Tacoma Art Place (TAP) is launching a viral video contest encouraging amateur and professional filmmakers to create a 30-second video promoting the mission of TAP. Sponsored by Comcast, the contest winner will receive a $250 cash prize. The winning video will also be displayed on the TAP website and on Comcast’s website at comcastwashington.mediaroom.com.
“We’re trying to encourage more participation in a variety of art mediums and thought a contest would be a fun incentive to encourage people to give it a try if they’ve never produced a video,” TAP founder Linda Danforth said. “We hope many of our entrants will gain experience to also give the Grand Cinema’s 72-hour Film Competition a try later this year.”
TAP is a non-profit art center [with 501(c)3 charitable status] in the heart of the revitalized Hilltop neighborhood. Its mission is to provide access to equipment and training that will allow more people to affordably explore their creativity and artistic ability. There is a special emphasis to reach underserved individuals with free or reduced-cost memberships and to offer arts education in the community. Annual memberships are available for purchase, or to give a friend the gift of a membership or day pass. Individuals and businesses can support TAP’s mission by donating equipment or funds.
Video submissions are due by March 8. The rules are simple: entrants are to submit their videos to TAP, and TAP will post them to the Tacoma Art Place YouTube account so that all submissions are uploaded at the same time and counting is fair and accurate. Participants will be told where they can find their videos so they can direct any viewers toward their video. At the end of the viewing period, the video with the highest number of hits will be declared the winner on March 22.
Jennifer McKinney, TAP’s video contest coordinator, suggests that “filmmakers should have access to a camera and a computer with video editing software, such as Final Cut, iMovie, or Premier. Aside from that, the only thing we recommend is a good imagination, and a strong desire to help TAP get our message out in the media. The nature of the contest is encouragement of exploration in the art of filmmaking.”
The use of purchased, downloadable content, either photographic or video, is permissible as long as the participant purchased from a reputable source (such as iStock), and has not gained the content unlawfully. This would be true for the use of music as well. TAP is calling for all kinds of interested filmmakers, and is interested to see what people can come up with, provided that it meets the criteria of expressing TAP’s mission and incorporating the TAP logo.
For an entry form and guidelines, visit www.tacomaartplace.org. For more specific information concerning the contest, contact McKinney at jennifermckinney2009@hotmail.com.
Grand Cinema’s 72-hour film festival gives participants 72 hours to write, shoot and edit a five-minute film that includes four specific elements: a phrase, a prop, a location and an action. This festival usually happens in late April/early May. For any additional information, please contact the Grand Cinema at (253) 593-4474 or visit www.grandcinema.com.
The Tacoma Art Place is located at 1116 S. 11th. TAP’s business hours are Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays 1-8 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays noon to 5 p.m. For more general information, call TAP at (253) 238-1006, send e-mail to info@tacomaartplace.org or visit www.tacomaartplace.org. TAP also has a Facebook page.
