The EBMC, located in the Berkeley arts district at 1939 Addison Street, formed in 1980 when current Board of Directors Mel Vapour and Paul Kealoha Blake, among others, ventured to form a low-power community-based TV station in Berkeley. Though the team’s mission was frustrated by FCC policy, the lessons they learned while advocating for their community have carried over to the center’s present-day focus.
“We’re here for filmmakers, and we’re here for the community,” said co-director Mel Vapour. “Our goal has always been to be a forum for both.”
That goal has manifested itself in myriad ways over EBMC’s 32-year history. In 1986 the center proposed and developed an interim Public Access Cable TV Facility on University Avenue. In 1991 they amplified the voice of local filmmakers by launching what would become the internationally-recognized Berkeley Video and Film Festival. And throughout the 1990s they recognized the needs of the disabled community by working with American disability rights activist Judith Heumann to adapt camcorders to wheelchairs, which in turn birthed “Barrier Free TV,” the first-ever cable show by and for the disabled community.
In addition to providing training and access to digital production and post production hardware, the EBMC is utilizing their current home on Addison Street as a venue for screenings, multimedia acts, workshops and live performances. Recent acts include David A. Moss’s solo-play “Cracked Clown.” Local playwright and artist Jovelyn Richards will perform her one-woman show “Stripping Down to Story” on Feb. 17-19, 2012.
Vapour and Blake agreed that there is a strong need for local venues that invite cultural expression, and that providing artists with their space also makes culture accessible to the local community.
“Despite the availability of the insular activity of individual viewing or interaction online, we still collectively seek an intimate setting where we can interact face to face with people to experience and appreciate art, which is something we may not get with cyber interaction,” said Blake.
“We’re like Berkeley’s Off-Broadway,” Vapour added with a smile.
The Media Center also offers a Summer Teen Media Camp for East Bay youth, which runs June 9-28 this year.
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