“Mass Media: A Cultural History,” a wide-ranging SUNY Purchase at Rockland class taught by Richard Connolly, comes to Rivertown Film with the story of a mid-century refuge for some of the greatest artists and thinkers of the time. North Carolina’s Black Mountain College was home to Franz Kline, John Cage, Buckminster Fuller, Merce Cunningham, Alfred Kazin, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, and Paul Goodman, to name a few. With board members such as William Carlos Williams and Albert Einstein, it shaped post-war culture and an educational philosophy that includes, for example, the idea that a large public university such as SUNY might collaborate with a small, local, cultural organization such as Rivertown Film. Using the film and his personal relationships to Black Mountain, and its interesting connections to Rockland County, Connolly provides a window into American culture – with a local twist. USA, 2007, 61 minutes, documentary
Community Partner: SUNY Purchase at Rockland
Mass Media: A Cultural History focuses on local and regional history as a way of understanding the history of mass media. Through personal history, autobiography and memoir, the course connects our lives in Rockland County and the Hudson Valley region to the evolving cultural history of mass media and social media in America. Rivertown Film is excited to bring this unique experience to our audience.
Learn more about Mass Media: A Cultural History, Black Mountain College, the film Fully Awake: Black Mountain College, and Richard Connolly, here.
