Thank you for posting this remembrance, Ron. Laura
> On Apr 8, 2020, at 2:17 PM, Green, Ron Green <green...@osu.edu> wrote: > > The NYTimes reported on April 3 that Chloe Aaron died of cancer Feb 29. The > Times obituary understandably focused on her major contributions in building > PBS from a collection of stations into a national network while she was > senior vice president there in the late 1970s and early '80s. She developed > documentary and news programs such as MacNeil Lehrer that later became The > News Hour; she established major arts series and she instituted national > airing times that advanced and centralized the PBS system at the national > level. > > Less well known is her critical advancement of the fields of American > independent film and video. I worked for Chloe in the early mid-70s as her > assistant director in the Public Media Program at the National Endowment for > the Arts, the predecessor to the Media Arts Program. She was a visionary > leader who implemented NEA director, Nancy Hanks's, mission to use media, > specifically documentary film and television, to expand access to the > traditional arts. > > But Chloe's most impressive and visionary contribution to that mission was to > gradually transform the NEA's commitment to film as a mere pipeline for the > other arts into a mission that included the support of documentary film as > itself an art form. At the same time, she strategically and diplomatically > expanded the NEA's direct support of all independent film, including > experimental avant-garde, animation, and narrative filmmaking. She appointed > a standing panel of independent experts that included George Stoney, Ricky > Leacock, Donn Pennebaker, Fred Wiseman, Stan VanDerBeek, Shirley Clarke, and > educators and scholars like Gerald O'Grady, Colin Young (formerly BFI), and > Sheldon Renan. Eventually, virtually the whole of the pantheon of film and > video artists scholars, pioneers, administrators, and educators in the > independent cinema of the '70s in America passed through her program on > panels and as grant recipients. She hired me specifically because I was > working for O'Grady's legendary programs in independent film at Buffalo, and > Chloe felt she needed more staff who were already connected to independent > film in order to advance one of her priorities, the regional media-center > movement that supported independent filmmakers throughout the country in the > '80s and '90s. > > Her leadership and friendship were a major positive influence on my life, and > also on countless other working frameworkers ever since the 1970s. I have > always been proud of her accomplishments, which seemed to flow naturally from > her easy, light-spirited, far-sighted and effective leadership. She never > took the limelight, and she had fun--but she performed miracles all her life. > I wish her family well. > > > Ron Green > 356 W 7th Ave > Columbus OH 43201 > 614.421.2131 > > > J. Ronald Green > Professor Emeritus of Film Studies > Department of History of Art > The Ohio State University > _______________________________________________ > FrameWorks mailing list > FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com <mailto:FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com> > https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks > <https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks>
_______________________________________________ FrameWorks mailing list FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
