pole tourniquet: Telluride TV plans new community media center

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Telluride TV plans new community media center

Telluride TV, the region?s public access station, has long operated out of the Telluride High School, editing content, broadcasting programs and offering media arts education in a small space crammed with equipment.

The space worked fine in the past, but with an expanding vision of what it wants to offer the community, Telluride TV has outgrown it. The non-profit station is moving into a larger spot in August, and plans to turn it into a full-fledged community media center. Telluride TV?s vision is to create a center with a live television studio and video editing bays along with professional cameras for the public to use and a range of educational opportunities for both students and adults.

Thanks to an agreement with the R-1 School District, Telluride TV has the space secured. But it needs help with funding for equipment, and it has launched a capital campaign to raise $50,000.

Telluride TV?s Executive Director Katie Karow said that with Telluride?s strong ties to filmmaking ??through Mountainfilm, Telluride Film Festival and other things ??a media center makes a lot of sense.

?Having the center will provide a gathering place for people to learn and share,? she said. ?We really see this as the next big step.?

The Telluride R-1 School District has agreed to give Telluride TV a larger space on the west side of the building rent-free in exchange for educational services, with a five-year lease and a five-year renewal option.

Telluride TV is moving into the new space ? which is next to the art room ??the week of Aug. 19. Karow said it?s about double the size of Telluride TV?s current home, which opens up all kinds of opportunities for the public access station.

The space has seating for an audience of about 20, which makes room for live-in-the-studio programming. Non-profits can also use the media center for meetings or presentations, with the option of live-streaming over the web. Telluride TV also hopes to have five video editing stations that offer iMovie and Final Cut X editing programs. And with the added space and equipment, the opportunity for media education grows, Karow said. Telluride TV can expand its intern program and improve its after-school director?s program, and locals can become members of Telluride TV through classes, which will then get them access to equipment.

In the long run, Karow thinks the media center could lead to the creation of a filmmakers collaborative that could bring the videographers, editors, writers and actors of Telluride together for projects.

Telluride TV plans to install a door so the media center is directly accessible from the outside, and will likely do other work on the new space. But most of the funds it needs for the media center will go toward purchasing new equipment.

Telluride TV?s goal is to raise $50,000 by the end of the year. It plans to have the media center open by fall and purchase equipment in phases, Karow said.

The station has launched a crowdfunding site at? www.gofundme.com/Telluride-TV-Media-Center to help raise money. People can donate for gifts such as Telluride TV T-shirts, credit for an editing course or the opportunity to upload a video to air on the web and television channel. The site has raised $1,650 so far, and Karow said that ?any amount will help.?

Telluride TV, a non-profit and non-commercial public access station, has been chronicling Telluride events, creating programming and offering education for 25 years. Telluride TV is available to watch online, on cable channel 12 in Telluride and in Mountain Village, and on Roku. Weblinks of shows, public meetings or presentations are available on Telluride TV?s website.

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