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DCTV called the former Engine 31 firehouse home
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If you've walked down Lafayette Street south of Canal, you've surely noticed the building. It's the stately one with the firehouse-red doors, cast-concrete detailing, and steep, copper-trimmed roof. The building itself is labeled "Engine 31" - a remnant of the structure's original function. But a closer look at a modest sign in the window of one of its wide doors brands it the "Downtown Community TV Center."
Better known as DCTV, the Downtown Community Television Center has been a part of the downtown and Chinatown communities since 1972. That's the year Jon Alpert and his wife, Keiko Tsuno, started screening their own films from the back of an old mail truck parked just off of Canal Street.
Back then, their films were essentially mini-documentaries of goings-on around New York and were produced "in an age before editing was easy," says Alpert, who is now DCTV's co-director as well as a producer, reporter, and editor. (He's also an extremely likeable and down-to-earth entrepreneur.) "We were the equivalent of street musicians with a camera," he explains.
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| Co-founder and award-winning producer Jon Alpert at the old fireman's pole |
It wasn't long before Alpert and Tsuno were invited to apply for a grant by the city's Department of Cultural Affairs, which issued them $8,000 to film agency events, screen footage, and teach classes to the public. They set up shop in their $75-a-month downtown loft, but within a few years their success had outgrown the space and led them to 87 Lafayette Street -- also known as the old Engine 31 Firehouse, circa 1895.
Plugging in to the Community
By the early 1980s, DCTV owned most of the landmark firehouse and was embarking on the path that has made it one of today's most honored independent media centers in the country. And in 2004, the company's core function remains true to Alpert and Tsuno's original mission: to "serve individuals who could not otherwise afford a media arts education."
What that means for the downtown community is year-round digital video production classes at some of the most affordable rates in town. DCTV's curriculum includes single-session master classes, intensive courses on programs like AfterEffects and Avid, and a series of two and three-session courses where students can learn the basics of all production elements -- from lighting and audio to cinematography and financing to editing and storytelling.
In recent years, DCTV also has launched two targeted programs to bring broadcast and production experience to communities and individuals who may not otherwise have access. The first, Pro-TV, is a two-year intensive-training course in television and Internet arts specifically for "at-risk," inner-city youth.
Pro-TV students are awarded full scholarships for the course, attend classes at DCTV as well as off-site, and, by the time they reach the final "Advanced" level, are partnered with mentors who help them craft works for professional distribution -- some of which have appeared on HBO, BBC, and PBS.
The second DCTV specialized program is ConnecTV, which has offered broadcast and video education to people with disabilities since 1999. With support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Christopher Reeve Foundation, ConnecTV is the only program of its kind in the country, training its students in broadcast television over a three-year course.
Currently, ConnecTV's 18 students are hard at work on a six-part documentary series by and about people with disabilities, which they intend to broadcast in October 2005 to coincide with the 15-year anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Alpert, Tsuno, and their small staff of full-time workers and interns are making big plans for DCTV's future, beginning with what Alpert calls a "microschool" for high-school students to learn production and broadcast media on a full-time basis. "It will be like Pro-TV on steroids," says Alpert with a smile.
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| The renovated DCTV building brings the latest video technology downtown |
In the short term, however, DCTV has perhaps even bigger news: the complete renovation of its 17,000-square-foot firehouse home, built atop Lower Manhattan's swampy former Collect Pond. The structure is getting an expanded editing studio, screening room, green room, classrooms, and production suites -- and central air conditioning and heat, which is perhaps the most important detail for Alpert. He has compared winter in the building to "Saskatchewan in February."
Renovations begun in March 2004 are now largely complete, and a community open house on October 25 was held to show off the new-and-improved digs. "We've certainly been the most dedicated, and we might be the oldest community media center in the country," says Alpert. "And after these renovations, we hope to be the best equipped."
Considering DCTV's community-minded approach to video and broadcast work, Alpert and Tsuno seem to have struck on a formula for success that benefits a gamut of new and seasoned production pros. And what may be even better than its enormous trophy case of Emmys, CINEs, and other awards, is the fact that DCTV stays afloat thanks, primarily, to its own income - earned through members and licenses from networks like Discovery and HBO.
Alpert has every reason to be proud of his venture, which has become a downtown community staple in the 30 years since screening his and Tsuno's work in the back of a mail truck. And in that time his inclusive attitude and enthusiasm have only gotten stronger.
"The independent film community is growing, and there are a lot of very talented people out there," said Alpert. "We want to welcome everybody to come here to check us out."
DCTV is located at 87 Lafayette Street. To learn more, please call (212) 966-4510 or visit www.dctvny.org.
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