The XFR Collective is looking for new partners!
Deadline for applications: February 16*, 2018.
*Applications received after February 16th may be reviewed depending on the amount of enquiries received.
We are currently accepting inquiries and applications from individuals and organizations interested in one of two distinct types of partnerships:
Digital Transfer Partnerships
We seek applications from organizations or individuals who possess analog video or audio materials in need of digitization for access and preservation.
These partnerships generally last for six months, during which time the XFR Collective will digitize up to 6 analog items for each partner. Partners pay a nominal fee of $150 for these services. (We typically work with individuals and organizations that are located in New York City or close by; however we will work with non-NYC-based organizations if they can provide financial resources to help facilitate planning, consultation, and travel.) At the moment, XFR Collective has the capacity to transfer the following formats:
- VHS, VHS-C, S-VHS
- Betacam, BetcamSP, DigiBeta
- MiniDV, DVCam, HDV
- DVCPro 50
- Hi-8, Digital8, Video8
- 3/4″ U-matic
- ¼ inch audio reel
- Audiocassette
To apply for a Digital Transfer Partnership, please fill out this form.
Education and Outreach Partnership
We also seek applications from organizations for collaborative educational or outreach projects related to audiovisual archival practice.
An Education or Outreach partnership might take the form of a workshop, a screening, a presentation, or a digital file management consultancy. In the past, for instance, we have led video preservation workshops for filmmakers affiliated with Third World Newsreel; we have led digital file management workshops for the Asian American Oral History Collective; we have consulted for the Oral History Summer School on digital storage best practices; we have installed a pop-up digitization station at MIX: The NY Queer Experimental Film Festival; we have curated screenings for public gardens, galleries, universities, and other spaces.
To apply for an Education and Outreach Partnership, please fill out this form.
What is the XFR Collective?
The XFR Collective is a volunteer-run organization that offers low-cost audiovisual digitization, preservation, and access services to artists and grassroots organizations, and engages in broad-ranging education and outreach partnerships. The XFR Collective seeks to demystify digital technologies and to lower the barriers to preserving at-risk magnetic media materials – especially video documenting the lives and work of people from marginalized communities. In addition to reformatting materials, we host public screenings, teach workshops for grassroots organizations, and assemble audiovisual digitization stations in community spaces. We are not a video digitization vendor. We offer small-scale digitization, consulting, and educational services within a partnership model. To learn more about our work, please visit our website.
All of our partners are required to read and abide by our Code of Conduct.
Questions?
Please write xfrcollective@gmail.com.
Note: XFR members are all volunteers with full-time jobs and other responsibilities. We will do our best to respond to your inquiry within 1 week — but please be patient with us!