The name might sound a bit dated, but that’s because this group has been around. In 1986, a time when VHS was still rising in popularity, Bart Weiss and Melissa Berry organized a weekend event called “Video as a Creative Medium” at the Dallas Museum of Art. The goal was to bring attention to a more accessible and “democratic” medium than film, and the event was a hit. The first ever Dallas Video Festival was held the next year, and the Video Association of Dallas came to be in 1989. More than 20 years later, VAD is still proudly hosting an annual festival, but the definition of video has transformed with technology. To keep it on the cutting edge, the festival shows DVDs, CD-ROMs, streaming video, and other progressive media formats. VAD also hosts a number of other activities throughout the year, including a monthly television program on KERA featuring works from Texas artists, screenings for local and independent filmmakers, and a 24-hour video production competition know as “Guts and Glory,” where filmmakers have to shoot a film in sequential order and produce the dialogue, music, and sound effects themselves in front of a live audience.