Here are the interviews with our volunteers Eric Stewart and Lizzy Brooks.

ERIC STEWART

How and when did you first become involved with ATA?

I started volunteering about a year and a half ago.  I had moved here from Chicago,  and after all the drama surrounding settling, I wanted to get involved in the film community and see great films. I’d always heard great things about ATA and respected the programming, so I signed up!

What, if any, other organizations have you been involved with as a volunteer?

I help run a free workshop out of Noisebridge, called Elements of Image Making; we focus on 16mm and super 8 filmmaking.  We do stuff like hand processing, chemical manipulation, and direct animation. Elements is an open platform resource and skill sharing, our goal is to keep analogue film processes viable by sharing our craft with anyone who wants to engage in it.  Our next workshop is Sunday June 2nd at 4pm at Noisebridge, we will be doing solarisation and reticulation.

https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Elements_of_Image_Making

Is volunteering at ATA what you expected?

Definitely, it’s a lot of fun and you get to meet a lot of interesting people and see interesting films.

You are also a filmmaker. Do you have any projects on the works you would like to tell us about?

I make 16mm films that are generally interested in tracing the political, social and mystical histories embedded within landscapes and systems.  My films are often about the philosophy of science, perception and being.  My current project is a short film called ARBOUR; it is about systems of knowledge, museums and wilderness.  It is kind of an extended film poem shot at the Chabot Space and Science Center, the California Academy of Arts and Science, Muir Woods and an epic tide pool in the Puget Sound.  Hope to be down with it by the end of summer.

https://vimeo.com/ecstaticerratic

Why is ATA important to you? And to the community?

ATA operates in a spirit of total inclusiveness and as a platform that enables artists to flourish.  ATA provides opportunities for emerging artists that few other places do.  ATA encourages people to keep creating while offering a place for works to be seen and groups to be heard.  ATA fosters a culture of resistance to mainstream media and institutions while maintaining the general health of the creative community in the Bay and beyond!  ATA is an inspiration and a model for micro cinemas everywhere! ATA 4 life

What is the craziest or coolest thing you have seen at ATA so far?

The first event I volunteered for was a fundraiser for Occupy San Francisco.  A video was playing that documented an action taken inside of a bank; people sat down in the lobby of the bank and refused to leave.  Everyone in the audience was clapping and cheering throughout the entire video, the energy in the room was just incredible.  I remember thinking to myself “this is like… the magic of Cinema”. There are these myths that float around about the early days of cinema, about peoples shock and awe at the “reality” on screen.  We were all transfixed and connected to the screen and each other; it was powerful in a way that is unique to cinema.  In its essence that moment is everything I love and value about ATA.

LIZZY BROOKS

When and why did you start volunteering at ATA?

I started volunteering at ATA in June of 2012. I had just moved to San Francisco, and I was looking for ways to connect with the art and film community. I went to a show at ATA and then I discovered that the whole place was run by volunteers. I loved the openness of ATA, and the way that it attracts a wide range of different artists without building hierarchies. I thought volunteering would be a good way to meet people who were making experimental cinema or projections, and also to be exposed to a constant stream of alternate cinema, films that are strange and challenging. So far, so good!

You are reviewing ATA shows for the blog. Does it make you feel like a film critic? Tell us about your experience so far.

I like to write reviews of certain shows because it cultivates a deeper connection with the piece.

The exercise of writing forces me to think about the work beyond just watching it in the gallery. I think that helps my own practice, as well as giving some good feedback to the screening artist. I think it’s a fantastic complement if someone takes the time to think enough about an artwork to write about it, so I’m glad to give that to other people.

I don’t think of myself as a film critic because, in fact, I don’t review work that I didn’t find interesting. If I didn’t connect with a piece, then I don’t write about it. I think that the critic sometimes builds his or her writing on the ability to break an artwork into its pieces, to deconstruct its influences and to deflate the weaker points. I am not so interested in deconstruction as in drawing connections or writing my own reactions as a viewer. I do write about issues in a piece that I find problematic, but I try to write for the artist as my primary audience. I think people can learn a lot from a well-considered audience reaction, and I try to give that to people whose work I respect.

You are a filmmaker as well. Can you tell us a little about the film you are working on?

I am actually making my first film right now. It’s a humbling experience. The film is called Kibuki and it’s about spirit possession rituals in Zanzibar. It’s a lyrical documentary, more like a memoir, about navigating cultural boundaries in search of these elusive creatures, the kibuki spirits, who take possession of their hosts’ bodies and then get drunk and dance and go wild and out of control. So if you get inhabited by one of these spirits, then there’s a trance ritual that teaches you to live in harmony with the demon. I see it as a way of finding peace with the different sides of our personalities.

I knew the people who practice this from a long time ago because I spent part of my childhood– or young-adulthood– in Tanzania. They told me that I had one of these spirits, i.e. that I was also possessed. I went to live with them to try to understand what that meant. And I was filming, which was problematic at times. There were some things that happened during my year there that changed me as a person. I hope the film gives glimpses of the whole story.

What is the best part of volunteering at ATA?

I like the people that I met through ATA. People are always the best part of a community space, right? Through volunteering I have also seen some really amazing videos and cinema art that I never would have discovered otherwise. There’s just a steady stream of cool material flowing through that space, and it’s great to be exposed to it.

Why is ATA important to you? And to the community?

ATA exists to support experimentation. It’s increasingly rare in this city to find a storefront space that puts interestingness above profit. As an artist, I feel like the presence of ATA and similar open and collaborative gallery spaces is what makes San Francisco livable and exiting for me.

What is the craziest or coolest thing you have seen at ATA so far?

I don’t know about the craziest… I loved the benefit screening, Cast Shadows. I wrote all about it in my blog post http://www.atasite.org/2013/02/cast-shadows-left-me-dreaming-in-super-8/.

Volunteer with ATA!

ATA is looking for volunteers to help with our Gallery and our Screenings. Volunteers run screenings, organize events, curate shows, and get stuff done. Volunteers can come to any ATA show for free. We need people who are creative and reliable.

Email volunteer@atasite.org and become a part of something good.

The San Francisco Global Vietnamese Film Festival is a biennial film and video showcase centering Vietnamese filmmakers in Việt Nam and the diaspora—an international vision reflecting a transnational reality. This year’s festival inaugurates, with a party, its 2013 showcase of filmmakers of Vietnamese descent. The Opening Night Gala, held on April 26 at Artists Television Access, offers you the chance to mix and mingle with filmmakers, film-lovers, spoken word performers, poets, and visual artists who’ve dropped by to celebrate northern California’s only Vietnamese-focused festival of films. Music, open mic, and refreshments provided by the festival’s host organization, Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network. $10. Please help DVAN celebrate the film festival’s launch—everyone loves a good beginning. After that, the San Francisco Global Vietnamese Film Festival runs from 2:30pm to midnight each day, April 27-28, 2013, at the historic Roxie Theater. See sfgvff.wordpress.com for the full festival program.

7:30 to 10PM

Here are the interviews with our Gallery Director Grace Rosario Perkins and ATA Board Member Shae Green.

GRACE ROSARIO PERKINS

Can you tell us about your first volunteering experience/s at ATA?

I started volunteering at ATA in 2007. I was attending Mills College and I think I had just switched from being an Art History major to an Intermedia Arts (video/sound/installation) person so I became more interested in working with alternative video/film spaces as opposed to galleries and museums. I was also most interested in microcinemas and film programing because a few years prior I had met Astria Suparak who was a film programmer who toured the country multiple times screening really amazing shows. All of these interests just culminated in me seeking out a similar community. I hadn’t even been to a show at ATA, I just started volunteering. I can’t remember what the first show I worked was but when I first started I remember there being a film series at ATA that showed a lot of really crazy stuff like Fred Halsted. I also remember working one of the last Madcat Film Festivals and there was some real excitement in the air that night.

You are an artist and part of the Black Salt Collective. Has being involved with ATA inspired you in any way, and if so, how?

I think being at ATA has informed my practice in a lot of ways. It is a space that allows me to engage with a very specific community of creative people and virtually every time I go to ATA I see something completely unlike the previous show… ATA pretty much runs of the gamut of film and music shows. It’s always fun to just stop by and see what is happening. I find ATA to be a nice space that is extremely accessible to many types of programming and because of that exposure I at times find myself feeling pretty motivated to try new things, even if it’s as simple as seeing someone doing something with projection… A “Why haven’t I done that?” kind of thing. Not that I always do it but at least it gets me thinking.

You run the ATA Gallery. What does your job as the gallery curator and manager entail?

I find artists every month to show their work on the ATA gallery walls. There is often the occasional opening or closing party and I am kind of the point person for times and dates, helping artists with anything else that may arise. Ideally I would like to host more group shows so if there are any curators out there that have a concept for a show, please email me: gracerosario @ gmail.com or just any artists looking for a space to show their work.

What do you do as for your day job?

I work at Creativity Explored as a Visual Arts Instructor. I’ve been working with adults with disabilities for a long time now, working at pretty much every art center in the Bay, and its work that I really enjoy. At Creativity Explored, I work with people on a lot of different projects- drawing/painting, sculpture, video, sound, and lately have been lucky enough to put some shows together. I usually have artists work on larger projects that are usually conceptually based and am currently finishing up some short abstract videos for projection for an upcoming show titled SPACE that opens May 2nd at the Creativity Explored gallery. I co-curated the show with another instructor Miranda Putman, and the exhibition is being promoted as “an immersive gallery experience consisting of sculpture-based work made from repurposed materials paired with sound, video, and light components.” It’s pretty exciting because Creativity Explored hasn’t really had a show with this sort of focus and in addition to that, the artists themselves have been invited to be a crucial part of the actual installation process creating an environment entirely of their own.

Why is ATA important to you? And to the community?

ATA has been around for almost 30 years. It’s crazy. Spaces like this need to exist, otherwise we’d just have really boring, dry art spaces run by people with money and little heart. It’s very crucial to keep these spaces afloat, specifically spaces run independently by a crew of volunteers who more or less have a pretty substantial commitment to the space. Look around the Mission, specifically Valencia Street, ATA is pretty much a one of a kind place these days and people need to support it to keep it alive.

What would you say is needed to volunteer at ATA?

An interest in watching experimental films or documentaries. A little patience. ATA is kind of just a big vessel and you can pour your ideas into it and most likely create your own interesting series or shows or art exhibits and that is what is the most enticing to me, so I feel like if that’s your thing, ATA is a good place to hang out.

What is the craziest or coolest thing you have seen at ATA so far?

About a year ago I brought a few artists from Creativity Explored to come work in the ATA Window Gallery to create a collaborative installation and they were pretty psyched. One artist talked about it every day… “We’re gonna go back and paint on the window?” I think just the excitement of taking their art to a public space with very different perimeters was really exciting for them and to be there to see them experiment was pretty great. That was kind of a cool synthesis of my worlds. I also find our fundraisers extremely fun– a lot of socializing, dancing, whatever. Good vibes all around at those things and kind of illuminates the validity of this community for me and many others.

SHAE GREEN

How did you first become involved with ATA?

I wanted to learn about video production and ATA offered free workshops to volunteers. I signed up. Thirteen years later, I’m still here.

You started volunteering at ATA in the late 90′s . Can you tell us how ATA has changed since?

A lot has changed technology-wise. We used to have computer labs with big clunky Mac IIs and linear editing suites with an effects generator called a Video Toaster – yes, raining sheep was one of the transition options.

What do you do nowadays at ATA?

I’m on the Board of Directors and I just finished creating a Volunteer and Technical Handbook. ATA is an informal place, but we want to ensure new volunteers have the information they need.

Why is ATA important to you? And to the community?

ATA is my oasis. I meet great people – other volunteers, artists, community members – and get to participate in the presentation of art. ATA is important to the community because it offers an opportunity to gather, view and present art and ideas that are outside of the mainstream.

What is something you have done at/for ATA that you feel very proud of?

For six years, Isabel Fondevila and I curated ATA’s Film & Video Festival. What started as an idea casually discussed in the office became a reputable event. With inspiration and hard work anything is possible.

Volunteer with ATA!

ATA is looking for volunteers to help with our Gallery and our Screenings. Volunteers run screenings, organize events, curate shows, and get stuff done. Volunteers can come to any ATA show for free. We need people who are creative and reliable.

Email volunteer@atasite.org and become a part of something good.