History

SAW Video is an artist-run-centre committed to support ground breaking artistic production, presentation and programming of independent media. SAW Video provides many services to its membership including affordable technical facilities, and a wide range of programmes designed to create an atmosphere that will inspire production through the exchange of ideas around form, content and style.

In 1981, SAW Video was initiated by SAW Gallery as a small video project at Sussex Annex Works (SAW); In 2001 SAW Video separated from SAW Gallery to become an independent media arts centre; it has maintained its facilities in Arts Court, including operating Club SAW in partnership with SAW Gallery, making SAW a pivotal media centre in Canada's national capital region.

The first actual funding of SAW Video was awarded in the fall of 1984 ($7,000 for equipment and operations). By 1985, the Co-op had grown to include forty members and additional programming (JumpstART, festivals) was initiated to stimulate local production. In 1988 a $10,000 grant from the Canada Council to buy new equipment was obtained. In the same year, Angèle Gagnon and Victor Dyke arranged and supervised a major move from its interim location on Sparks St. where it had been housed separate from the SAW Gallery for two years, to its new and present location in "Arts Court". This new location strengthened ties between the Gallery and Co-op, creating a multi-disciplinary centre featuring common programming in the Club SAW facility. Two new Avid digital editing suites acquired in 1997 replaced our 3/4" suite, and launched SAW Video into the digital age.

These new technologies, together with an aggressive outreach program, saw operations grow fivefold within the past decade. Annual Youth-in-Residence projects (begun in 1998) have seen a new generation of young video and new media producers begin to make their presence felt. Extensive renovations from 1999 to 2001 (funded primarily by the City of Ottawa and The Ontario Trillium Foundation) has further accommodated this growth, adding new media suites, up-front production equipment, webcasting abilities, and a refurbished Club SAW. In 2003 (with a Canada Council Pilot funding and a Heritage Canada Partnership grant) SAW Video launched its innovative Mediatheque; a website now that streams over 500 full productions from the SAW Video archives, the Ottawa region, and from across Canada.

2006 marked SAW Video's 25th anniversary. Anniversary events included a retrospective screening of the videos of Chris Mullington, one of SAW Video's founders, and The Quarter Century gala screening featuring 25 years of members' videos and presented at the National Archives auditorium.