Introducing the New York Media Arts Map: An Interview with Karen Helmerson of NYSCA

In this interview, Karen Helmerson, Director of the Electronic Media and Film Program for the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), discusses the development and early adoption of a groundbreaking and replicable new resource, the New York Media Arts Map.

The project offers the funder community an intuitive, sophisticated way to quickly identify and locate programmatic activity for discreet or collective funding initiatives, information, research, and study.

The Map was developed in response to a four-year study that looked at the impact of increasing diversity and change in media arts practice, funding, and communications policy. Mapping the Media Arts is one way NYSCA is working to address the needs identified in the study, modeling the current trend toward dynamic interactive data landscapes.

This interview was conducted by Pam Harris, Program Director at Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media (GFEM).

PH: First, can you briefly describe for us what the mapping tool is and when it was launched?

KH: The New York Media Arts Map was launched on December 9, 2008, and is funded by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) Electronic Media and Film Program (EMF). The Map identifies who we are, where we are, and what we have to offer as media arts organizations in the new public realm. It is an online living document and locator for organizations, networks, and related links throughout New York and beyond that offer a variety of media arts services and information. It was developed for media makers, advocates, and various stakeholders.

Organizations on the Map can be browsed by geographical location, alphabetical order, and by category. Visitors can also search organizations by entering a keyword in the search box or by a variety of criteria on the Advanced Search page. The Mapping Team chose a full color topographical representation of New York State to visually imprint regions and locations.


PH: Who came up with the idea for the map? Was it in response to a particular need?

KH: The Media Arts Map was developed in response to a four-year study entitled “Issues of Identity: Strengthening the Media Arts in New York State,” conducted by NYSCA’s EMF Program in conjunction with the Experimental Television Center (ETC). The study looked at the impact of increasing diversity and change in media arts practice, funding, and communications policy. From that study, a variety of issues and needs evolved surrounding representation, sustainability, advocacy, and more. Mapping the Media Arts is a response to these issues, modeling the current trend toward dynamic interactive data landscapes.

Several mapping models were looked at in our design process and the final concept is a team effort, developed by American Documentary (P.O.V.), the Experimental Television Center and NYSCA’s Electronic Media and Film Program. Rhizome was brought on later in the process as part of the team, to help ready the Map for launch, host it, and develop it further.

The Team chose to develop a map because maps provide us information by virtue of place. And, in our universal landscape, who we are, where we are, and what we have to offer takes on new meaning in respect to identity. Where we are is still about place, of one kind or another, while who we are and what we have to offer are all about relationships.

We see this map as an open-ended portal rather than a guide to a destination. Information is not the driver here. Human need is the driver, the need to know who and where. The information supplied through this map is a vehicle for arriving at that place of critical thinking and creative problem solving. The interactive element is about engagement with each other.

Mapping is a science, and digital technologies are thrusting us into the science of interpersonal communications. Many of us are rethinking how we navigate our individual lives in respect to community, and, because we now link the practice of mapping to digital networks, we have a new sense of place. Even so, identity remains critical.


PH: Toward whom and which fields is the mapping project geared?

KH: The Map is an opportunity for all sectors touched by the new digital realm that are engaged in cultural self-determination through technology and the Internet. It is designed for funders as well as media arts organizations, media makers, for-profit and non-profit service providers, advocates and representatives, legislators, and others.


PH: What has been your role in the development of the project?

KH: In an effort to remain current and better serve our constituencies, convening and facilitating discussion is an essential practice of the EMF Program. The study, “Issues of Identity,” was such an effort to better understand the needs and position of New York media arts organizations, while reflecting on common and universal concerns. As a funder, through Technical Assistance, EMF was able to conduct this study and act on the findings by providing the environment necessary for talented individuals to come together, to think critically and creatively, and ultimately form the Map.


PH: What kinds of funders would most benefit from use of the mapping tool and how so?

KH: The Map is intended for a variety of funders and the general public. It is designed for multiple uses by multiple users. There is virtually no limit on the ways in which this information can be applied. The Map was always intended as a tool for private foundations as well as state and local representatives, legislators, and decision makers. As the Map continues to populate and expand its content, funders and constituencies can find each other and their representatives and advocates in turn. Decision makers will be able to see at a glance where development has taken hold and where greater focus is still required to meet equitable and fair distribution of resources.


PM: Give us a sense of scope: how many projects are currently listed? Will projects continue to be added and do you see the project evolving over time?

KH: There are currently over 200 media arts organizations from New York State listed on the Map. It’s evident by scrolling across the map where outreach and development are still needed. The next step is to focus on outreach and promotion of this online opportunity. EMF and ETC are planning to conduct workshops on the many ways in which the Map can be used, all the while inviting new organizations to be on the Map. We’ve recently added a category for “Out of State foundations, organizations and groups” to join the Map as well. This coming year will also be dedicated to developing new features for organizations to dialogue with one another, and display graphics and moving image media.

For example, the News Stream (multi-user blog) will collect and disseminate events, calls, and updates from all participating organizations. This news stream will further solidify the Map as a centralized platform to discover, connect, and learn more about media arts organizations and activity in New York. In addition, we’ll design individual organization pages that allow for rich, diverse content, including audio, video, and text. We intend for the individual pages to be strong enough so that organizations with limited means will not have to create their own websites.


PM: The map covers New York State, but do you feel the mapping tool has use beyond New York? How so? Is this project replicable?

KH: Absolutely, already there is one very exciting development. NYSCA’s EMF Program is in discussion with the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and its Film and Video Center, related to extending the Mapping Project. EMF and NMAI are discussing ways in which the Map could identify independent media activity across Native American communities. In this capacity, the Map can also serve rural populations on issues of Universal Access, Broadband, and Net Neutrality.

The basic infrastructure of this mapping tool can accommodate a wide variety of purposes and geographic reach. The Mapping Team has always intended the Map to be replicated. To that end, the Mapping Team used open source programming and is now working on a Tool Kit for replication. Elizabeth Weatherford, Head of the NMAI Film and Video Center, is thinking about the entire Western Hemisphere and how that can be represented. We find the challenge huge but not overwhelming.


PM: What has been the response by funders to the map thus far?

KH: From the beginning, response has been very positive. The concept of mapping media arts organizations and mapping them as a geographic event is very attractive. In 2006, the EMF Program and American Documentary (P.O.V.) conducted a roundtable discussion in Boston at Grantmakers in the Arts, introducing the Map for the first time. Funders from outside New York State found this developing resource unique and promising. Further beta testing by a group of select funders found the Map to be user-friendly and easy to navigate.


PM: Looking forward, what do you hope the mapping tool brings to the funder community in the years to come?

KH: As the Map develops with use, it will offer the funder community a way in which to quickly identify and locate activity for discreet or collective funding initiatives, information, research, and study. Knowing who, where, and what is critical to the development of key strategies, and place is increasingly important to issues of identity, preservation of culture, and human life.

The principles of mapping allow complicated structures to be understood in terms of smaller spaces – bringing us back to issues of local and regional identity. Through its basic framework, the Map facilitates simple and complex relationships, encouraging new ways of working. Whether media makers, funders, exhibitors, or others, the Media Arts Map supports engagement by helping people locate each other for partnerships, information, and resources. This project set out to identify the independent media arts in New York State through person, place, and thing as a resource of significant value, bringing creative expression to the table in communications policy.

In essence, the Map is a methodology for moving forward, based on the right of cultural self-determination, and in the belief that media policy is cultural policy.

Visit the New York Media Arts Map online.

[Published 2009-02-05]