What does MassAccess Do?
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- Develop educational workshops, throughout the state on many topics. MassAccess has been educating the public and its members since 1997. Educational workshop topics include cable refranchising, copyright issues, community access startups, production workshops, and ask the lawyers sessions.
- Provide assistance to access centers and interested persons with start up questions, franchising issues, and general production and administrative questions.
- Produce a quarterly newsletter with articles about access television, new technology, and issues and problems that affect centers daily.
- Monitor legislation at the state level to make sure that access remains a viable and healthy entity in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
- Educate the general public and state legislators about who we are and what we do.
- Support each other by keeping the access community connected and informed.
A Short History of Mass Access
by Nancy Richard
While going through my ancient files, I came across an article I wrote for a Mass Chapter newsletter back in 1995. (I did say ancient, didn't I?) I was amazed at the information that was sitting there, just waiting to be rediscovered and thought I'd better update it now before another ten years rolled by and all of this is forgotten forever. So, the following is my up-dated article with my congratulations and heartfelt thanks to every board member who has served on the Mass Access/Chapter board since its inception.
The Massachusetts Chapter of the Alliance for Community Media, which later became Mass Access, was formed in 1990 by Rika Welsh, who at the time, was chairman of the Regional Board of the NFLCP (National Federation of Local Cable Programmers) which later became the Alliance for Community Media. The purpose of forming the Mass Chapter was to provide grassroots support to small access centers in Massachusetts, and to network resources. The first Board Chair was Cal Branch, followed by Linda Fuller. In the fall of 1992, during Phil Tsouros's tenure as Chair, the Mass Chapter initiated local organizing efforts such as Meet the Deadline and a newsletter that promoted the shared interests of access centers across the state.
Carl Pride gave the Mass Chapter a more clearly defined sense of direction during his tenure as Chair. He inspired the creation of multiple workshops across the state as well as giving the Mass Chapter a legitimized presence under the NFLCP and at Regional/ National conventions. He created working relationships with people all over the state and developed a working board. The meetings were held regularly for the first time and communications improved.
The next chair, Deb Rogers established relationships with key figures in the Alliance, nationally and regionally. She spearheaded two successful, full-day conferences, one in Fitchburg in 1994 and the other in Greenfield in 1995. During this period, finances of the Chapter reached an all-time high due the success of the conferences and newsletter sales. Also during Debbie's tenure as Chair, the Chapter helped to organize the National Convention in Boston (Summer of 1995) and was recognized by the National Board as Chapter of the Year.
For the 1995 Convention, we sold T-Shirts, arranged access center tours, and had a trade show booth that increased our visibility. These activities also increased financial stability. For the next several years, the chapter sold T-shirts and tried to boost our exchequer to fund scholarships to the National conference and to underwrite the quarterly newsletter, Mass Talk.
In 1995, Chair Bob Miot extended the mission of the chapter and reintroduced the Meet and Greet idea of taking board meetings around the state. During his two year tenure, the chapter meet all over, and increased our visibility. A 1996 march on the Statehouse underlined this visibility when the chapter organized a rally to fight proposed statewide franchising, proposed by cable providers. Overwhelming numbers of testimonies by advocates for access and municipalities bent on preserving their autonomy convinced legislators to defeat the article.
In 1997 under Chair Nancy Richard's leadership, the Mass Chapter became Mass Access. The system of holding workshops and meetings around the state continued and grew. And the board started to grow in numbers as well. We made a lot of noise at the National office in Washington, and helped to shape the way in which the National Board and the Chapters interacted.
Under Paul Berg, who has always been one of the most lucid interpreters of Public Policy known to the Alliance, and Keith Thibault, an organizational marvel, the level of professionalism of the group grew, and Mass Access's reputation as a model for grassroots advocacy grew with it. In 2003, Mass Access became an official affiliate of the Alliance for Community Media, promoting the long-established relationship to a new level.
Now, fifteen years after Rika Welsh founded the Chapter, we continue to grow, adapt, and redefine ourselves. The changing landscape of technology and legislation in Massachusetts and around the country have a significant impact on our movement, and on our professions. We are move visible and more mature than we were ten years ago when I first went on the board, and it seems as though the work we do is even more important now than it was then.
Under our current chair, Terry Duenas, we look to do a lot of hard work in the next two years. We face challenges that were unheard of five years ago. But we also have talent on the board and in the organization that we hadn't tapped five years ago either. So where are we going? My friend Walt Sawyer, who has served on the Mass Access board even longer than I have, reminds us that we need to stay connected to our grassroots. And he is so right. We have great credibility. We have the network in place. We need to use this, along with everything else we've attained in fifteen years and keep access alive and healthy in Massachusetts. As Rika Welsh so eloquently stated in a recent plenary speech, "Use it, or lose it." It's our time to carry the torch. Let's make sure we do it well.
The Massachusetts Chapter of the Alliance for Community Media
