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Martin Lucas Director, Integrated Media Arts MFA Program, Hunter College CUNY Martin Lucas is a videomaker and media educator. From his first film, Tighten Your Belts, Bite the Bullet, a populist look at New York City’s fiscal crisis screened at the 1980 New York Film Festival, to more recent work focused on topics including the plight of indigenous peoples, AIDS drug-pricing scandals, laser weapons, and the Cold War, Martin’s work has sought to explore the potential of a democratized media for social change and human liberation. Martin was an early member of the media critique collective, Paper Tiger Television and has produced work seen both on PBS as well as in museums, galleries and festivals in the US and Europe. Martin speaks regularly on media issues in the US and abroad, addressing topics including media education, public art, video as a tool for social change, and the history of the documentary in academic, artistic, and professional contexts. His research and work on new media topics speak to a commitment to getting knowledge and technology into the hands of students, individual artists and community producers. He has developed media programs in locales from Siberia to Southern Africa, serving as the Director of Technology for Manhattan Neighborhood Network, the nation’s largest public access cable network in the mid-2000′s. Most recently Martin has been working in Malawi with the media NGO, Story Workshop, developing a video production unit making work on topics of AIDS, food security and gender violence. Martin is currently director of the Integrated Media Arts MFA Program in the Film and Media Studies Department at Hunter College, City University of New York.
