In the past two years, students, alumni and faculty from the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program at NYU in collaboration with the AMIA Student Chapter @ NYU and local institutions in Latin America have carried out two successful editions of the Audiovisual Preservation Exchange Program (APEX). The 2013 version was held in Bogotá, Colombia with the support of Fundación Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano and Proimágenes Colombia. You can visit the APEX Bogotá Blog for more information.
APEX 2014 took place in Montevideo, Uruguay, with the participation of five local institutions: Universidad Católica del Uruguay, the Image Archive of SODRE, Cinemateca Uruguaya, Universidad de la República and Fundación de Arte Contemporáneo.
APEX 2014 Team, left to right, top to bottom: Allie Whalen, Kristin MacDonough, Erica Titkemeyer, Pamela Vízner (2014 Organizer) Emily Nabasny, Carmel Curtis, Dan Erdman, Jasmyn Castro, Alicia Kubes (MIAP Associate Director), Lorena Ramirez-Lopez, Juana Suárez (2013-2014 Organizer), Mona Jimenez (MIAP Associate Director, APEX Founder).
This program promotes international collaboration and academic dialogue on film and media preservation in order to safeguard the world’s audiovisual heritage. APEX is an opportunity for members of the international audiovisual archival community to exchange knowledge and skills in areas such as inspection and care of audiovisual materials, cataloging, metadata management, digitization, digital preservation, and access to collections.
Video Preservation Round Table at Universidad Católica del Uruguay led by Julieta Keldjian.
This year, the APEX teams participated in diverse activities, from collection assessments, public workshops, field trips, a film performance and round tables, which generated a much desired open dialogue leading to several short and long term projects for the future, both locally and internationally, such as:
- Assistance in determining alternative ways to preserve video in Uruguay
- Dialogue about the challenges of digital preservation
- Prospective preservation of Uruguayan film elements
- On-line tutorials on video preservation
- Prospective internship opportunities
Some of the results will come to light with participation of members of our hosting teams in the AMIA conference in Savannah, GA (2014). Please read our blog posts to know more about these activities.
This exchange would have been impossible without the sponsorship and support of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, the MIAP Program at NYU, Universidad Católica del Uruguay, Cinemateca Uruguaya and Fundación de Arte Contemporáneo.
Students at Universidad Católica del Uruguay participating in the video collection assessment.
Former editions of the APEX program have taken place in Argentina and Uruguay (Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós and Fundación de Arte Contemporáneo, 2009) and Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and the University of Ghana (Accra, Ghana, 2008 – 2014).
We would like to thank all the individuals who made this exchange possible. Thanks to all the participants for their energy and commitment. Special thanks to Julieta Keldjian (UCU), Ángela López (FAC) and Mona Jimenez (NYU) for their hard work and unconditional support.
Pamela Vízner – APEX 2014 Organizer [pamela.viznero@gmail.com]
Juana Suárez – APEX 2013 – 2014 Organizer [juana@nyu.edu]
