Series: Frames of Reference
Program: There Is Always Another Way: A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste
Episode: 1009
Date: 1981-01-01
Subject: Immigration and emigration; African American children; African American students; Ellis Island (N.Y.)
People: Monk, Meredith
Copyright Holder: Greenwich Film Associates

Clip Description
"Ellis Island (a work in progress)" is a haunting, reflective piece on Ellis Island and the immigrants who passed through there. Black-and-white, near-static shots of actors and actresses realistically portraying turn-of-the-century immigrants are combined with color shots of a modern-day tour guide conducting a tour of the buildings. Re-creations of the medical examinations the immigrants underwent and the conditions they lived through are filmed in the run-down buildings of Ellis Island before restoration was started.

"Ellis Island" was created with the New Television Workshop. Segments of it were broadcast as part of the "Frames of Reference" showcase specials "Landscape in Motion" and "Dance Journeys."

Program Description
Philip Hart discusses the history of the New School for Children and Roxbury Community College Program explores three schools identified by the community as viable alternative choices to Boston's public schools: Roxbury Community School, St. Joseph's Community School (supported by the Archdiocese of Boston), and Paige Academy (a private school operating via tuition). Program features on-location, documentary-style interviews with Dr. Philip Hart (professor at the University of Massachusetts and former director of the Federation for Boston Community Schools, the parent organization for Roxbury Community School), Cecilia Ware (a veteran teacher at Roxbury Community School), Joyce Snowden (Educational Coordinator for Roxbury Community School), Michele Marrow (K-1 tyeacher at Roxbury Community School), Joyce King (Acting Principal for St. Joseph's Community School), Idella Hill (fourth grade teacher, St. Joseph's Community School), Angela Paige Cook (Director of Paige Academy), Kim Archung, Fauzia Ahmed, and Lauen Lee (teachers with Paige Academy), and Joe Cook, Jr. (Administrative Producer, Paige Academy), on why alternative schools are needed, how parent involvement factors into alternative schooling, how alternative schools operate, and what classroom enrichment they provide. Includes footage from a 1975 interview with Sister Sylvia Thibodeau, St. Joseph's first principal, in which she talks about the philosophy of the school. Produced by Barbara Barrow-Murray. Directed by Brian Clarke.

Series Description
The New Television Workshop originated at WGBH, a public broadcasting station in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1974 to support the creation and development of experimental video art. This experimental programming included dance, drama, music, performance and visual arts on video and film. As early as 1968, WGBH was committed to the development of video art through residency programs, with artists such as Nam June Paik, and the "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" project. Many of these early works (pre-1974) were broadcast both locally and nationally.

As an umbrella for arts related programming, the Workshop included "Artist's Showcase, " "Frames of Reference, " "Dance for Camera, " "Poetry Breaks," and "New Television," as well as acquired arts programming. Individual works were created for "Visions," a series produced by WNET (New York), and "Alive From Off Center," a series produced by KTCA (St. Paul - Minneapolis). The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund was co-founded by the Workshop and Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in the 1980's, to commission works by video artists. In 1993 the Workshop ceased production at WGBH.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/saybrother/programs/sb_1009