A history of the media collective Raindance

By Produced by Eight Forty-Eight
A history of the media collective Raindance
A performance from Raindance. Photo courtesy of Raindance Collective website.
A performance from Raindance. Photo courtesy of Raindance Collective website.
1 / 2
A history of the media collective Raindance
A performance from Raindance. Photo courtesy of Raindance Collective website.
A performance from Raindance. Photo courtesy of Raindance Collective website.
1 / 2

A history of the media collective Raindance

By Produced by Eight Forty-Eight
WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

Not far from WBEZ’s North Side bureau, a historic reunion will take place when members of the seminal video and media collective Raindance come together at Loyola University. Raindance was founded in 1969 as a means of exploring news ways to communicate through video. The self-described countercultural think tank produced an archive of tapes and writings that examined technology and media.

The upcoming gathering of some of the founding members of Raindance is believed to be their first reunion. But first, they stopped by WBEZ’s Devon Avenue bureau for a chat. “Eight Forty-Eight” spoke with Raindance founder and video artist, Ira Schneider, original funder and an ethnographer for the organization, John Giancola, and the woman who organized their reunion, documentary filmmaker and the director of the International Film and Media Studies program at Loyola University, Elizabeth Coffman.

Music Button: Zohar, “Ehad”, from the CD OneThreeSeven, (Ark21)