What is ExTV?

EXTV

Don’t let the TV portion of our name fool you. If you’ve seen video art playing on the campus monitors, that’s part of what we do! We are a small organization at SAIC managed by a team of students passionate about finding professional opportunities for students to exhibit their work. ExTV is here to help those who have a passion for the moving image to connect and inspire each other to create!

Where can I show my work through ExTV?
Here at ExTV, there are three main ways you can present your work.

Campus Monitors: This is the most direct and immediate way you can get your work out in SAIC. These monitors can be found throughout all SAIC buildings, including the dorms, 24/7. Works must be less than a minute, and silent.

Campus Monitors Submission Poster

CAN TV/Public Access TV: CAN TV, or Chicago Access Network Television, is a public access network based in the city of Chicago. Reaching outside of SAIC, a number of student works in the form of half-hour weekly episodes will be broadcast on one of their five channels in over a million Chicago homes. There are two seasons (one for each semester) that includes 13 episodes each. We normally use a mix of videos shown in ExTV screening events, web programs, and monitors, so your work gets more screen time.

Past CANTV Postcard

On-Campus Screening/Installation Events: During the school year, ExTV hosts various special screening and installation events on campus. In recent years, we’ve hosted XXXfest, a screening showcasing videos celebrating sexuality and nudity, and PolyPlay, an annual video game installation event for our gamers at SAIC. In some cases, ExTV is continuously creating new events to celebrate observances, such as our Black History Month Screening and Asian Pacific Islander Screening, which occurred in Spring 2018. You would select this option when we post call-for-entries here and on Instagram.

XXXfest 2023 Screening Poster
XXXfest 2023 Screening Announcement Poster

If you are interested in seeing your work on any of these outlets, submit to ExTV! You can fill out our general submission form and select where you want to show your videos. We recommend choosing all of these options, so we can get your work out there as much as possible.

ExFEST: ExTV’s Annual Student-Run Film Festival
ExFEST, which occurs every October during the fall semester, is ExTV’s BIGGEST event of the year, held right here on campus! This is where students come together to show their time-based artworks in front of a select jury invited by ExTV, compete for festival awards, and watch some of the best videos made at SAIC. This includes animation, narrative, experimental videos, even performance videos! We welcome all forms of video art you create. As more people participate every year, our community continues to grow. Submissions open in the summer semester previous to the fall of ExFest. Submissions for 2023 will open in May.

ExFest 2023 Submissions Poster

As we like to say, “We’re not just experimental in what we show, but also how we show it.” So sky’s the limit! If you have any questions, please email us at extv@saic.edu, or visit our contact page.