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Other Minds Programming Collection
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Title: Other Minds Programming Collection
Dates: 1993-present
Collection Number: Consult Repository
Creator/Collector:
Other Minds
Extent: Approximately 1,150 audiovisual items
Online items available
Repository:
Other Minds Archive
San Francisco, California 94102
Abstract: The Other Minds collection includes over thirty years of music programming produced by the San Francisco based new music organization
Other Minds. Concerts, panel discussions, presentations, etc. have been documented since 1993 in audio and visual formats.
Language of Material: English
A digital portion of the collection is publicly accessible through our online archives at archives.otherminds.org. Access
restricted to physical collection maintained at the organization's office, offsite storage, and with Special Collections and
Archives at the University of California Santa Cruz.
Publication rights remain with Other Minds and the respective artists.
[Identification of item]. Other Minds Programming Collection. Collection Number: Consult Repository. Other Minds Archive
Biography/Administrative History
Other Minds, Inc., is dedicated to the encouragement and propagation of contemporary music in all its forms through yearly
festival concerts, film screenings, public discussions, commissioning of new works, a record label, weekly radio broadcasts,
and preservation of audiovisual media.
Other Minds was co-founded by Charles Amirkhanian and Jim Newman, two longtime advocates for living artists who themselves
actively created new work. Amirkhanian was well-known to the San Francisco Bay Area new music community as a broadcaster of
interviews and concerts on KPFA-FM Radio (1969-1992) and a composer of sound poetry and electroacoustic music. Newman was
the legendary founder of San Francisco’s first serious art gallery of the modern era, Dilexi (1959-1970), and producer of
experimental television programs and films on music and the visual arts.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Other Minds Programming collection represents several series of concerts and special programs produced by Other Minds
from 1993 to the present.
The foundational series is the Other Minds Festival; a yearly event that from 1993-2016 invited 8-12 innovative composers
often representing the avant-garde, jazz, and world music. They would convene at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in
Woodside, CA before presenting their work four days later in San Francisco. This unique approach to a "festival" allowed for
a camaraderie to develop between the established, mid-career and emerging artists. In 2017, the festival changed to explorations
of a single subject, starting with a centennial celebration of composer Lou Harrison, and in 2018 a festival dedicated to
sound poetry. As of 2023, the Other Minds Festival is currently in its 26th year.
Other Minds Presents encompasses all other special programs produced by Other Minds including film presentations, artist retrospectives,
single concerts, collaborative events, and other concert series such as the New Music Seance (2005-2008), Nature of Music
(2016-present), Latitudes (2017-present).
Collection media from 1993-2012 includes DAT, audio cassette, Hi-8 and Mini DV video tape. From 2013-present, audio, video,
and images are primarily born-digital. A large collection of black and white photographic prints made by photographer John
Fago are also part of Other Minds Festival media.
Festivals
Interviews
Music
Lectures
Workshops
Amirkhanian, Charles
Newman, Jim, 1933-
San Francisco, Calif.
20th century classical
21st century classical
Chamber music
Electronic music
World music
Improvisation
Orchestral music
New music
Microtonal music
Avant-garde
Jazz
Performance art
Modern art
Mechanical music
Unconventional instruments
Electro-acoustic music