In 2009 VIVID received one of the first  Digital Film Archive Fund Awards from Screen WM for the Participation exhibition and archive project centred on the emergence of new film forms, radical politics and practices, led by the British workshop movement in the 1980s.

The works presented in the exhibition centred on the rise of Thatcherism and the social turmoil of the period.

The work of the Birmingham Film and Video Workshop plays a central part in the project and the exhibition looked at how the group produced the UK's first feature shot on video and brought work made in collaboration with young people to the mainstream through Channel 4. Vivid director Yasmeen Baig-Clifford said: "Vivid itself grew out of the Birmingham workshop scene of the 80s; a time of creative ferment and challenges to the mainstream, and a scene that embraced black film makers, feminist film makers, the documentary tradition, the alternative scene and early participatory work with young people. Vivid grew out of this ferment, and we are passionate about the need to finally uncover the people and the work of this period".

November 2012 signals the 30th Anniversary of Channel 4; a time to look back on what has been achieved.

Vivid Projects are very pleased to confirm that we will be presenting insights on the Film and Video Workshop Movement from this acclaimed 2009 project autumn 2012 for the Channel 4 and Film Culture 30th Anniversary conference. The conference and events take place at the BFI Southbank, London from  1-2 November.

 The presentation draws upon research and presentations developed for the ‘Participation’ exhibition that ran at VIVID in 2009 as well as the involvement of Roger Shannon as the original coordinator of BFTW.

The presentation will be developed by Vivid Projects Director Yasmeen Baig-Clifford with Dr. Paul Long (BCU) and Professor Roger Shannon (Edge Hill). As Dr. Paul Long notes, "Amidst the celebrations of 25 years of Channel 4 in 2007, there was little acknowledgement of the existence of the workshop movement, let alone an appreciation of its cultural value or assessment of its legacy. What was a film and video workshop, what kinds of work did they do and why were they significant? Indeed, were they significant at all?"

We welcome the opportunity to consider the contribution of BFTV to film culture and its overlooked legacy in a wider creative ecology; in addition to reflecting on aspects of a pre-digital moment of participatory film production, distribution and consumption.  We look forward to unlocking some treasures from the digital archive and bringing some ground breaking work from Birmingham to national attention.

Further details to be announced in September 2012.

All enquiries to yasmeen@vivid.org.uk.