Squeaky Wheel is a grassroots, artist-run non-profit media arts center in Buffalo

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

, NY, founded in 1985 to promote and support film, video, computer, digital and audio art by media artists and community members.The center provides low-cost access to video and film equipment rental, editing suites, workshops, and screenings of independent and avant-garde film and video. Squeaky Wheel is supported in part by the Baird Foundation, the Children's Foundation of Erie County, the Peter C. Cornell Trust, the Experimental Television Center

Experimental Television Center

The Experimental Television Center is a one of a kind video art production studio in Owego, New York. Since its foundation in 1971, the center has been instrumental to the field of video art by providing artists with the tools of video art production through artist residencies and grants...

, the Fund for the Arts, Hodgson Russ LLP, M&T Bank

M&T Bank

M&T Bank is an American commercial bank that was founded in 1856 in western New York, and today remains headquartered in Buffalo at One M & T Plaza...

, National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...

, New York State Council on the Arts

New York State Council on the Arts

The New York State Council on the Arts is an arts council serving the U.S. state of New York. It was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell , with backing from Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and began its work in 1961...

, the John R. Oishei Foundation, Starbucks Foundation and our members.

History

The Squeaky Wheel began with the closing of the Media Study Buffalo in 1985. The closing of this artist-run nonprofit organization threatened to leave an enormous gap in the cultural life of the city, since it had been the area’s primary center for independent feature film screenings, hands-on workshops, and equipment access since 1971. Its closure coincided with another landmark event: a statewide series of town meetings held by the Media program of the New York State Council on the Arts. People were upset that the funding that had flowed into the Western New York area was going to be lost because it was flowing through an organization that had been lost. Town meetings were used as a sounding board to let the state agencies know the extent of the media community and the degree to which people in Buffalo really needed the support.

What emerged, after several follow-up meetings and much considered discussion of process and procedure, was dubbed Squeaky Wheel in playful homage to its contentious origins.

With a diverse group of working artists as its founding board and nationally prominent video artist Julie Zando elected its first Director, the Wheel was ready by the fall of 1987 to roll into its first of three storefront homes, on Potomac Avenue in the shadow of Elmwood. The three ongoing aims of the organization were in place from the start: getting cameras and editing equipment into the hands of emerging and established film and video makers at the lowest feasible cost, teaching people how to use these resources, and providing a space where finished and unfinished work could be exhibited.

Education/Outreach: School & Community Media Arts Programs

• The BUFFALO YOUTH MEDIA INSTITUTE is a community history and youth media program geared towards the diverse population of young people living in Buffalo and surrounding areas. Combining media production, media literacy, and cultural studies in its 9-month curriculum, youth producers, selected through a competitive application process, work with professional filmmakers and historians to create their own self-directed documentaries about Buffalo.

• techARTS for Girls is a community action project to encourage girls form the city of Buffalo and Erie County to learn about and use computers.

• Squeaky Wheel offers several film, video, animation and web design workshops designed especially for young people. During class meetings, youth learn many aspects of media arts as they work individually and in teams on self-directed projects. Each camp ends with a final screening where youth present their completed projects.

Staff & Board

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Dorothea Braemer

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Tammy McGovern

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Brian Milbrand

PROGRAM ASSISTANT

Jax Deluca

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Elizabeth Licata- President

Scott Propeack- Vice President

Camille Metz - Treasurer

Joshua Feinstein - Secretary

William Altrueter

Stefani Bardin

Kenneth Barney

Michael Bosworth

Christopher Gallant

Courtney Grim

Cheryl Jackson

Jody Lafond

Meg Knowles

Andrew Mitchell

INTERNS

Ryan Connelly

Samantha Pyra

Kevin Erhardt

Scott Smolinsky

William Miller

Shannon Gawel