The London Community Video Archive (Ten Years After)
Mapping Alternative Audio-visual Media Collections: The London Community Video Archive (Ten Years After)
Dr Ieuan Franklin (Bournemouth University)
LCVA began from conversations between the Swiss visual anthropologist Heinz Nigg and the London-based filmmakers and community video activists Andy Porter and Tony Dowmunt in 2013 [Slide 1]. They shared a concern about the rich heritage of community video made in the ‘70s and 80s being under threat, both because of the serious physical decay and deterioration of the old video formats, such as half-inch video [Slide 2], and the ageing memories of the people who made them. From this there developed the concept of an archive and online resource for community video of the ‘70s and ‘80s, and the mission to collect, digitise catalogue, archive and share this work. Much of the original impulse came from Heinz Nigg [back to Slide 1], who had come to the UK to conduct ethnographic fieldwork into community media initiatives for his doctoral research in the period 1976 to 1979, which resulted in a book co-authored with Graham Wade and published in 1980. In When I first met Heinz in London in 2013 he suggested to me that as a Swiss citizen he had something of an ‘outsider view’ – that an outsider will recognise the importance of ‘cultural treasures’ whereas those who are too close to them may have a slightly greater degree of scepticism!
When I interviewed him recently about the origins of the project (16th May 2025) Tony Dowmunt recalled that he initially was unconvinced that such a project would have contemporary relevance. After all, much community video work was what we would now term situated practice - rooted in particular contexts of social work, youth work, and alternative education. It was ephemeral and process-based. What convinced Tony was meeting Ed Webb-Ingall [Slide 4], a filmmaker and researcher who was beginning to work with archival materials and methodologies drawn from community video, and who recently became project director of the LCVA.
This also marked a move from thoughts of preservation to thoughts of reactivation [SLIDE]. By this I mean that Ed had developed from his research and public engagement an approach which he has termed ‘reactivation’, influenced by the ‘trigger film’ concept developed and applied by Liberation Film in the 1970s (a process documented in the film Starting to Happen). This is the idea of a film screening providing a shared focus for the filmmakers and audience, catalysing a discussion that might lead to new ideas or impetus for a new project. Showing ‘old’ films in the contemporary context means showing work which has contemporary resonances, or which was originally developed within a similar ‘constituency’ of people.
Whilst it’s certainly true that the production and dissemination of video is more widely accessible than ever, the highly fragmented and individualised nature of contemporary media culture necessitates looking to the past for examples of community-oriented forms of creative practice. Not least because the way a video is made and shared in the digital context can often lack meaningful connections to the subject and audience.
The team applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant in 2016 [SLIDE] and was awarded £60,000 for a programme of work involving four main strands: [SLIDE]
1. Collecting and digitising video-based materials.
2. Conducting oral histories with practitioners.
3. Building a website.
4. A programme of ‘reactivation’ screenings
A decade later, LCVA applied for and received a new HLF grant for £120k. This has allowed them to begin to establish a more sustainable set-up, including establishing a Community Interest Company to become independent of any particular institution and achieve an organisational structure that will work in the long-term. They have also become involved with the London’s Screen Archive network, which has meant that they can sell clips, offering a revenue stream which can help to sustain future work. They have also redeveloped and expanded their website, which will offer resources for people to organise their own screenings (e.g. downloads).
While too broad a subject to cover in full, it’s worth briefly outlining the place of community video within the broader history of UK independent film and video. Historically, there was a clear divide—not only between film and video—but also between community-oriented and artist-led approaches. Although artists have worked across both mediums, community video was more closely aligned with grassroots activism and social goals, while artistic practices tended to circulate in alternative or institutional settings.
In the mid-1970s, there was a moment of convergence. As Tony noted in reference to the 1975 Serpentine Gallery Video Show, “we were all just video workers.” The novelty and immediacy of video—as a tool for instant playback and group participation—created new collaborative possibilities.
Channel 4’s launch in 1982 marked a significant shift. With agreements in place – albeit very limited ones - to broadcast non-standard formats like low-band U-matic, the channel provided rare access to a national platform for both community and radical independent video. Yet distinctions remained: community video focused on participation, empowerment, and social inclusion, while the independent film/video sector developed its own integrated model—blending production, distribution, exhibition, and education—but often within more niche, artist-aligned or politically progressive circuits.
With the emergence of Channel 4 came the ACTT Workshop Declaration, which enabled community-based video groups to operate as professional training and production hubs with access to broadcast, albeit under a worker-controlled model that sometimes clashed with the community-led ethos many groups preferred.
The era of the radical Channel 4 may have passed. But since that time we have witnessed the exponential growth of new and alternative methods of production and distribution, by-passing the gatekeeping practices and functions of television. We can find echoes of community video in current DIY digital filmmaking initiatives.
However, the contemporary media landscape presents new contradictions. While the tools are more accessible than ever, digital visibility often depends on commercial platforms whose algorithms prioritise ‘clicks’ over ethics.
In this media ecology, LCVA recovers the history of community video not as nostalgic artefacts, but as inspiration to pursue participatory culture and collective self-representation in an increasingly fragmented public sphere.