware Valley. Members of mosques, masjids, schools, cultural centers, and other Muslim groups combine archival research, ethnography, oral history, and digital media to form an expansive picture of the rich history of Islam in Philadelphia. The Producers' Forum in-person screening series, is a lecture discussion program, that allows Scribe to invite important nationally and internationally recognized media makers to Philadelphia to share their work and talk about their process of creating. Storyville is Scribe's monthly on-site screening series that focuses on new works produced by local film and video makers. Street Movies! is an outdoor screening series that brings independent films and videos to vibrant public spaces throughout the Philadelphia and Camden, NJ areas at no cost to audience members or our community group co-hosts. Artists Resources for local independent artists include fiscal sponsorship, access to high-quality camera, lighting, sound, and editing equipment at low cost as well as producers' support groups for artists in mid-production. In the Spring of 2006, Scribe Video Center, inspired and guided by Prometheus Radio Project and residents of West Philadelphia, purchased the broadcast license for WPEB 88.1 FM, a low-power, non-commercial, neighborhood-focused radio station. WPEB 88.1FM serves West Philadelphia which, with a population of 300,000, is a city within itself. The station has a community programming and governance board. WPEB has grown to be an important outlet for new audio production produced by residents in and around the area. http://www.wpeb.org/about/ MISSION Scribe Video Center, a non-profit organization founded in December of 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, seeks to explore, develop and advance the use of electronic media, including video and audio, as artistic media and as tools for progressive social change. "Scribe" is a metaphor for the use of electronic recording technologies as a modern tool to document significant contemporary concerns and events. Scribe uses electronic media to document issues and ideas affecting diverse economic and cultural communities; create media works that comment on the human condition and celebrate cultural diversity. Scribe Video Center facilitates new approaches to visual form and language in an effort to further the aesthetics of video making. HISTORY Scribe Video Center came into being in December of 1982 founded by Louis Massiah as a place where individuals and communities learn media making and explore the use of video as both an artistic medium and as a tool for progressive social change. The first activity was a video production workshop taught by Louis. Scribe had no equipment, no staff; in fact, it really wasn’t much of anything except a group of people who had come together to learn about documentaries and to support each other’s work. Scribe was given workshop space rent-free at the old Brandywine Workshop in the 1500 block of Kater Street. And Videosmith, an equipment rental house, loaned a video camera and deck overnight. But it was the people who were part of those early workshops that gave the organization a definition. Joan Huckstep, a choreographer, was interested in using video to expand and complement other forms of artistic expression. Carlton Jones, a technological wunderkind, encouraged the organization to explore the technology of video. Sandy Clark, the journalist, prodded us to think of video as a tool for community journalism. The writer and photographer, Emiko Tonooka, was interested in video as a way to come to terms with history. But certainly it was Toni Cade Bambara, the writer, who pushed Scribe to look at video as cultural form that would thrive in neighborhood settings and as a creative tool to explore community issues. Scribe moved to the brick carriage house with turquoise trim at 1342 Cypress Street. Out of those modest surroundings Scribe’s programs and students expanded. Since Scribe's founding, thousands of people and over two hundred and fifty community groups have documented their hopes, dreams, passions, and concerns in some 350 videos produced with the support of Scribe Video Center. Many of these works represent visions, perspectives and understandings that have not been voiced or seen in any other media, and all of them represent sparks of creativity and daring for the filmmakers. Scribe has become a nationally recognized media arts education center for independent producers, emerging video artists and media activists, including community groups and individuals. People work together in an atmosphere that facilitates new approaches to visual form and language, encourages the development of the aesthetics of videomaking, and provides a process for individuals and groups to document concerns about and visions for themselves and their communities. In October 2004, Scribe moved to 4212 Chestnut Street, a 3,500 square foot loft space with multiple classrooms, editing rooms and a screening space. In 2007 Scribe took on the additional role of broadcaster. Working with Prometheus Radio Project, the Philadelphia Independent Media Center, and a consortium of community and cultural groups in West Philadelphia, Scribe launched the community radio station WPEB 88.1 FM, chartered to serve the people who live and work in West Philadelphia. Currently, Scribe resides at 3908 Lancaster Avenue. We have a dedicated screening room, editing stations and a classroom. Scribe continues to be a leader in the region of using technologies of time based digital media (video, audio, film, web based media) to create important documentary works using our participatory community media methodology, and has maintained this role in spite of dramatic changes in the way media is made and the way people gain and process information. We are committed to using documentary filmmaking as both a form of artistic expression and as a tool to analyze and explore issues of broad community concern. "As a filmmaker, I am very interested in men and women who have made a conscious decision to dedicate their lives to work toward a higher, more civilized humanity. In many ways, our society rewards us for accepting the status quo, so it takes great courage, and often times great personal costs, to dare to challenge the society to change; to progress to something better; to be more humane; to work for a society free from oppression." -- Louis Massiah