On December 10-12, 1979 at one of John Reilly's conferences, "The Independent Producer, Public Television, and New Video Technologies", held at The Walnut Street Theatre, a regional media center in Philadelphia, Brian O'Doherty, Director of the Media Arts Program at the National Endowment for the Arts, announced that funds were being directed to regional organizations such as the Alabama Filmmakers Coop and the South West Alternate Media Project, to be distributed to independent makers in those areas.