Meeting with Mary M. Lampe, Executive Director of SWAMP

Mary M. Lampe

Link:
Southwest Alternate Media Project

Other links
Texas Motion Picture Alliance
Austin Museum of Art
The Territory

Mary M. Lampe has been the Executive Director of the Southwest Alternate Media Project (SWAMP) since 1998. She is widely recognized for her development of innovative educational programs at both the Amon Carter Museum (Fort Worth) and the Dallas Museum of Art, including notable documentary and feature film programs for the Carter Museum. Lampe created numerous award-winning educational video and film documentaries on the arts, culture and art techniques for both museums. She served as Jury Chair for the American Association of Museum?s MUSE Awards (for visual arts-related films) for five years and as a grant advisory panelist for the American Film Institute. In addition to her work with arts institutions, Lampe has taught film history courses at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Lampe has been a grant reader for Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) and the Independent Television Service (ITVS). She has served on media and visual arts grant panels for the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County. She is also a regular participant in festivals statewide as a speaker and juror. Mary Lampe is a member of the Artist Advisory Board for DiverseWorks in Houston. She curated an exhibition of video installations at the Arlington Museum of Art in November 2002. Lampe also organized a revival of the statewide Texas Media Arts Conference in October 2001. In addition to her duties as Executive Director of SWAMP, she serves as the Co-Executive Producer of THE TERRITORY, a series of 13 half-hour programs of short independent film, video and new media works that is broadcast on PBS stations throughout Texas.

SWAMP

The Southwest Alternate Media Project (SWAMP) promotes the creation and appreciation of film, video, and new media as art forms of a multicultural community.
DESCRIPTION Incorporated as a non-profit media arts center in 1977, SWAMP promotes film, video and new media through education, information and presentation activities for all ages.

PHILOSOPHY

SWAMP is a Texas-based media arts center committed to the film and video art of this region, the artists producing independent images, and to the cultivation of an engaged audience. It is vital to the intellectual and cultural development of any community to have the ability and resources to create its own artistic vision. In order to cultivate a climate for media representation of this region, SWAMP supports the tradition of artists who express their visions through film, video, and new media. SWAMP encourages development of audiences who seek out artistic voices that reflect, celebrate, and examine the cultural, social, and political diversity of their localities.

EDUCATION

SWAMP believes it is essential to our society to support the development of a population of media literate individuals. Media Literacy is defined as the ability to access, analyze and evaluate and produce communication in a variety of forms. A population with a capacity to decode and demystify mass media is the basis of a democratic society who can appreciate and create multi-cultural and alternative media works.

SWAMP presents educational workshops and programs year-round. During winter 2005 - 2006, don't miss our Master Classes and Workshops. In the summer, we offer Moviemaking Camps for Teens. Check out the links to the left for program listings, or visit our Calendar for upcoming workshops.

Conversation

Mary wants to set up a project in which experienced filmmakers accompany joung filmmakers in their grow towards their own form of expression. In this mystagogy (to get in touch with yourself) plays an important role.