2026 artist-in-residence program
The UCLA Film & Television Archive’s Artist-in-Residence Program will host an emerging artist for two weeks on-site at the Archive’s locations in Santa Clarita at The Packard Humanities Institute Stoa and in Westwood on the UCLA campus during the late spring of 2026 to activate the Archive collection in their artistic practice. This year’s artist-in-residence will work exclusively with one or a combination of three specific collections: the Hearst Metrotone News Collection, In the Life LGBTQ+ Collection and KTLA Newsfilm Collection. The program will provide the artist with the time and support necessary to access and work with these unique collections, creating a project that will reach new audiences and make connections with Los Angeles’ cultural community.
Focused collections: Hearst Metrotone News, In the Life and KTLA Newsfilm
The Archive holds the rights to these three collections and will make them available for the artist-in-residence without restriction.
The Hearst Metrotone News Collection is one of the largest newsreel collections in the world. It contains over 27 million feet of distributed newsreels, unreleased stories and outtakes that range in date from the beginning of the series in 1914 through 1968.
In the Life (1992–2012), television’s longest-running LGBTQ+ newsmagazine series covers stories of social and political topics facing these communities. Access to this collection will include extended interviews and B-roll footage.
KTLA has been a prominent independent television station in the Los Angeles area for more than 60 years, bringing local, national and world news to a regional audience. The KTLA Newsfilm Collection at the Archive primarily encompasses footage from circa 1958 to 1981.
Both the Hearst and KTLA collections contain a wide range of domestic and international topics, as well as subject matter specific to the greater Los Angeles area.
The residency will be a shared process for the Archive and the artist and will include the following core activities:
The residency will commence in advance of the two-week, full-time on-site visits in the form of planning meetings to perform research, identify potential titles for access, refine project scope and proposal as needed, and collaborate with Archive staff to create an on-site visit itinerary.
Research and identify materials for access from the Archive’s Hearst Metrotone News, In the Life and KTLA Newsfilm collections.
As accessible analog works are identified in the collections, the Archive will provide resources to digitize these analog holdings to enable the artist to use high-resolution files in their work.
An introduction to archival training to understand the process of conservation and digitization that will take place on-site at the Archive’s facility in Santa Clarita at the Packard Humanities Institute Stoa.
The opportunity to meet with members of the Los Angeles community, the UCLA community and/or the archival community that could help advance their project, including filmmakers, archivists, past artist-in-residents and faculty. This work will take place either on Zoom or in person during the two-week, full-time visits.
Between the end of the on-site residency and the end of the year, Archive staff will be available to work in consultation with the artist.
By the end of 2026, the artist will finalize the work and discuss their residency at a public presentation, panel discussion or event in the Archive’s Virtual Screening Room.
Timeline for Artist-in-Residence Program
- In preparation for the two-week on-site visits:
- Six weeks before the program begins, meet 4-5 times, in person or on Zoom, for orientation, preliminary planning and research
Two-week, full-time on-site visits to be completed preferably in May, 2026, and no later than June 15, 2026
Independent work and practice between June and November, 2026
Archive presentation completed by December 1, 2026
Finalized work to be submitted to the Archive for conservation by December 15, 2026