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MATV Announces 3rd Annual MATV Week

MATV, Malden’s Media Center invites the entire Malden community to celebrate and participate in our Third Annual “MATV Week”, May 4 - 9. Join us as we celebrate 20 years of community media in Malden! This week-long celebration will feature free workshops, tours of the facility and various events that showcase what MATV is all about. All events are free and open to the public.

The theme this year is “Community Connection” as we focus on our relationship with our members, staff and community organizations and the link that this resource center provides in bringing our diverse city together.

The festivities will kick-off on Monday, May 4 with “Media Madness Day” from 1-4pm. Students from “Greenroom”, the Malden High School drama club will be doing some improv theatre outside the MATV facility interacting with passersby while we demonstrate the capabilities of our state of the art portable digital studio. This unique “happening” will encourage audience members to join in the television production by participating in various games and interviews. Be sure to stop by and participate and don’t forget to bring your sense of humor. It will be three hours of spontaneous fun and of course, the theatrics will be taped and played back on the channel later.

FREE WORKSHOP - Later that evening, from 7 - 9pm, MATV will hold a special FREE workshop open to members and the general public. The topic is Studio Set Design & Lighting” led by Executive Director, Ron Cox. Ron who is also producer /host of “Live on Tape” will be demonstrating the use of staging flats and lights to create artistic sets for TV productions. If you ever thought about doing your own show on MATV, this is the workshop for you.

On Tuesday evening, May 5, from 7 - 8:30pm, we will hold a Youth Gallery reception inviting all local youth and their parents, as well as the general public to the Middle School Art Exhibit in the MATV Gallery. Come check out the fabulous, creative work of Malden’s middle school students in the exhibit called, “Visual Voices.” Refreshments will be served and young people will have a chance to experiment with our “green screen” (or “chroma-key”) set in the studio. It’s sure to be a fun time!!

We are also very proud to announce that internationally acclaimed animation artist, Karen Aqua will be a featured exhibitor for“Video Shorts” an evening of shorts videos on Wednesday, May 6. This year we are holding the event at the Malden Senior Community Center, a few doors down from MATV at 7 Washington St. Aqua will several of her animated films and lead a discussion with the audience. Several other short animation pieces by local students will also be shown. Other featured exhibitors include Hailey Hao who will show “What to Get on My Butt?” a video about tattoos, which won the “New England Emerging Filmmaker’ award at the Woods Hole Film Festival and Ron Cox who will screen, “The Ticketmaster” his documentary on the late Sam Bornstein, the former parking enforcement officer.

TRIBUTE TO JIM CONWAY - Also, throughout the day and evening on that Wednesday, from 10am-9pm, the Malden Chamber of Commerce invites the community into the MATV studio to tape a memory or share well wishes to former Malden Mayor, Jim Conway for a video that will be honoring his public service to the community. The completed edited video will be screened at the upcoming Chamber’s Shining Stars Gala Event at Anthony’s on May 14th.

On Thursday night, May7th beginning at 7pm, there will be a special “live” production of “Live on Tape”.  We invite the community to be part of a live audience for this local TV show hosted by MATV Executive Director, Ron Cox. Certified MATV producers are encouraged to participate as crew members.

The festivities will conclude on Saturday, May 9th with a live TV show from 1pm - 9pm called “Open House Showcase” featuring a wide variety of musical guests, cultural performances, interviews with MATV members and other community guests. Everyone is invited to come down to our Open House and be part of the fun and see a live television in action. The production will be taped and played back in segments throughout the summer.

So, circle the dates and look forward to another special week of activities celebrating the work of Malden Access Television. Whoever you are, there is a place for you to watch or participate during MATV Week at Malden Access Television. See you there!!

The Joys of Volunteering at MATV

As the nation celebrates National Volunteer Week, I wanted to devote my column to the many dedicated people who donate their time to MATV, Malden’s Media Center. It has been through their generous contribution of time and energy that our mission of “providing access to communication resources” has been realized in our city. When we say that it is our “members who make it happen”, we are not only stating a fact but are celebrating the reality that they are the ones who are using media to help build our community.

Day after day, it is these conscientious citizens who come down to our studios and take out the cameras and tripods to tape local events and neighborhood activities that matter to them.  Whether it is a school concert, a sporting competition or an important community meeting, there are those who take it upon themselves to book the equipment and produce the programs you see on our channels. This is true local programming and it is your friends and neighbors who are creating and sharing these shows with the rest of us.

Sometimes it’s a cooking show like Neighborhood Dish produced by Paula Spizziri and Karen Yates that features local residents and businesses sharing their culinary talents and recipes. Or it could be a program like Asian Spectrum that every two weeks, shares information important to the local Chinese American community. There are shows like Sal’s Show created by Sal Kahn that showcase local entertainers or programs like What Is…? that discuss important issues on health produced by Liri Qirici.

MATV has members who value the free exchange of ideas and information. Through the tireless efforts of people like Barbara Tolstrup, who produces the weekly program, Malden Square and Jim Dello Russo and Francis Mattuchio who bring us, Malden This Week, our community benefits from this “dedication of spirit”. We are fortunate to have residents who believe that it is important to discuss issues and enhance our knowledge. But more important, are willing to voluntarily, give of themselves to make that possible.

Not everyone who volunteers at Malden Access Television is a producer. This is a collaborative medium and no production is possible without camera and audio operators, directors and switchers and people willing to go in front of the camera. We have many who are just as happy contributing their time being a tape operator, a set designer or creating graphics for a show that they want to be a part of. Each position is valuable and MATV is lucky to have members willing to participate and join in on the action.

Each one of these producers and each crew member is a volunteer who contributes their time in creating the content for every show produced. What they have in common is the need to share their interests and concerns with others that sets in motion the willingness to make a difference. They come together to learn, create and share in the opportunity to produce something of value. Their common interest is shared with others and they have fun doing it.

There are many ways to volunteer at MATV. We not only need people to work on productions, but thanks to our Volunteer Coordinator, Dee Jaye Tobin, we have a very active program that plugs in members to take on tasks such as answering phones, maintaining the reception area and doing some light maintenance. We are grateful to people like James Mudge, Carl Zompanti, Marsha Aleo, Karen Lynch and many others who regularly donate their time to assist our organization in these day to day activities.

As anyone who volunteers their time and energy in helping others knows, there is a feeling of accomplishment and pride in giving selflessly of one’s self without the promise of monetary reward. What is learned through this valuable experience is that sometimes inner joy and fulfillment comes with making a difference in your community. Those that join us at MATV are part of that realization and we thank them for their service. They are the foundation of our success and we couldn’t do what we do without them.

We encourage anyone interested in volunteering at MATV to contact our volunteer coordinator, Dee Jaye Tobin at 781-321-6400 or check out our website at www.matv.org and download our volunteer form. Come join us and answer our call to service.