Mission Love Presents: All Power to the People

Co-curated by Mission Love & Ray Balberan Mission Mediarts Archive (RBMMA)

An evening of radical, 16mm footage shot by Ray Balberan and Mission Mediarts, and recently digitized in 5K by the Prelinger Archive. This screening presents newly digitized footage from the Ray Balberan Mission Mediarts Archive featuring youth organizing for employment and human rights in the Mission District, as well as community expressions of the art, music and cultural movements of the seventies. Ray Balberan will lead a live narration of the footage while inviting audience members to join in and share their own memories and commentary that will contribute to an organic collection of metadata.

About the Ray Balberan Mission Mediarts Archive:  Founded in 1971, Mission Mediarts was formed as a Mission District community-based youth media training program, made up of working-class Indigenous, Latino, African American and Asian Pacific Islander students, artists and activists who documented their hopes, aspirations, and the artistic, cultural, and political expression taking place in their neighborhood during the seventies and early eighties. Mission Mediarts fought for access to the local and national airwaves on mainstream television, as well as for resources and youth employment opportunities in the media industry.

In efforts to preserve this rich history, Ray Balberan has worked with filmmakers Loriz “Ginger” Godines, Vero Majano and Debra Koffler since 2005 to organize a comprehensive archive with a detailed database of Mission Mediarts 16mm films, audio tapes, and ephemera. The archive was named the Ray Balberan Mission Mediarts Archive in January 2022.