We are excited to announce a new partnership between METRO and XFR Collective!
This month, METRO and XFR Collective begin a new partnership designed to support expanded local engagement with audiovisual archival practices in a digital age. The partnership is one of several new initiatives made possible by METRO’s recent relocation to a new, larger space at 599 11th Avenue on the west side of midtown Manhattan.
The center of METRO’s new space is designed to serve as a flexible studio that offers broad community engagement and new learning opportunities for our membership. Among the features of this studio will be a preservation-oriented analog-to-digital video transfer rack, which METRO is assembling and configuring with the help of XFR Collective.
XFR Collective is a local organization that partners with individuals and groups to lower the barriers to preserving at-risk audiovisual media - with particular focus on unseen, unheard, or marginalized works. Comprised of archivists, artists, curators, and researchers, XFR Collective also works to foster a community of support for archiving and access through education, research, and cultural engagement.
METRO and XFR Collective have agreed to partner together to design an AV transfer station to be hosted in METRO’s new 599 studio space. We will work together to create a plan for ongoing support for, access to, and programming around this transfer station. In addition to providing a channel for New York-area archivists to connect with artists, filmmakers, home movie makers, musicians, and other individuals with obsolete media in need of digitization, this partnership will support instruction and research in the important archival area of digitization, preservation, and access for audiovisual materials.
We believe that this partnership will be of great service to both the NYC and national archival community, the general public, and METRO members. We hope that it will also serve as a model for other new initiatives and partnerships. Stay tuned in coming months for trainings and other opportunities to interact with XFR Collective members and a new AV transfer rack in METRO’s new space! We are thrilled about the possibilities this collaboration provides.
If you would like to get in touch with a question or comment, please email info@metro.org or xfrcollective@gmail.com.